In news reports, I noticed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel after 18 years in office and leading the Christian Democratic Union is stepping down from her post with uttering this sentence “I have not been born Chancellor. I have always dreamed to act honorably in any job that I take its responsibility and leave it honorably.”

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

It seems she leaves a position that in the current condition U.S. President Donald Trump is fighting fiercely for keeping it. I do not believe that Merkel during her years as Chancellor has been beneficial for her country and not for the world. Her policies regarding Iran’s nuclear deal, the JCPOA, have caused damages to Iran and fortunately she took the same path that Trump had taken although it did not show to be positive.

The European and American policies have inflicted damages on the people in the West Asia that they may not be recouped in the next 100 years. Although Merkel, by concentrating on more empowering Europe against the U.S., inflicted heavy investment to her country, she kept Germany’s stand in the West Asia to some extent. That Europe and the U.S. both see their interests in the Middle East have ended will be of the strategic points in the 2021 to 2030 outlook.

The U.S. and Germany’s partners and allies in the Middle East will definitely react to this shift of concentration by Europe to other regions for finding new partners and allies. Some of them will side with the U.S. and Germany’s friends and some will join their adversaries. In the near term, at least, these countries through weapon proliferation or armed conflict are likely to engage in riskier behaviors. We’ve seen signs of all of those things happening already—in Yemen, in Iraq, in Libya, and elsewhere—and they’re likely to happen more.

Perhaps this analysis may be correct that none of these issues except weapons proliferation is important for Westerners, including Europe and the U.S., though, who have watched refugee crises shape their politics, and for East Asian allies, who import three-quarters of their oil from the Middle East, rising instability is a major worry.

Jon B. Alterman, the director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), recently in article published in the website of the center wrote, “Amid a robust discussion about the appropriate U.S. posture in the Middle East (it means the NATO), one element is underemphasized, and sometimes it is entirely missing. Too often, people assume that the United States will fundamentally reorient its strategy toward the Middle East, and other powers (China, Iran and Russia) will essentially roll with the punches.”

But that’s not true. While the West engagement in the Middle East has grown, the world’s engagement in the region has grown as well. Allies and adversaries alike are tied into the Middle East’s status quo and try to plan strengthening their stand. When it shifts, they will shift, and when allies and adversaries feel effects, the West, including the U.S. and Europe, will feel effects. The United States might feel it is done with the Middle East, but the reverse isn’t true for the NATO and his adversaries.

China, which lacks the domestic oil and gas necessary to drive its economy, seems lashed to the Middle East for years to come. It will almost certainly seek to increase its footprint there, and it is likely to use a more dominant position in the Middle East to exert leverage over East Asian neighbors who are also reliant on the region. As Middle Eastern states view a future in which the United States is receding and China is rising, Germany, as the super power of Europe and the U.S. and as the “reeve” of the world, will be hard pressed to prevent China from embedding itself in the region’s physical and technological infrastructure. China is averse to replicating the U.S. military footprint in the Middle East, or anywhere else, but is keen to advance its security by other means. If it is able to establish pervasive surveillance capabilities, it will do more than be a force multiplier for a limited Chinese military presence. It will also build good relations with Middle Eastern governments, almost all of which are concerned by the prospect of popular discontent and are impressed by the Chinese model of economic development without destabilizing social and political change.

Merkel’s parting with her consent, under the tough coronavirus condition and virus-hit economy and Europe’s pressure in dealing with the Brexit and UK’s double standard, is her savior but costly for Europe. But exerting pressure on Trump for leaving the White House is very beneficial for the U.S. and other countries especially for the West Asia.

  By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

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Merkel is worried that Germans are slacking off their social distancing efforts after the federal and regional governments agreed to reopen shops this week.

Germany has the fifth-highest COVID-19 caseload behind the United States, Spain, Italy, and France, but has kept fatalities down thanks to early and extensive testing.

Germany’s confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 2,352 to 148,046, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed earlier. The number of people who have recovered is greater than the number of new cases.

“It is precisely because the figures give rise to hope that I feel obliged to say that this interim result is fragile. We are on thin ice, the thinnest ice even,” Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

“We are still far from out of the woods,” she said, warning: “We are not living in the final phase of the pandemic, but still at the beginning.”

Germany’s gradual easing of restrictions provides for social distancing rules to remain in place until May 3. Schools will start opening from May 4, with priority for final-year students. Hairdressers can also reopen then. Merkel and state leaders will meet again on April 30 to review how to proceed after May 3.

“If we show the greatest possible endurance and discipline at the beginning of this pandemic, we will be able to return to economic, social, and public life more quickly and sustainably,” Merkel said, Reuters reported.

Turning to the EU’s response to the economic impact of the virus, Merkel said calls from some EU countries for common debt with common liabilities were not the right way to go.

“That would be a very difficult process, cost time and wouldn’t even help anyone in the current situation since we need rapid-fire instruments to tackle the crisis,” she said, instead of calling for a European economic package aimed at supporting an upswing in the coming two years.

“Our consultations today won’t yet be about be nailing down details or deciding on the extent but one thing is already clear: In the spirit of solidarity, we should be prepared – over a limited period of time – to make very different, meaning much higher, contributions to the EU budget,” she added ahead of a videoconference with EU leaders later on Thursday.

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In an interview just two weeks before Brexit operating, Germany’s chancellor gave a warning and said Europe needed to up its game to compete.

The union needed to become more “attractive, innovative, creative, a good place for research and education,” she told the Financial Times.

She added, “Competition can then be very productive.”

The enigmatic German leader has said little about Brexit. Last year she broke her silence to warn that Britain was a potential competitor to Europe after it left, The Independent reported.

But she defended the principles of the European project and issued a veiled warning that the UK could suffer from diminished influence outside the union.

“I see the European Union as our life insurance,” she told the newspaper.

“Germany is far too small to exert geopolitical influence on its own, and that’s why we need to make use of all the benefits of the single market.”

Merkel argued that international institutions like European integration were “essentially a lesson learned from the second world war and the preceding decades” whose memory is fading.

Germany’s leader since 2005 and a contemporary of Tony Blair, Merkel is serving what she has said will be her last term as chancellor.

Having already stepped down as leader of her center-right CDU party to make way for a successor, the chancellor said she will not contest the next Bundestag elections, which are scheduled for 2021.

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The Vladimir Putin hosted his German counterpart, Angela Merkel, in the Kremlin on Saturday, to discuss issues such as Iran nuclear deal, according to RT.

The meeting came after European foreign ministers on Friday rallied behind the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, despite the US president’s renewed call for allies to abandon it.

The European Union has said that it will “spare no effort” to keep the nuclear deal alive, even though Tehran said it would no longer be bound by the agreement’s restrictions on centrifuges and uranium enrichment following the Trump administration’s assassination of Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, according to The Washington Post.

During an emergency session on Friday, the European foreign ministers also said the escalation between the United States and Iran had risked progress against the Daesh terrorist group.

In an attempt to avoid an escalation between Iran and the US, EU leaders in the recent week have intensified diplomatic activities, trying to salvage the EU-brokered nuclear deal while making sure the US-led anti-Daesh coalition continues to operate in Iraq after Iraq’s parliament called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country, Euractiv website reported.

“The region cannot afford another war, we call for an urgent de-escalation and maximum restraint,” EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell told reporters following the meeting in Brussels on Friday, that had reaffirmed European commitments preserving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“We have been saying in the past and we continue to say that we regret the US decision to withdraw from the deal,” Borrell said, “And we continue believing that this deal is a key element of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture and critical for the regional stability.”

He also warned that negotiating a new pact would be a “very complex, highly technical process” that would take a long time.

The US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook claimed on Friday that Washington’s sanctions policy on Iran is a more effective non-proliferation tool to force Tehran to negotiate a broader accord than the 2015 nuclear deal,

His remarks stood in contrast to those of EU foreign ministers.

“It is clear that we are in a completely different position from the United States,” Borrell told reporters after the meeting.

Borrell also admitted that the potential differences between the treaty parties could at some point become so irreconcilable that they could risk the deal collapsing.

The European officials did not consider triggering a dispute resolution process that could lead to renewed United Nations sanctions on Iran.

Since the Trump administration decided to exit the deal in 2018, all three European parties to the pact – Britain, France, and Germany – have repeatedly stressed their commitment to saving it, even after a call by Trump on Wednesday urging them to join him in walking away.

One of the contentious points between Europe and Washington has been the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), which was born as the brainchild of France, Germany, and the UK in January 2019, and recently joined by further European countries.

It was created as a special purpose vehicle to help EU companies do business with Iran and facilitate non-USD transactions to avoid breaking US sanctions against the country.

European efforts, however, to ensure that Iran can keep trading in spite of the sanctions have had little impact.

The Trump administration on Friday imposed new sanctions on Iran, with the latest round set to target multiple sectors of the Islamic Republic’s economy, including construction, manufacturing, textiles, and mining.

Borrell has invited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif for talks to Brussels, but a date for his visit has yet to be set.

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According To Iran News, A week after Angela Merkel’s own party survived a blistering leadership battle, it’s now her allied Social Democrats that threaten to blow up the governing coalition with the election of a new leader.

Pummeled by repeated electoral defeats, the SPD has struggled for some time over whether to abandon the coalition with Merkel’s Christian Democratic-led bloc or to limp on in the unloved alliance until elections scheduled for 2021 at the latest, Bloomberg reported.

The opposing factions face each other in an election campaign to lead the party, which comes to a close on Friday. The candidates representing the “remainers” are a duo made up of Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and Klara Geywitz. Siding with the “exiters” are Norbert Walter-Borjans, a former state finance chief and left-wing lawmaker Saskia Esken. The result of the vote will be announced Saturday evening and the winner confirmed at a party convention a week later.

The crises bedeviling Germany’s ruling parties coincides not only with Merkel’s final phase in office but also with the rise of far-right populists and environmentalist to rival them. Another bout of political uncertainty could hamper Germany’s response in a possible economic crisis as well as its presidency of the European Council in the second half of next year.

Scholz and Geywitz have argued that despite the pain of compromise, the party is achieving more from the cabinet bench than it would in opposition. Walter-Borjans and Esken, who favor increased spending and taxing the rich, have championed a restive party base that wants to return the party to its working-class roots.

Under the lead of the victorious tandem the party will formally evaluate its alliance with Merkel’s CDU at the Dec. 6-8 convention.

Both staying and leaving come with risks. Polling well below the 20.5% support it garnered in 2017, the SPD could see its parliamentary base shrink dramatically in a possible snap election. Sitting tight may simply lead to a further loss in support.

The SPD has 13%, half the support garnered by Merkel’s bloc and well behind the 22% for the Greens, according to a YouGov survey from Wednesday.

Rather than a straight vote on breaking up the coalition, party leaders may opt to set out conditions for staying, such as a departure from balanced-budget policies, an increased minimum wage, or more spending on social welfare. The CDU-led bloc could enter into a prolonged negotiating process or find itself unable to fulfill the SPD’s conditions.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who temporarily defused critics seeking to sideline her, told party delegates in Leipzig last week that she would refuse to renegotiate the coalition agreement that the two factions completed in March 2018.

Should Walter-Borjans and Esken win, demands on Merkel could include a call to scrap fiscal discipline and impose a minimum wage of 12 euros ($13.20) — almost surely red lines for Merkel’s camp, according to Manfred Guellner, the director at Berlin-based pollster Forsa.

“That would be unacceptable for the CDU and the grand coalition would sooner or later break apart,” Guellner said in an interview.

Depending on the details of the demands, the coalition could rumble on for weeks or months, even if some of the coalition members run out of patience.

“All day long the SPD asks itself ‘do I want all this here’,” Jens Spahn, the 39-year-old CDU health minister and conservative flag-bearer, said in Leipzig. “My simple expectation is that whoever leads the SPD after this convention, that they decide what they want.”

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According To Iran News, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on European states to develop new weapon systems, including military aircraft and tanks.

“We will jointly develop weapons systems in the future, including a military aircraft project and a tank project. Germany and France are at the cutting edge here,” the chancellor said in her traditional weekly video address, this time dedicated to the 64th anniversary of the founding of the Bundeswehr.

According to Merkel, the conflict in Ukraine and “annexation of Crimea” once again actualized defense and cooperation within the framework of military alliances, especially in NATO.

“Military component with foreign policy interests and development cooperation within the EU,” Merkel said, Sputnik reported.

The chancellor added that Germany’s security is ensured by the existence of the Bundeswehr, so the armed forces should receive the necessary financial resources for development.

Western countries have repeatedly made claims about the alleged Russian aggression with regard to the conflict in Ukraine and the Crimea’s reunification with Russia. Moscow has denied claims of involvement in the crisis and said reunification was a result of a referendum held in line with international laws.

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The disagreements between the environment, finance, economy and transport ministries could further erode the credibility of Merkel’s right-left coalition, weakened by regional election losses and infighting and up for review by the end of the year.

According To Iran News

German ministries have failed to agree on a set of climate protection measures, government sources said on Wednesday, leaving little time to fulfil Chancellor Angela Merkel’s plan to pass the landmark package this year.

A government spokesman, however, appeared to downplay the risk that there would be no deal and said the cabinet would approve the final details next Wednesday.

The ministries have been unable to agree on the scale of measures to cut emissions of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.

These are due to include raising car and air traffic taxes as well as increasing a road toll for trucks from 2023, the sources, who were briefed on the talks, told Reuters.

The ministries are also at odds on how many tones of CO2 each of those measures will shave off Germany’s total emissions.

Merkel’s conservatives and their Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners last month agreed an outline for the climate package without taking on new debt to fund the measures, although environmental groups said it did not go far enough.

Asked about the disagreement among the ministries, the government spokesman said: “The agreed details of the comprehensive and already agreed climate protection programme will be passed by the cabinet next week.”

The government had originally wanted the details to be presented to cabinet on Wednesday. The delay means there are only 10 days left for the government to sign the package off in time to get it through parliament before the end of the year.

Sources in the SPD told Reuters that the transport ministry had asked for more time to process the proposals.

The ministry is controlled by the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavaria-based sister party of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU). Both those parties and the SPD are accused by environmental activists of putting the interests of the car industry first and shielding it from tougher emissions rules.(Agree Details of Climate Deal)

“The clock is ticking,” said SPD lawmaker Matthias Miersch. “Everyone in the government has to understand that the time of turf wars and power struggles is over.”

Climate experts and opposition parties, including the Greens and the radical Left Party have ridiculed the measures as a “sham” and a “bluff package”.

At the centre of their outrage is a decision to introduce a carbon dioxide price of 10 euros a tone for transport and heating in buildings from 2021 and gradually increase it to 35 euros in 2025.

Economists and activists had hoped for a starting price of at least 40 euros and point to Switzerland where that price is about 90 euros for heating with fossils.

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In the long-awaited meeting, they discussed ways to maintain and boost the economic relations and cooperation between Tehran and Berlin, save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and reduce tensions in the region.

They also talked about Iran’s new initiative for regional peace and security in the Persian Gulf, known as the “Hormuz Peace Initiative”, considering the critical conditions across the region.

Hailing Germany as one of Iran’s major partners, Rouhani called for efforts to continue the old and friendly ties between the two countries.

The president, however, dismissed the “groundless accusations” that Germany, France and the UK have levelled against Iran in a recent statement at the UN, according to IFP News.

He also stressed that all parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal were duty-bound to honor the JCPOA and salvage the important international agreement after the US unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018.

For her part, Merkel reaffirmed support for the continuation of the JCPOA, and called for the removal of sanctions against Iran.

She also said that Germany and the other European states were determined to carry out INSTEX, a payment channel that the three European parties to the JCPOA (Germany, France, and the UK) have established to maintain trade with Iran.

Merkel further said Berlin would eagerly consider Iran’s initiative for peace, stressing that her country supports any prudent measure for the reduction of tensions in the region.

The Iranian president has also held meetings with the leaders of France, Japan, the UK, Sweden, Switzerland and Pakistan on the sidelines of the UN meeting in New York.

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The U.S. has announced plans to form a Washington-led maritime force to supposedly secure the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, which hosts considerable international oil shipments.

During a press conference on Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said his country “would not participate in the mission the United States plans to form.”

Madrid and Tokyo have also rejected an official request from Washington to participate in the naval coalition.

Spanish newspaper El Confidencial said on Thursday Madrid had received an official request from the United States to participate in these forces. However, the same sources said that “the Spanish government has currently no intention to participate in joint U.S.-led forces,” Middle East Monitor reported.

Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun also reported that Tokyo won’t send ships to join the U.S.-led maritime force.

Tensions in the Persian Gulf have been on the rise in the past several months.

On 4 July, Royal Marines were involved in the seizure of Iranian oil tanker Grace 1 off Gibraltar, claiming that the ship was carrying oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions. Iran called it an act of “piracy”.

Days later, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps seized British-flagged Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz.

Nathalie Tocci, special adviser to European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, has said that the Europeans will opt for “dialogue” and “diplomacy” with Iran on the issue of security in the Persian Gulf region.

“So long as [Europeans] see a chance of freedom of navigation being secured through dialogue and diplomacy with Iran, they will opt for this route,” Politico quoted her as saying on Friday.

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The emergence of these challenges has led to a sharp decline in the popularity of traditional parties in Europe. In such a way, nationalist parties have been able to increase their popularity with the public. Which side are the European Union and the eurozone really heading to? Will the future of Europe finally be clear these are the questions that concern the mentally ill, such as Merkel and Macron? Here are some of the analyzes on the concerns and concerns of the German Chancellor on the European Union and the Eurozone:

With Brexit just one of EU’s headaches, Merkel avoids rocking the boat

As Guardian reported, When the German chancellor was asked this week why she would not railroad Italy and the so-called Visegrád group of countries – Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary – into accepting the former Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans, a critic of populist governments, as European commission president, Angela Merkel’s answer was telling.

“The Brexit is looming on the horizon,” Merkel said in reference to the need to avoid tensions when appointing the next head of the commission. “Other important issues are on the table. I think we need to treat each other with care.”

For all the unity it has shown so far in its negotiations with the UK, the EU is straining to keep its many different constituencies onside across a range of other issues. The next five-year term offers more of the same.The divergence in values that threatens to cripple the bloc was neatly highlighted at a summit this month when Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic refused to sign up to a communique that committed to a climate-neutral EU by 2050 – a target that was already seen as too wishy-washy by green lobby groups, given the gravity of the climate emergency.

The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, wants to put the world on a path to limiting global warming to 1.5C at a September summit. He had written to Donald Tusk, the outgoing European council president, asking the EU to show leadership on the world stage – and it could not.The three naysayers are seeking extra recompense for making green changes to their economies in the upcoming seven-year budget known as the multiannual financial framework (MFF), but they will face stern challenge from members, such as the Netherlands, which are firmly opposed to the EU being a “transfer union”.

Indeed the negotiations over the MFF, optimistically scheduled to have finished in May, are predictably proving to be a major headache, leading the EU budget commissioner, Günther Oettinger, to recently warn: “It’s not really five minutes to midnight, it’s almost five past midnight already.”

The package asks net recipients such as France and Germany to pay more as a trade-off for less being handed over in cohesion funds to the central and eastern European states, and more being invested in scientific research and development. But failure to find agreement by the end of October could lead to the EU being unable to fund the next round of Horizon Europe research and development programs.

The difficulties in the talks are understandable. The divergence in values is matched by an economic divergence from east to west and north to south that the EU has failed to bridge, despite the almost existential threat it posed during the eurozone crisis, when economies unable to borrow on the market had to come cap in hand to Berlin, only to be put on a humiliating diet of cuts as the price for help. The Guardian view on Europe’s top jobs: the good, the bad and the compromise

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has championed a eurozone budget, to allow the EU to act as a sovereign nation in times of trouble, but there has only yet been agreement on a tiny symbolic pot. No wonder, then, that the populist Italian government has raged at Brussels meddling in its tax and spend plans, which it says is necessary to boost its struggling economy.

But as the new leaders in Brussels – Ursula von der Leyen and Christine Lagarde as the first female presidents of the European commission and European Central Bank respectively, and Charles Michel as European council president – move into their offices this autumn, it will be Brexit that will be sucking up their time and energy.

It is certain that the next British prime minister, likely to be Boris Johnson, will not secure the increasingly outlandish potential concessions being touted by the two candidates in the Tory leadership race.

The battle might then be to deal with the economic costs of a no-deal Brexit and a toxic relationship with London at a time when Donald Trump’s White House piles on the pressure through tariffs on trade and China doubles down in its investments in Africa, leaving the EU trailing behind in emerging markets there. Merkel’s commitment to avoiding a row over personnel suddenly becomes more understandable.

How Emmanuel Macron won the battle over the EU’s top jobs

Also, Financial Times reported that

It is rare for any leader to emerge jubilant from a gruelling three-day international summit. But French president Emmanuel Macron could not hide his satisfaction after this week’s marathon meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

Fifty hours of negotiations, including an all-night session, among the EU’s prime ministers and presidents had yielded a team of high-calibre politicians to lead the union’s institutions for the coming years. It marked a “deep renewal” for the European project, Mr Macron rejoiced, even a new era.

“This agreement is the fruit of a deep Franco-German understanding, and of our ability to work with all the European partners,” the French leader added. “This decision is one which means we do not divide Europe — not politically, nor geographically.”

Thirty hours earlier, the picture had looked completely different. Then, a visibly angry Mr. Macron had emerged from stalled talks to rail against the “divisions” and “hidden agendas” that made it impossible for the bloc to reach decisions. The EU was once again displaying its vacillation at a time when the world around it was in upheaval.

“We give an image of a Europe that is not serious,” said the French leader.

The EU’s sleep-deprived leaders had, at that stage, just endured a last frantic effort to find a winning package. “It was chaos,” says one diplomat. “It got worse hour by hour.” Another describes the scene as “crazy”.

One prime minister had sounded out colleagues about other leaders standing in earshot. Another proposed a slate of politicians only from Germany and the Benelux. Then, to everyone’s relief, the talks were suspended overnight until Tuesday morning.

This was the EU’s third attempt to appoint new heads of the European Commission, European Central Bank, and European Council as well as a foreign policy chief. It looked like an impossible puzzle but the following evening a deal was struck.

Leaders agreed that Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s defence minister, should become commission president, placing her in charge of the EU’s executive arm. France’s Christine Lagarde secured the ECB presidency. Belgian prime minister Charles Michel was named as European Council president, meaning he will chair meetings of EU leaders, and Spain’s Josep Borrell will lead on foreign policy.

Everyone could claim at least a partial victory. Donald Tusk, the outgoing EU Council president, declared that “it was worth waiting for such an outcome”. Yet to many it looked like a typical backroom stitch-up to serve the interests of Europe’s ancien regime. France and Germany shared the two most important jobs.

The spoils were confined to the EU’s three established political families of conservatives, socialists and liberals — with nothing for the resurgent greens and Eurosceptics — and to the countries of western Europe. It was also a result that allowed the center-right European People’s party to extend its 15-year grip on the commission presidency.

But if the outcome apparently maintained the status quo, the process — a “clash between diplomatic Europe and political Europe”, according to Susi Dennison of the European Council on Foreign Relations — revealed the strong undercurrents of change.

It highlighted the shrinking power of German chancellor Angela Merkel, who came under fire from her own colleagues in the center-right EPP, and the disruptive potential of Eastern European governments. It laid bare the sheer complexity of decision-making in an EU of 28 nations, whose parliament has become fragmented and unpredictable after the center-right and center-left blocs lost their combined majority for the first time in 40 years.

There was also a split over how much importance should be attached to finding jobs for the main parties’ Spitzenkandidaten or “lead candidates” who ran in May’s EU elections — a system championed by the European Parliament and some capitals, especially Berlin, as a way to make the union more democratic.

“They tried the Spitzenkandidaten system. It didn’t work. They tried to find a new way. That was the old way,” says Daniela Schwarzer, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank. “It reflects the fragmentation and political divisions in the EU.”

Ms. Merkel and Mr. Macron had arrived in Brussels on Sunday with a joint plan. The German leader had failed at a summit in June to secure the commission presidency for Manfred Weber, a conservative and the EPP’s lead candidate in the elections. His candidacy had encountered a wall of opposition, including from Mr. Macron.

Now there was a radically different plan cooked up by the French and German leaders with their Dutch and Spanish counterparts on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka last weekend: Mr. Weber would become president of the EU parliament, while Frans Timmermans, a former Dutch foreign minister who led the center-left campaign, would take the commission.

For Ms. Merkel, the approach had the benefit of satisfying her Social Democrat coalition partners at home while hopefully pleasing her own party by finding a prominent role for Mr. Weber.

Shortly after arriving in Brussels, Ms. Merkel discovered that her own political family saw the deal as a surrender. A stormy pre-meeting of EPP leaders at the Palais des Académies on Sunday set the stage for what was to follow, as prime ministers including Croatia’s Andrej Plenkovic and Latvia’s Krisjanis Karins rebelled over a plan that they argued was against the EPP’s interests.

Boyko Borisov, the conservative prime minister of Bulgaria, arrived at the summit stony-faced, saying: “Merkel is chairman of the CDU. Not the EPP.”

Mr. Timmermans also faced implacable opposition from the “Visegrad Four” group of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. The Dutchman has fought battles with the Polish and Hungarian governments in his current role as commission first vice-president charged with preserving the rule of law.

Unwilling to give up on a jobs package that she hoped would shield her from political damage at home, Ms. Merkel held last-ditch talks with other EPP leaders in the early hours of Monday that failed to deliver a breakthrough despite what one diplomat describes as “arm twisting”.

It set the stage for the chaotic period of negotiations that leaders endured before Mr. Tusk suspended the summit.

David-Maria Sassoli elected as president of European Parliament

The package that did eventually emerge after talks resumed on Tuesday bore a clear French imprimatur: Mr. Macron had championed the cause of Ms von der Leyen and now added Ms. Lagarde for the ECB. He pitched the idea of a package based around the two women to Ms. Merkel during a lull in talks.

Mr. Timmermans was out and the centre-right would get the commission presidency after all. The impasse was broken and a consensus reached remarkably quickly, despite failing to meet one of the basic criteria EU leaders had set themselves: regional balance. All four of the people chosen are from western Europe, and three are from the EU’s six founding countries.

Warsaw and Budapest crowed about toppling Mr. Timmermans. But they ended up with Ms von der Leyen, a pro-gay marriage modernising centrist who may turn out to be tougher on democratic backsliding in the east than her predecessor. There was no big job for the region. Diplomats say it reinforced the impression that central and eastern European governments, whose interests often diverge, can be good at wrecking but less so at building.

In a final twist, when it came to a vote by EU leaders on the first German commission president in 50 years, Ms. Merkel found herself in the extraordinary position of having to abstain because her Social Democrat allies back in Berlin were furious at her for dropping the lead candidate system. All other leaders voted in favour of the deal.

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This week’s events revealed how Ms. Merkel’s authority is dwindling. She once ruled supreme over the EPP, but this time she faced open revolt. At home, the EU jobs deal has given the SPD a reason to quit the coalition, which would end Ms. Merkel’s career.

It also illustrated the declining power of the EPP, which for the past two and a half years has held the commission, council and parliament presidencies. The centre of gravity of EPP MEPs has shifted from west to east and towards a conservative-nationalist worldview.

The jobs deal was a blow to the European Parliament and supporters of the lead candidate system. But the legislature is far from cowed. Ms von der Leyen’s appointment requires the approval of MEPs at a confirmation vote in mid-July. The numbers could be tight, which means Ms von der Leyen will have to allow MEPs to shape her program to win confirmation.

“It might appear paradoxical that this unpredictable politics in a fragmented Europe is translating into a very old school, backroom arrangement,” says Alberto Alemanno, professor of European law at HEC business school in Paris. “It is paradoxical, but this is not a done deal. Far from it.”

Mr. Macron was clearly the winner of the week. He may have extended the EPP’s tenure at the top of the commission, but he sees Ms von der Leyen as a pro-European open to French ideas on defence and economic integration. He installed Mr. Michel, one of his closest allies, in the European Council. And he can count on Ms. Lagarde at the ECB doing whatever it takes to defend the eurozone. No wonder he was exultant.

“It is an Act 2 that begins for our Europe,” he said. “A new team, profoundly renewed, new faces, a breath of fresh air.”

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