It took just a few hours for Friedrich Merz to conduct one of the sharpest U-turns in recent political history.
At lunchtime last Friday, Germany’s chancellor-to-be received a sobering briefing on the state of the economy from finance minister Jörg Kukies.
Kukies explained that after two years of stagnation and with more clouds gathering over Europe’s largest economy, Berlin faced a €130bn budget shortfall over four years and dwindling growth potential, according to people with knowledge of the presentation.
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