Why Europe's sociopolitical landscape is in flux at the close of 2021

MUCH is changing in European politics at the moment, including in the continent's largest economy, Germany.

Next week, the left-of-centre Social Democrats leader Olaf Scholz will probably be voted in as Angela Merkel's successor as chancellor, forming a three-way coalition with the Greens and pro-business Liberals.

Yet, important as the change of leadership in Berlin is for the continent, news headlines were focused last week on two other G7 nations in Europe - that is, France and Italy, the EU's second and third largest economies respectively. For much of the post-war era, Berlin and Paris have been the dynamos of ever-closer European integration. Yet, Italy under Prime Minister Mario Draghi is now seeking to shake up that duopoly, and try to tilt the EU's balance of power in the post-Merkel era to come.