Voters all over Europe seem to be suspicious of politicians. Like last week in the UK, yesterday the voters in Germany's important regional election in North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) didn't deliver an outright winner. The centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) gained only 6,200 votes more than the Social Democrats (SPD). Over all, the CDU lost more than 10% of the share of votes. Who will form a government remains unclear at the moment.

A regional election, who cares, you might say? But things are different in Germany. The regional elections in North Rhine Westphalia, the most populated region, is called a "small general election". Last time, in 2005, when the Social Democrats lost, the then-chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder of the SPD, immediately called a general election.

This time this won't happen yet, but for the chancellor, Angela Merkel, of the CDU, it was a big blow nevertheless. The government, led by an ally of Merkel, lost its majority. This affects the national politics: Merkel will lose her centre-right majority in the second chamber, the Bundesrat, too, which will make decisions even more complicated. With the euro in trouble, a sick finance minister and a volatile national coalition it adds to the feeling of a government in crisis. How long the CDU-coalition with the pro-business FDP in Berlin will last is very difficult to say right now.

Merkel had feared this regional election in North Rhine Westphalia like nothing else, and she wanted to defer all important decisions on tax reform, dealing with the debt and health reform after 9 May. Then Greece cried for help. The CDU and its pro-business coalition partner FDP failed to persuade Germans why the financial help for Greece was necessary. German taxpayers deliver €22bn, the biggest share of the package.

Fuelled by a negative campaign in the tabloid press, the Greek help proved hugely unpopular. Merkel had wanted to defer that decision too until after the North Rhine Westphalia election, but it was passed through the Bundestag just two days before the election. The clouds darkened eventually with the euro crisis meeting on the day of the election itself. The regional election was decided in Athens, Berlin and Brussels, not in Duesseldorf. Merkel's worst fears have come true, and she now has to prove her leadership.