Its two ministers are lightweight, unlike such previous stalwarts as Franz Josef Strauss and Theo Waigel.

ECONOMIST: Bavarian politics

Five years after taking office, Mr Stoiber has emerged well and truly from the huge shadow of his legendary predecesor-but-one, Franz Josef Strauss.

ECONOMIST: Germany��s election

If the first grand coalition was a partial success, it was mainly because Karl Schiller, the SPD economics minister, and Franz Josef Strauss, the CSU finance minister, got along well.

ECONOMIST: Merkel clinches it, but the price is high | The