At the European Football Championships in Poland in 2012, some Irish fans gained humorous notoriety with a sign saying: “Angela Merkel thinks we’re working”. Frau Merkel herself will not be working, as Chancellor anyway, from 26 September, the date of the German federal election. A Merkel-less Europe will take some getting used to for citizens throughout the continent, so extensive has been her influence, from the politics of financial austerity to recent debates on vaccines and the EU budget. The fact that Irish fans could joke about sneaking out to watch football while the German Chancellor failed to notice them…

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