Weakened Merkel leaves the EU even less capable of bold decisions - but is there a final sting in her tail?
“Even now, she still has the moral authority on the EU stage to knock heads together,” says Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform. “Just look around the table of EU leaders, they are political pygmies, apart from Emmanuel Macron, who is weak at home and [the Dutch prime minister] Mark Rutte, who only represents a middle-sized country. She’s still head and shoulders above all other leaders.”