"It's the economy, stupid." Decades ago, this phrase featured prominently in a US presidential election campaign and it still remains relevant to this day. When a country's economy is doing well, this translates into jobs, and that means income and taxes that allow the government to fund its activities.

In the past three years, the German economy has not been doing well at all. Entire production sectors in energy-intensive industries have been shut down, and there has been virtually no economic growth. For the current year, leading economic research institutes predict an increase in gross domestic product (GDP) of just 0.1%.

Now, due to the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump a new uncertainty is expected to further damage the already weak economy.

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This is not a favorable scenario for a new government. The conservative bloc of Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the center-left

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