Chancellor Angela Merkel won re-election in Germany with an impressive share of the vote, but talks to form a coalition remain jammed over whether to establish a minimum wage. This focus is myopic.

The next government — probably a grand coalition between Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party — will need to concentrate on fundamental issues affecting the next generation that have been neglected under Merkel as she concentrated on balancing the budget.

Germany may be the export success story that other countries want to emulate, but that powerful narrative hides weaknesses — aging highways and rail networks, subpar technology investment, poor demographics — which need to be addressed now, if the country is to avoid stumbling later on. After all, it was only in the 1990s that Germany was being called "the sick man of Europe," and it can happen again.