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Merkel’s favorite dishes that she loves to make herself are potato soup and plum cake. Both are traditionally served in Germany in the fall, but Merkel won’t have time to be by the stove for the next few months.
On September 26, the day of the Bundestag elections, Merkel will not be the last in the chancellor’s chair. Until a new cabinet is formed, he will remain the interim head of government.
The new German chancellors were sworn in an average of 5-6 weeks after the elections. But, for example, in 2017, it took a month and a half to form a new governing coalition.
It is therefore possible that Merkel will take the record for political longevity from her political adoptive father, Helmut Kohl, who remains the longest-serving German chancellor: in 1998, his term ended 5,870 days after taking office. To enhance this achievement, Merkel should not resign before December 17, 2021.
Read and sleep
During a visit to Washington in July this year, Merkel was asked how she sees herself in retirement. Usually, the politician responded evasively, but this time he made it clear that he initially wanted to rest and not accept invitations.
First of all, he will have to realize that his previous duties “are now being done by someone else,” admitted Merkel, who became Chancellor of Germany in 2005. November 22 But added: “I have no doubt that I really will like “.
With the arrival of her free time, Merkel intends to think about what “really interests her”; after all, he hasn’t had much time for the last 16 years.
“After that, maybe I’ll try to read something, then my eyes will start to get tired, I’ll fall asleep for a bit, and then we’ll see what happens next,” the German chancellor shared her plans with a smile.
Photos and novel
But Merkel’s future has already been analyzed by photographer Andreas Muhe and detective novel author David Safier.
The first created a series of photos of the retired chancellor’s mistress. The political actress was played by 70-year-old theater director Annegret Hahn, the photographer’s mother. Most of the photographs were taken at the Chancellor’s residence in Bonn, where H. Kohl lived and worked for more than 16 years. Here is a woman posing sitting on a bed or standing on a terrace, and here she is in the garden.
Its exterior radiates serenity and, at times, loneliness.
For his part, the writer D. Safier believes that after A. Merkel retires she will soon become bored, she will be left without an intense schedule, packed with meetings and events.
In his humorous novel Miss Merkel, he describes how the former chancellor, who moved to a country house in Brandenburg, struggles with the boredom of living in the country. Isn’t that all that’s left for you to do, just walk around and bake cakes?
But suddenly, a murder occurs nearby, and Miss Merkel, by analogy with Agathos Christie’s heroine detective, Miss Marpl, eagerly investigates the crime.
Calculated the amount of the pension
Of course, Detective Miss Merkel is just a funny piece of literature, but the question Safier raises in the book is logical: what should a person feel who has been responsible for decades not only for the fate of Germany, but sometimes for all the world? from Europe, and suddenly lost a normal life? path?
“A person only realizes what he loses when he loses it,” Merkel said in a recent speech in Berlin.
On July 17, the politician turned 67 years old. Financially, you have nothing to worry about. Now, as German chancellor, he earns 25,000. per month. Furthermore, as a member of the Bundestag, he owns just over 10,000. euros.
When Merkel stops working, she will receive her full salary for the next three months and then, for a maximum of 21 months, 50 percent. these amounts as economic benefits during the transitional period.
Merkel’s pension will be calculated on the basis of her seniority as chancellor, minister and member of the Bundestag. The size of the old-fashioned pension will be very significant because Ms Merkel has worked in the civil service for a long time: for example, according to the Members of the Bundestag Act, she also owns a maximum of 65%. a pension equivalent to his previous salary, as he has accumulated almost 31 years of service in parliament.
In addition, foreign ministers who have served for at least four years are entitled to 27.74%. previous salary. With each additional year, the pension in this position increases by 2.39%, but cannot exceed 71.75%. wages received.
Therefore, Merkel can expect about 15 thousand. pensions in euros per month. You are entitled to a bodyguard and a company car with a driver for the rest of your life. Merkel, like other German government leaders and presidents, will also have an office in the Bundestag building in Berlin and a small staff: two assistants and a secretary.
Use political capital
The law requires former public officials to keep secrets. But even if those people are not allowed to talk much, they are very popular in the business world due to huge political connections.
Some of Merkel’s predecessors stepped down as chancellor and started the business. nineteen eighty-two Helmut Schmidt became one of the editors of the daily Die Zeit and was a highly sought-after speaker. In an interview, he admitted, “I have a rule: I don’t give lectures for less than $ 15,000 (about $ 13,000).”
Other former chancellors, Kohl and Gerhard Schröder, turned their political capital and fame into money even more successfully than Schmidt. For example, Kohl founded a strategic and political consulting firm, where he earned a lot as a lobbyist and consultant.
2005 In Germany, a scandal broke out when Schröder assumed the chairmanship of the supervisory board of Nord Stream AG, a subsidiary of the Russian company Gazprom, and then the shareholders’ committee a few months after his resignation as chancellor.
Mr. Schröder actively supported the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline while he was still in charge of the German cabinet.
The law now requires former members of the government who intend to start a business to send an inquiry to the Chancellor’s Office in advance as to whether the activity “will not harm the public interest.” The Ethics Commission advises the government and can postpone the new activities of the former minister for up to 18 months in case of doubt.
The man will continue to work
So what does Merkel want after retirement: a new job or an honorary position? Until now, you have never answered this question: now there is no time to even think about that, because the activities in the Chancellor’s office take away all the time.
“This is not the time to address this issue, but that day will come,” Merkel said.
One thing is clear: he will be staying in Berlin soon.
Merkel’s husband, a 72-year-old quantum chemistry researcher Joachim Sauer, an honorary professor at Humboldt University in Berlin, recently extended his principal investigator’s contract with the institution. Until now until 2022.
Prepared according to Deutsche Welle inf.
