On the other side of the North Atlantic, there are many conservative leaders, like Merkel, Cameron and Rajoy.
I wouldn't really describe Angela Merkel as "conservative" even in German/European context. She's more of a centrist, which means she would be a center-left politician in America. Her government did after all pass the first minimum wage law in the nation's history.
The AfD and the Pegida movement could be seen as German equivalents to the Tea Party though.
Why? Is Angela Merkel really a centrist or she is doing a centrist administration only because the Social Democrats are in the coalition?
Was the 2009-2013 administration during the black yellow coalition more "small government" than the 2005-2009 and 2013- administrations?