Germany needs a unifier. In Merz, it is getting a chancellor whose instincts are to divide | Chris Reiter and Will Wilkes

Merz takes charge this week, as German industry buckles and social fractures deepen. He will struggle to bring a wary public with him A few weeks before Germany's federal election in late February, Friedrich Merz was forced to backpedal after a daring gambit went awry. His attempt to win votes by forcing through a hardline crackdown on migration had caused a rebellion in his own Christian Democratic party (CDU). Instead of positioning himself as a strong leader, he undermined the entire German p...