There will be much more of this to come. Together with the far-right Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, Mr Merz is championing a deregulatory approach to delivering growth that risks hobbling Europe’s climate ambitions. Ms Meloni has long railed at what she has described as “green follies” imposed by Brussels. In Mr Merz, an economic liberal instinctively hostile to regulation, she has acquired a powerful ally.