Angela Merkel is finally getting the post she wanted, but with considerable curbs on her powers, writes Derek Scally in Berlin
It took two days to pick the new German Pope but three weeks to decide on the new German chancellor. Now it finally looks as if Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Dr Angela Merkel is on course to move into the Chancellery on Berlin's Willy Brandt Straße.
It was Social Democrat leader Willy Brandt who led his party into post-war Germany's first grand coalition in 1966 as foreign minister.
The shadow of Brandt and the last grand coalition will hang over the next weeks as the CDU and SPD hammer out a programme for government, a pre-nuptial agreement before the so-called "Elephant's Wedding".
It's another twist in the short but eventful political career of Angela Merkel, which officially began in 1989 and an interest which went back to her childhood when, aged five, she delivered mini-lectures on West German politics to her grandmother.
Born Angela Kasner in Hamburg in 1954, she was just eight weeks old when she moved with her family to the eastern German town of Templin, an hour north of Berlin. She studied physics in Leipzig and was briefly married there before divorcing and moving to Berlin. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, she joined the CDU and the cabinet of then chancellor Helmut Kohl.
She rose quickly through the party ranks, staged a political coup and seized the party leadership in 2000.
But her leadership looked shaky on election night after the CDU finished six points below expectations and just one percentage point ahead of the SPD.
Political observers predicted she would be dispatched swiftly by the CDU crown princes, who had risen through the party ranks over decades and saw her as an unwelcome eastern intruder into their political world.
But, three weeks after she looked like a political loser, Angela Merkel winked, waved and made faces for the cameras yesterday.
Relief rather than euphoria filled her face and journalists who tried to drag out of her how she was feeling didn't get far.
"Yes, I'm doing well" is all she said, flashing a tight smile. She classified her mood as "keyed-up attention", before returning to an analysis of the political situation.
It is this analytical, no-nonsense personality that may make Angela Merkel more suited to this new role than many expect.
Her maths teacher remembers how the young Angela Kasner learned long before everyone else in her class to solve a problem working from the solution backwards.
A grand coalition was the most likely outcome - politically and mathematically - of the September 18th vote, and Angela Merkel has been working backwards from this result ever since.
She recognised her weakened position after the disappointing election result and called a snap leadership vote to shore up support and silence critics by uniting her fate with that of the party ahead of exploratory talks.
That party backing helped her stick out the last three weeks of political poker without blinking, holding fast to her claim on the chancellery even if her programme for economic change didn't sit as well with German voters as she'd hoped.
As chancellor of a grand coalition she will not be able to implement any of her programme as planned, such as promises to cut taxes and loosen employment laws. She has EU experience as a minister under Helmut Kohl but appears happy now to let others take over that responsibility in a new government.
Tackling German problems at home means that foreign relations, and current EU matters, are likely to come a distant second in the near future.
Last May she made the surprisingly humble remark that she wanted to "serve Germany", an observation that may be proven prescient.
"She learns fast and has already analysed the situation and, because she isn't a personality-driven politician like Gerhard Schröder, she has realised that she will be a mediator in the grand coalition rather than a driving force for a system change," said Prof Karl Rudolf Korte, political scientist at the University of Duisburg.
The grand coalition may also have a longer life than many in Berlin expect, according to Rainer Barzel, CDU parliamentary leader in the 1966-69 grand coalition.
"Both parties are damned to succeed. You don't have to love one another," said Barzel. "The most important thing will be that the two parties find a way of co-operating. With this result I think the depression over Germany will lift." Few foreign policy shifts were expected from a CDU-led government and, if anything, the prospect of a grand coalition has cemented this belief.
"With a CDU chancellor and SPD foreign minister, we will probably see more inertia than people expected," said Dr Ulrike Guerot, political analyst of the German Marshall Fund.
"On Turkey, Merkel opposes entry but she cannot do what she wants, which is good for talks, but on the other hand I think Germany will not be very engaged on this issue in the future."
That a woman will wear the trousers in Germany's next government has played little role in the political debate here, mostly thanks to Merkel herself. She is bored by the topic of women in politics and says she has little time for special pleading. No one here is expecting a Mná na hÉireann moment anytime soon, but Merkel may be good for a surprise yet.
"For the first time a woman is at the very pinnacle of government and that means something," said Alice Schwarzer, publisher and leading German feminist. "I just hope that this woman is given a chance and that she isn't surrounded by disregard and intrigues."
After three weeks of hard negotiations, yesterday's announcement was another milestone in the rise and rise of Angela Merkel, and further proof that intrigues intrigue her.