So, the left(ish) anti-war, pro-France leader of Europe’s largest economy is replaced with a right-wing, pro-war, pro-Busher who has hinted at trying to break up the old Franco-German axis within the EU – quite possibly by looking to the new member states to the east, what with Merkel’s East German origins and recent attempts to befriend Putin and all. This could alter things significantly. Or it could all just collapse as soon as the cobbled-together coalition falls apart and leave Germany impotent and unstable for a while – a tad early to say… especially as under the terms of the deal four of the major ministries – foreign, finance, justice and labour – will remain under the control of the SPD. All very interesting…