Michel the German, a nationwide personification reminiscent of America’s Uncle Sam or Britain’s John Bull, is a sleepy fellow with a nightcap. He’s a bit conservative and never all that eager on disruption. Michel is, in different phrases, an acceptable consultant for the fashionable German economic system, which has grown by a meagre 0.1% over the previous 5 years and is, in line with forecasts, now getting into yet one more yr of stagnation. When voters head to the polls on February twenty third, the depressing state of the economic system will probably be on the entrance of many minds.
