During her 16 years in office, Chancellor Angela Merkel has steered Germany through three major crises: financial, refugees, and Covid-19. But she never really got to grips with the climate crisis, which will now have to be dealt with by her successor — she is not standing in the federal election on 26 September.

With German voters unable to vote for a current chancellor for the first time since 1949, and no strong candidates waiting in the wings, it is far from certain who will become the next leader of Europe’s largest economy and what kind of coalition he or she will govern.