BERLIN — For the second time in 10 days, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany was seen shaking at a public event in Berlin and struggling to maintain control of her body, but her spokesman insisted she was well.
On Thursday, Ms. Merkel, 64, was seen clasping her elbows as her lower body trembled while she stood beside the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at a farewell ceremony for Justice Minister Katarina Barley, who is leaving to become a lawmaker in the European Parliament.
Ms. Merkel’s body shook in a similar manner on June 18, when she stood in the sun during a state visit of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine.
The chancellor later suggested the high temperatures were to blame, and said she felt better after drinking several glasses of water.
This time, Ms. Merkel was standing indoors at the presidential palace when she began trembling, in temperatures that were not above normal for a summer day in Berlin.
On Thursday, Steffen Seibert, the chancellor’s spokesman, did not address any particular reason for the shaking. But he said that Ms. Merkel would continue to maintain her planned schedule for the day, including departing for Japan later in the day to attend the Group of 20 meeting.
“Everything is continuing as planned, the chancellor is doing well,” Mr. Seibert said.
Later on Thursday, the chancellor was scheduled to depart for Japan, and on Sunday, she was to head to Brussels for a European Union summit meeting where she was expected to play a major role in trying to reach a deal on the distribution of the bloc’s top jobs for the next five years.
Source : Nytimes
