‘Merkel urged to act faster if re-elected’

With current German Chancellor Angela Merkel looking set to retain power after Sunday’s election, business leaders are pressing her to move quickly to confront domestic issues such as high energy prices and aging infrastructure soon after the poll, writes the Wall Street Journal.

She prospered in the 2009 election with a platform promising stability and this has also been the central tenet of this campaign, one which has brought her “commanding voter-approval ratings”. The financial daily continues –

“But for Ms Merkel, pursuing changes more aggressively could risk undermining the cornerstone of her domestic popularity: the perception that her methodical approach protected the German economy while Europe imploded around it.”