Presidency row shakes Merkel’s coalition

Angela Merkel’s coalition seemed dangerously close to rupture when her Free Democrat (FDP) partners defied the chancellor and backed an opposition candidate for the German presidency, centre-right coalition sources admitted.

Conservative leaders warned the FDP on Sunday there would be “serious consequences” — language party officials understood to mean the end of the coalition — if they refused to drop support for former East German rights activist Joachim Gauck, the sources said.

But the FDP did not blink, and it was Merkel who ended up backing down and agreeing to support Gauck, whose candidacy she had publicly opposed in 2010.