The trip has coincided with dwindling public support for Chancellor Merkel and her open-door policy to migrants, and it also comes at a time when the anti-Russian sanctions are increasingly being seen as unpopular. Mr. Seehofer’s trip is important both for the context that was mentioned and because the state he represents is one of Germany’s most significant in terms of geography, population, and economic output.

Also, despite nominally being a coalition ally of Chancellor Merkel, he’s come to be perhaps her most vehement internal opponent, chastising her on all of her political shortcomings over the past year and emerging as perhaps the most likely alternative to her rule one day.

Igor Pellicciari, professor at the LUISS University in Rome and lecturer at the Higher School of Economics (studio guest); Paul Sanders, German-British historian and professor at NEOMA business school (France); and Wolfram Goel, editor of the BAYERNKURIER, the Christian Social Union party newspaper, shared their perspectives.