Angela Merkel

What would have been unthinkable even a few months ago now looks like a plausible scenario: Merkel’s chancellorship may be drawing to a close sooner than anyone imagined. And she would leave her country with a burden instead of a positive legacy.

Under Angela Merkel, German politics has entered a strange period of hibernation. Where there used to be passionate debates within and between the political parties, boredom has taken hold of the country. Merkel’s sober and dry way of governing has sedated friends and foes alike.

The vitriol directed at German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble after last weekend’s marathon summit is deeply unfair. What is Germany’s crime?

If Merkel once again followed opinion polls, she might feel tempted to let Greece fail. It could even give her polling results another boost, even if meant a radical departure from her previous strategy. But it would also be an admission that Merkel’s policy on Greece has failed.

There is only one thing that unites all German politicians: They do not want to take the blame for whatever happens next. If Greece drops out of the eurozone, that will be fine — as long as it is clear that it was all Greece’s fault and had nothing to do with Germany.

It may be madness to do something over and over again while expecting a different result. But conversely, it is only reasonable to expect Europe’s next integration steps to be just as successful as the previous ones.

The biggest loser in Greece’s snap election was not even on the ballot paper. It was German Chancellor Angela Merkel whose austerity policies in the euro crisis were rejected by Greece’s swing to the radical left.

The most important question of what the Greek election result will mean for the euro crisis has not been answered satisfactorily. There is no easy answer to this question, only a range of different scenarios. As of today, it is hard, if not impossible, to put probabilities to them.