Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Challenger (2/17)

By Konstantin Veit, Washington DC

On January 29, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) nominated the former President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz to be the party’s leader for German legislative elections in September. Since then, the political landscape in Germany has shifted considerably and Chancellor Angela Merkel fourth term no longer seems inevitable.

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Unexpected Elections in Northern Ireland in the Shadow of Brexit (2/10)

By Konstantin Veit, Washington, DC

United Kingdom’s smallest constituent unit, Northern Ireland, has scheduled Legislative Assembly elections for March 2. How did that come about?

For a decade, the devolved government of Northern Ireland was formed by the nationalist Sinn Féin party and the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The country’s snap elections follow the resignation of then deputy first minister Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) in early January.

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U.S.-German Relations: Trump’s Trade Advisor Takes Aim at Germany (2/2)

By Konstantin Veit, Washington, DC

Earlier this week Peter Navarro, Donald Trump’s top trade adviser and head of the new National Trade Council in an email interview with the Financial Times, accused Germany of using a “grossly undervalued” euro to “exploit” its EU and U.S. trading partners. Furthermore, Navarro told the FT that Germany was a main obstacle to a future Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the potentially transformative U.S.-EU trade agreement being negotiated by the Obama administration and which is now off the table.

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