Merkel's challenges - Telegraph Angela Merkel's emphatic victory in the German general election, while widely predicted, is a personal triumph that places her head and shoulders above any of her European contemporaries. As with Margaret Thatcher - with whom comparisons are inevitable given their gender, longevity and outlook, if not personality - she has now won a third term that enables her to consolidate the Christian Democrat grip on power. Exit polls last night suggest she may be able to govern without a coalition for the first time in Germany since Konrad Adenauer in the 1950s, a remarkable achievement. The elections marked a calamitous setback for the liberal Free Democrats, who have often been in coalition with the CDU over the years despite their modest showing in the polls. They appear to have been knocked back by the rising tide of German Euroscepticism in the shape of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Although it failed to win any seats, the AfD reflects an outlook that Chancellor Merkel will need to take into account as she prepares for another four-year term. This could manifest itself in support for David Cameron's efforts to renegotiate the terms of membership; and Mrs Merkel has already hinted that the EU may have to "give something back" to member states. Or perhaps she will seek to bring about greater fiscal integration in the EU. Despite complacent predictions that the crisis in the eurozone is over, this is far from the case and the question of how to deal with it was left unanswered in the campaign. In her third term, Mrs Thatcher tried - and failed - to turn Europe away from the "ever closer union" that saw the creation of the euro and the aggrandisement of Europe's institutions. More than 20 years on, another third-term leader has the fate of the EU in her hands.