Everything in Europe has been put on hold pending today’s general election in Germany but all commentators agree there is unlikely to be any radical change in policy after today.

The real protagonist of this election once again is Angela Merkel, who is seeking a third term in office. She is by far the most popular politician in her country with an extraordinary 65 per cent popularity and whatever coalition emerges from the polls after today, she is certain to be the next Chancellor.

This product of East Germany exemplifies the typical values of a German ‘hausfrau’ – she is cautious, approaches problems step by step, and favours thrift and hard work.

After eight years in power, in the worst financial crisis in Europe since the inter-wars period, she has steered Europe away from breaking up and the extinction of the single currency. It was not easy to persuade the recalcitrant countries of the south the virtues of thrift and austerity, or to persuade the peoples of the north to come to the aid of those in the south in their hour of need, but Europe is now coming out of recession and there is hope again for the continent as a whole.

Yet the election is still too close to call as the Chancellor has to win an overall majority to form a coalition government. Merkel’s current alliance with the liberal Free Democrats is in a dead heat, the latest polls say, with the combined forces of the leftwing opposition.

This is despite the fact that the same polls have had Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democrats and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union registering 39-40 per cent while the nearest challenger, the Social Democratic party languishes at around 25 per cent.

The strategy adopted by Merkel and her advisers has been one of dumbing the issues and the electorate with it. The electoral arguments, such as they were, have centred almost exclusively on redistribution – tax increases for the rich, a minimum wage, and social spending.

The really fundamental issues, both as regards Germany, and as regards Europe, have remained on the side.

For all its industrial might, Germany drastically needs a new direction. It has one of the lowest investment rates among all industrialized countries.

Its infrastructure is old and under-maintained. Even its fabled Autobahns are becoming potholed. The Kiel canal, which linked the Baltic Sea to the North Sea has silted up and four lock gates that were installed in the 1880s have not been replaced for lack of funds. Germany needs to spend between €75 billion to €80 billion each year to fill an investment gap that amounts to three per cent of GDP.

But the worst issue is, ironically, energy. Following the shutting down of all nuclear power stations, in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, Germany now has a serious shortfall of energy generation. Besides, there is a real lack of infrastructure to carry electricity from the north to the south of the country and vice-versa. Energy prices in the US are 60 per cent cheaper than those in Germany and widening. On the other hand, the present system of subsidies for renewable energy will have to be made less generous, as energy prices are going through the roof.

All this requires a drastic change from the present policies of the Chancellor, a change that has been long in coming and is now overdue. This is what connects today’s election to the future of Europe. Although the Chancellor and her electoral base have long resisted calls for more spending and less a fixation on austerity and keeping to the no deficit rule, the rest of Europe has been hoping that the Germans open up their purse strings and thus foster growth not just in the country but in the entire continent as well.

Whatever the colour of the coalition that will emerge after today, whether the outgoing ‘black-grey’ one will be substituted by a grand coalition or ‘black-red’ or the even less likely ‘’red-red-green’ between SPD, the Greens and the Left party, or an equally unlikely ‘black-green’ combination of CDU and the Greens, there can be no doubt that the outcome of today’s election will affect the entire future of Europe.