The potential conflicts, however, are at the moment overshadowed by a vast and extraordinary public approval of Merkel's work since she became Germany's first female chancellor last November.

Her predecessor in office, Gerhard Schroeder, said "(Merkel) can't do it" when Germany headed to the polls last year. But the latest surveys show that more than 80 percent of Germans believe the opposite -- the highest approval rating any German chancellor has ever had, surpassing even Helmut Kohl's popularity after he facilitated the country's reunification.

Recall that just days before the election, her rating was hovered near the 35-percent mark. Why the drastic change?

For one, she has been underestimated, a trend that has followed her through her career in politics, Gerd Langguth, Merkel's biographer, recently told United Press International. She has swiftly moved up the ranks in her own party and bypassed several talented male colleagues with ease.

But despite her meteoric rise into the chancellery, no one really expected Merkel to shine on matters of foreign policy and facing up to the likes of British Premier Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush.

Ahead of the election she appeared more insecure than Schroeder, who trumped her in a TV duel. And after her conservative Christian Democrat Union received much fewer votes than expected, h! er shot at the helm of the government appeared in limbo.

Observers say Merkel is one example of how an office lends added self-confidence. After only a week in power, she raked in her first success when she acted as a relentless mediator to strike a deal between Blair and French President Jacques Chirac over the European Union's budget.

In Washington, her ousting of Schroeder was a welcome development, as the former German chancellor had few friends there. Merkel's trip to the White House and her meetings with Bush and other U.S. officials resonated as a fresh start for the U.S.-German partnership, which had cooled down during the Iraq war.

But while Merkel took much of Germany's foreign policy into her own hands, the grand coalition has fallen short on domestic issues.

Germany's limping job market remains a problem: with 11.3 percent unemployment, nearly 5 million are without work. Critics of the gr! and coalition argue that future reforms will be watered down by compromises, given the fact that Merkel's conservatives and its coalition partner in government, the Social Democrat Party, or SPD, have campaigned on opposite ends on nearly all issues.

The government recently agreed on reforming the country's federalist power structure, which politicians from all parties had branded as excessive and inefficient.

But an overhaul of the country's ailing health and pension systems has yet to occure. Moreover, several reforms that Merkel had deemed inevitable to better the country, such as labor market reforms and a less complicated tax system, have now been put on hold.

Observers have suggested that neither the conservatives nor the Social Democrats want to touch those controversial topics ahead of several state elections set to be held in the coming weeks. The citizens of Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Berlin, S! axony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are all deciding on a new government.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, traditionally an SPD stronghold, the conservatives may even win the vote. That has already led to an energetic campaign there.

Observers say Germany's government, which is made up of two traditional rival parties, will face some unstable times as both camps look to win their state elections.

So far, Merkel has sided as much with her SPD ministers as with politicians from her own camp. She sports an almost amicable relationship with SPD vice chancellor Franz Muentefering, one of her biggest critics in the past.

Inside the SPD, however, politicians are displeased with their party's role; the conservatives so far have reeled in all the good press thanks to Merkel, and the nominally equal coalition partner SPD is with each week is losing more voter support.

This situation may lead to feisty attacks on Merkel and her conservatives, and it will test the chancellor's abilities to hold the team together.

Although it remains to be seen if Merkel is today a tougher opponent than she was before the elections, the office has lent her added status which could be seen a few weeks ago when former Chancellor Kohl paid her a surprise private visit.

According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Kohl was apparently moved to tears sitting in his former office, occupied now by Merkel, whom he called his "little girl" 15 years ago, and whom he made a federal minister after roughly half a year in politics.

People present in the room said Kohl now addressed her as "Frau Bundeskanzlerin," using the formal "Sie" to speak to his former prot�g�.

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