Last week, something profound happened in Germany. A large number of Germans lost faith – not in their spirited football team, but in their spiritless government. The trigger was a shocking healthcare reform package, which Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, hailed as a big step forward. Some political commentators joked that Jürgen Klinsmann, the national football coach, might make a more effective political leader.

Ms Merkel’s star has tumbled over the past week as the government’s reform agenda has come unstuck. Only seven months ago she enjoyed the highest popularity ratings ever recorded by a postwar chancellor. Today it looks as if the grand coalition of Social Democrats and Christian Democrats is failing to deliver change. Der Spiegel, the influential German news magazine, last week asked whether she might end up as a less successful chancellor than Gerhard Schröder, her not very successful predecessor.