Below is a translation from the French newspaper Le Monde about how Gerhard Schröder is successfully exploiting Angela Merkel’s difficulties with the regional elections and the sticky issue of handling immigrant youth delinquency, and may be set for a dramatic and unexpected political comeback:

Schröder’s Political Comeback By Daniel Vernet Le Monde, Jan. 16, 2008 Angela Merkel’s easy days are over! During the two first years of her term beginning in the fall of 2005, the German chancellor has been cruising over the reforms implemented by the previous Red-Green government. In 2007, she vaulted herself to an international level with rotating presidencies of the European Union and the G8 (the largest industrial countries in the world). Again and again she breaks popularity records, far ahead of her potential competitors.