BELLS TOLL: The most liberal European leader, chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, heads the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)m=, faciing protects by Neo-Nazis for permitting regugees from Syria and other Islamic states. In a February poll, the CDU fell into second place behind Gerany’s centre- left opposition, the German social Democratic Party (SPD)_ for the first time in a decade. The SPD is now led by Martin Schulz, former European Parliament presidentr, who has publicly presented a more hard-line approach on many issues.