Honeymoon between "Mutti" and the press is over

“Merkel's syndrome,” headlines Cicero, in publishing a thick dossier of charges against the Chancellor. With articles titled “The Phantom of the Chancery,” “The Loss of Credibility”, “Who Governs Loses” or “Save Our Rule of Law”, the message from the Berlin monthly is clear: after six years in office, and with a third term in sight, the Germans still do not understand who their head of government is or what she wants to accomplish. “The Merkel method, which consists of defusing and depoliticising the highly dramatic and political issues – climate, nuclear power, Afghanistan, uncontrollable financial markets, the euro crisis – is not enough for good governance.” Cicero, which feels that a third term would be one too many, is predicting dark times ahead for “Mutti”: “The truce that journalists observed towards the first-ever woman Chancellor has lasted almost six years. Many commentators have treated her with kid gloves, criticising affectionately and with a great deal of understanding her sloshing about in democracy without any guiding vision whatsoever. That's over now.”