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Today, as the widely respected German chancellor prepares to resign after more than 15 years at the top, it is hard to imagine, but early in her career, Merkel was constantly underrated and viewed from above, even by those who were supposedly on the side. his side. .
Merkel, the patron saint of then Chancellor Helmut Kohl, was called “mein Maedel” – “my girl.”
“Her enemies and other politicians have always underestimated her, and when they realized that a woman from the East could play this power game, it was too late,” said Ralph Bollmann, author of Merkel’s authoritative biography Angela Merkel: The Chancellor and His time.
The media only reinforced this feeling that Merkel is not a serious political rival.
During one of her first media appearances as the new leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 2001, in Berlin, Merkel did not appear on her sleigh.
Not caring about the bright lights and cameras, he seemed not to know where to look and what to do with his hands, answering journalists’ questions in a bland and boring manner. Speaking after the event, many of the assembled journalists (mostly men) agreed: this woman will never be chancellor.
But what did they know?
Merkel has served four terms and has become one of the longest-serving chancellors in German history, with only Kohl working longer.
Two decades later, he has consolidated his position as head of state as he has helped his country, and some say Europe as a whole, to overcome many potentially disastrous crises.
Named the most influential woman in the world on several occasions, Merkel has also played a crucial role on the international stage, helping to manage the global financial crisis, the refugee crisis and the war in Ukraine.
As Germany prepares to go to the polls this weekend to elect a new government, and with it its successor, it is unclear if any of those seeking to replace it is Merkel’s CDU’s Armin Laschet, Olaf Scholz of the Socialist Party of center left. (SPD) or the representative of the Greens party, Annalena Baerbock, will be able to replace her.
Bollmann says the world will urgently need Merkel’s continued leadership.
“I think there is one thing in common in Germany and abroad: it is seen as a guarantor of stability. In the future, many people will remember this moment as a period of stability, perhaps for the last time,” he said.
Merkel, 67, grew up in East Germany during communism, earned a bachelor of science and a doctorate in quantum chemistry, and became a politician after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In the first elections after German reunification, he won a seat in the Bundestag, the German parliament.
After that, Merkel not only became the first chancellor of Germany, but also fundamentally changed the politics of the country.
However when the CDU won the German elections and it was widely believed that this happened despite Merkel’s alleged weaknesses, not through them.
After 2005 At the time of the vote, then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, while participating in the television program “Elephant Circle,” spoke dismissively about Merkel, laughing at the idea that she could form a ruling coalition.
“He will not be able to form a coalition with my Social Democratic Party,” he said. “Do not fool yourself”.
“There are many things that he learned from his youth during communism, because he had to hide his true opinions, not say anything … He is a very calm, patient person,” Merkel biographer R. Bollmann told CNN.
Merkel’s first year in the chancellor’s chair was basically boring. After several years of stagnation, the German economy has been gradually gaining momentum.
But in 2008, when investment banking company Lehman Brothers collapsed and the world seemed to fall into an economic abyss, Germans feared their export-dependent country would collapse.
That was the moment when Merkel took the initiative in the country and became the country’s crisis manager.
2008 October 5 he told Germans: “Your savings are safe, the federal government guarantees it.”
His calm and encouraging words helped prevent massive bank failures and ushered in a period of confidence in Merkel-led Germany in the face of disaster.
His government has launched a short-term job program called Kurzarbeit, which has helped companies retain employees by making them work shorter and the government by supplementing their income.
According to the Federal Employment Agency, the program cost about $ 6 billion. However, it helped Germany avoid mass unemployment and ensured that German companies would benefit from the recovery of the world economy by retaining skilled workers.
When the Greek debt crisis began in 2012, the Germans trusted their chancellor and believed that he would face difficulties.
Merkel has taken the initiative and created huge funds to save the economies of not only Greece, but also other debt-stricken eurozone countries.
Although Greece and other countries criticized what they thought were draconian bailout conditions, Merkel was likely to save the single currency.
“Europe will fail if the euro collapses. Europe will win if the euro wins”, 2012 The German Bundestage told Merkel.
“It led Germany, Europe and, in part, the rest of the world through an era of crisis, major crises, which we think could never happen in a Western democracy,” Bollmann said.
But while Merkel is seen as a fearless and experienced crisis manager, critics say she risked confronting her party’s conservative CDU voters by taking a left-wing stance on key issues such as nuclear power, politics. foreign affairs and immigration.
Merkel’s government had initially suspended Germany’s planned withdrawal from nuclear power, but after 2011, she reversed that decision after the Fukushima disaster.
The move was popular with the left, but not necessarily with supporters of the CDU.
“The Angela Merkel phenomenon is essentially leadership from behind,” said Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief of the right-wing German tabloid BILD. – You see where people are going and you follow the masses, you do not lead the masses. He did it perfectly. “
The same was often the case in foreign policy.
“In terms of foreign policy, Germany is clearly not reaching its potential,” Reichelt told CNN. – Merkel did everything possible to ignore the main conflicts and problems of the world. She was one of the champions to ignore all the problems that were so obvious in Afghanistan and that will obviously hit us after the withdrawal. “
Probably the most famous moment of A. Merkel’s international leadership was in 2015. in the summer, when hundreds of thousands of refugees, mostly displaced by the civil war in Syria, entered Europe.
While many of her fellow European Union leaders have spoken out in favor of preventing the masses from entering the bloc, Merkel felt that massive humanitarian action was needed at this time.
“Germany is a strong country. We have achieved so much, we can do it! – Ms Merkel declared aloud in 2015 at a press conference, opening the doors of her country to refugees.” We will take care of that, and if someone interferes, it will have to be overcome. “
Finally, over the next year and a half, Germany adopted about 1.2 million. refugees.
Professor Hajo Funke of the Free University of Berlin believes that opening Germany and Europe to the influx of people in need was one of the largest humanitarian actions in German history.
“It was the golden hour of democracy after World War II. It’s a legacy: not being a nationalist,” Funke told CNN.
Following Merkel’s call to action, many German asylum seekers gathered with food and clothing, some opened their homes to those who had overcome a difficult journey or helped them find work.
But the magic of the moment finally faded. Integrating the newcomers was a difficult task that, according to some critics, was not done correctly.
Her treatment of the refugee crisis has reduced Merkel’s popularity at home. This has helped popularize far-right political forces, including Alternative to Germany (AfD).
The AfD became the first far-right faction to be elected to the Bundestag since 1961. During 2017 in the election it ranked third with 12.6 percent. votes.
Although Merkel won another term as chancellor, her party’s poor performance in local elections convinced her that it was time for a change.
2018 has announced that it will transfer leadership to the CDU and that it will not seek re-election in 2021.
But soon a new crisis broke out.
2020 At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Merkel was one of the first world leaders to recognize the magnitude of the health threat posed by the coronavirus.
“Since the unification of Germany, no, since World War II, there has not been such a challenge to our nation that we must act in solidarity with each other,” he said.
Under his leadership, Germany quickly introduced a strict quarantine, reinstated the Kurzarbeit program to protect the economy, and helped launch a search for vaccines.
The fact that Merkel faced the pandemic led to a surge in popularity, as the Germans learned once again to appreciate the persistence of their often invaluable leader.
Some wonder if those who aspire to occupy his post as chancellor will be the same as his predecessor.
“The question is: who will replace Merkel and will that person have the same charisma and skills as her?” Said Ben Schreer of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). “The Allies are skeptical and the Germans are also quite cautious in this regard.”
Laschet, Scholz and Baerbock can be comforted by the fact that experts and politicians alike once questioned Merkel’s abilities.
As the politician, who entered the scene as an inexperienced Maedchen, prepares to leave the world stage, German voters wonder who will fill the void left by the woman they gently began to call Mutti: the mother of the nation.
Prepared according to CNN inf.
