Journalist Vanessa Vu predicted the coalition Government Angela Merkel has been leading is on track to “harm themselves”. Ms Vu told German public broadcaster DW News: “I think it’s a coalition of losers. Because the fact is they have lost a lot of voices. Lots of people don’t really want this kind of government anymore and the longer they keep power.

“I think they will just harm themselves in the end and not really bring up the reforms that everyone urgently needs.”

The German Chancellor’s latest crisis was kickstarted by a poor showing at the European elections and the resignation of Social Democratic Party Leader Andrea Nahles – one of the two main parties in the grand coalition that has governed Germany since 2013 along with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Meanwhile the CDU’s Friedrich Merz has claimed the Greens are now the main election rival of Chancellor Merkel’s party after the results they recorded at the recent European elections and subsequent soaring poll numbers.

Mr Merz lost out to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in December in the battle to succeed Mrs Merkel as leader of the centre-right CDU. Mrs Merkel remains as Chancellor despite having handed over the reins of her party, and wants to continue in her role until 2021.

He voiced his pessimism in a hard-hitting interview with Dusseldorf-based newspaper Handelsblatt this week, saying: “The Grand Coalition will not last beyond the turn of the year 2019/2020.

“In the technical sense, this government is capable of acting.

“But there are no new ideas and no major socio-political impulses.”

Mr Merz said so-called Grand Coalition was “never very popular with either the actors or the citizens.”

Mr Merz also pointed out a deal with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) had only been the second choice after the failed Jamaica negotiations between the CDU, the Greens and centrist Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the federal elections of 2017.

He said: “For the SPD it was a forced marriage. All this is breaking up again.”

In a nod to growing concerns about the impact of climate change, Mr Merz, who was recently elected Deputy Chairman of the CDU Economic Council, called for a discussion on Agenda 2030, a programme aimed at reconciling the economy and the environment.

He said: “Until further notice, the Greens are the number one competitor for the CDU.

“The Greens are surfing on a wave of sympathy because they promise a beautiful new world and answer complex questions with simple answers.”

A poll published today by ARD Germany based on interviews with 1,500 people interviewed between June 3 and 5 suggested the Greens are actually nudging ahead of the CDU, with 26 percent compared with 25 percent in support of Mrs Merkel.

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