Will the coronavirus crisis rewrite Angela Merkel’s legacy?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hailed as a master in crisis management. But the country’s vaccine rollout has been off to a disappointing start for many – as a hard lockdown grinds on. The EU hasn’t rolled out that vaccine as fast as many other places, losing valuable time as new virus variants threaten to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic.
And most of it happened under Merkel’s watch at the helm of the EU presidency. Merkel’s reputation is built on consensus-building and foresight, but the pandemic is putting her under pressure to throw out the usual rulebook.