Merkel voices serious accusations: her most dramatic New Year’s speech



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Sedan.
In her New Year’s speech, Chancellor Angela Merkel mourns the deaths of the crown and attacks deniers of the pandemic with unusual harshness.

  • For Angela Merkel, 2020 was not an easy year, if not the hardest of her political career
  • That was also evident in his New Year’s speech – it will be his last before he leaves office next year.
  • It was aimed primarily at those people who deny the corona pandemic.
  • It is Merkel’s last New Year’s speech and, at the same time, the most dramatic of her career.

New Year’s speeches are a classic in the repertoire of German heads of government. you belong to New Year Eve as well as fireworks and they are usually a mixture of review, thanksgiving and a little perspective in well placed words. But at this turn of the year everything is different. It will be the last for Angela Merkel New year address – and at the same time the most dramatic of his entire career. Read also: 15 years in office: Chancellor Merkel uncompromising

“In 2020 something happened to us that the world was not expecting,” he says. “It hits us where we are most human: in close contact, in a hug, in conversation, while celebrating.” The virus turns normal behavior into a risk and unknown protective measures a reality.

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Angela Merkel: Your own helplessness can be felt in your speech

the pandemic calls the Chancellor “a political, social and economic task of the century.” She is a “historical crisiswhich has imposed a lot on everyone and too much on some, “said Merkel:” I know it has required tremendous confidence and patience on your part and continues to demand that you get involved in this historic feat. “

Merkel’s speech also echoes her own helplessness in the face of a completely new and unprecedented danger: “In the spring we had to react to a virus about which there was little knowledge and reliable information. We had to make decisions that at first we could only hope would turn out to be correct. “

Merkel’s New Year’s speech – Chancellor thanks the nurses

In her speech, Merkel also mentions the more than 32,000 deaths by crown in Germany: “As a society, we must not forget how many have lost a loved one without being able to be near him in the last hours. I can’t ease your pain. But I think about her, especially tonight. “

It then attacks, in unusually drastic terms, all those who downplay or even deny the pandemic. “I can only guess how bitter those mourning a loved one for Corona or struggling with the aftermath of illness must feel when the virus is denied and denied by some incorrigible people,” Merkel said: “Conspiracy theories do not they are just false and dangerous, they are also cynical and cruel to these people. “

Read the 2019 speech here: Merkel’s New Year’s speech: Climate change is “threatening”

Once again, Merkel thanked the nursing staff and everyone who was particularly committed to the crisis. The new year will be difficult for a while. But advances in science and the introduction of vaccines are cause for hope. She will also vaccinate herself “when it’s my turn.”

2020 was also a banner year for Merkel herself

Merkel’s speech will be broadcast on public television on New Years Eve, first on ZDF around 7.15pm, then on ARD after the daily news at 8.10pm At the same time, it can also be seen on the broadcast on live and in third party programs. 2020 was also a banner year for Merkel herself. After resigning the chairmanship of the CDU party two years ago after lengthy hesitation, he wanted to focus on a good end to his chancellorship and, above all, set the tone in the framework of the German Presidency of the Council of the EU.

It didn’t turn out much. Because although Merkel managed to install a confidant at the head of the EU Commission with Ursula von der Leyen, all other issues were overshadowed by the Corona crisis. The pandemic will also remain the dominant theme of Merkel’s chancellery in recent months.

Coronavirus: the most important news at a glance

At the end of her New Year’s speech, Merkel gets personal again, briefly discussing the impending end of her chancellorship. It is “in all probability the last time” that you will be allowed to address the citizens with a New Year’s address. It cannot be completely ruled out that Merkel will appear in front of the camera again at the end of the year: if a new government had not yet been formed on New Year’s Eve 2021, she would still be in office.

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