Media Coverage

The reason why a Grand Coalition is the most likely option is that support for the FDP has been withering among German voters and the FDP recently lost in Bavaria's regional elections, where they were trounced by Merkel's Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU).

Stephen Adams, a partner at London-based political consultancy Global Counsel and an expert on Germany, agrees that a Grand Coalition is the most likely outcome of voting on the 22 September.

However, he thinks that a coalition between the Green Party and Merkel's CDU is the second most likely option after a Grand Coalition between the CDU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Germany's main left-wing party.

It took Russia 18 years to get into the World Trade Organisation, but as the first anniversary approaches many Russian businesses are starting asking why the government bothered. “The majority of Russian businesses have felt little or no change following Russian accession to the WTO in 2012,” Global Counsel consultancy said in a report released at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum last week. “The Russian authorities expect that the impact of new competition will begin to be felt after three to five years, but the full impact could take much of this decade to emerge.”