Constanze Stelzenmüller

You have leaders who are disconcerted and overwhelmed.

The lack of confidence is as pervasive as a damp fog. Germany is doing its best on the diplomatic front, but there is a real struggle to find pragmatic solutions and form effective coalitions.

The state of leadership in Europe is such that the future of the E.U. currently rests on Merkel's strength, or weakness.

[Joachim Gauck] is trying to build a bridge over what many in the media see as an increasingly unbridgeable chasm between a high-minded chancellor, who is demanding the impossible, and institutions buckling under the strain.

I think that [Angela Merkel] is a person with deeply held values who felt that there is only one legitimate, acceptable choice here. There may be a feeling that this is her personal (Berlin) Wall and that is the challenge that she has to face.