Current Event 7/28/12

Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, has taken a vacation from politics without consulting her cabinet members. She has not met with the cabinet to arrange this vacation, as she has done in the past, but is hiking with her husband to get away from the political turmoil of European leaders. On the agenda for her vacation is also a visit to the Bayreuth Wagner opera festival, where she will see a production of the "Flying Dutchman."
Merkel's own first half of 2012 has been rather like the tragedy of the Dutchman, with work and travel barraging her incessantly as she negotiated bailout packages, austerity measures, immigration and other issues. However hard she has worked, she is not getting the full approval of the German people, some of whom wonder if Merkel is acting with German interests above all, and if Germany is overstretching their fiscal parameters.
However, Merkel has attempted to stay neutral and at the back of many controversial topics, likely because she hopes to be reelected in 2013. She has been in office since 2005.
The fatigue of the German economy and people is reflected in Merkel, who is a definite sign that while Germany is doing much better than others in the Eurozone, it also needs a break to ensure that it will not wear out.

http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16124316,00.html