For Gabor Steingart, Angela Merkel’s health is becoming a constitutional issue.
“People’s trust in her is melting away,” the influential commentator and former editor of Handelsblatt newspaper thundered on Thursday. “There is still no answer to the crucial question — is the chancellor still in full possession of her physical capacities?”
The cause for his consternation was the trembling fit Ms Merkel suffered at a public event on Wednesday, her third in as many weeks. Suddenly, the chancellor’s wellbeing has become a matter of deep concern — a novelty in Germany, where the private lives and ailments of politicians are rarely discussed in public.