Most Germans say Merkel’s health is a personal issue

BERLIN: Nearly 60 percent of Germans feel that Chancellor Angela Merkel´s bouts of uncontrolled shaking are a personal matter, according to a survey published on Saturday. A poll published in the Augsburger Allgemeinen newspaper found that 59 percent of those questioned felt that trembling seen three times in public in the past month concerns Merkel´s “private” life, while 34 percent said it was a matter of public interest. Merkel will celebrate her 65th birthday next Wednesday and has been at the head of the German government for about 14 years. A majority of those who identified themselves as supporting Merkel´s conservative CDU party, along with a majority of social democrats and environmentalists, believed it was an issue for the chancellor herself. Only a majority of those who support the far-right AfD party felt Merkel´s health was a matter of public interest, the survey found. Although she has suffered three bouts of uncontrolled shaking in public, and remained seated this week as national hymns were played during a ceremony with Denmark´s new prime minister, the German chancellor insists she is doing “very well”. Merkel has said that her first bout of shaking on June 18 during a ceremony with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky provoked a psychosomatic reaction that was responsible for those that followed. The mass-circulation daily Bild reported Friday that Merkel has undergone extensive medical tests since the first incident, which was blamed on dehydration amid a heat wave that had swept over Berlin.