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Writer: Marton was born in Budapest, Hungary, the daughter of UPI reporter Ilona Marton and award-winning Associated Press reporter Endre Marton. Her parents survived the Holocaust of World War II but never spoke about it. They served nearly two years in prison on false charges of espionage for the U.S., and Kati and her older sister were placed in the care of strangers. Raised a Roman Catholic, she learned much later, and by accident, that her grandparents were Jews, who were murdered at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Among the many honors her parents received for their reporting on the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was the George Polk Award. The family fled Hungary following the revolution and settled in Maryland, where Marton attended High School Marton studied at Wells College, Aurora, New York, the Sorbonne and the Institut dÉtudes Politiques in Paris. Growing up in Hungary, she had a French nanny, so she was raised speaking both Hungarian and French, learning American English when her family moved to the U.S. She has a masters degree in International Relations from George Washington University. Marton has been married three times. She was first married to Carroll Wetzel, a retired international investment banker from Philadelphia, in the early 1970s. Her second husband was ABC News anchor Peter Jennings; Jennings and Marton had two children together, Elizabeth and Christopher, before divorcing in 1993. Her third husband was diplomat Richard Holbrooke, from 1995 until his death in December 2010, frequently traveling with him during his diplomatic missions in the former Yugoslavia and in the Middle East. She wrote about their love and recovering from his death in her 2012 memoir Paris: A Love Story. Marton has received several honors for her reporting, including the 2001 Rebekah Kohut Humanitarian Award by the National Council of Jewish Women, the 2002 Matrix Award for Women Who Change the World, the George Foster Peabody Award (presented to WCAU-TV, Philadelphia, in 1973), and the Commanders Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary—the countrys highest civilian honor. She is also a recipient of The International Center in New Yorks Award of Excellence. Her book, Enemies of the People: My Familys Journey to America, was an autobiography finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2009.
Story: Angela Merkel has always been an outsider. A pastor’s daughter raised in Soviet-controlled East Germany, she spent her twenties working as a research chemist, entering politics only after the fall of the Berlin Wall. And yet within fifteen years, she had become chancellor of Germany and, before long, the unofficial leader of the West. Highlights vs self- reflection:
Golden Sentence: 1Nothing in life is to be feared. It is to be understood-Marie Curie 2. Conclusion: 1.p.30 Merkel can’t understand why her pastor father is kind to others and so mean to his children. What his father said that he will be right back, usually takes hours. Her family discipline keeps her everything in perfect order. 2.Marrie Currie from Poland to France, win the Nobel Prize. She show a great role model for Merkel to see the way to cross the board from East Berlin to West Berlin. 3.p.38: Love can only come if you are clear about who you are. 4.p.38:Power is “to make” to do something. 5.p.49:Going to west required extraordinary planning, great courage, and some money to pay guides and of course, luck. 6. Angela Dorothea Merkel is a retired German politician and scientist who served as the chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A Journey for a young woman from behind the iron curtain, and then become the head of a reunited Germany and twenty-seven countries. Angela Merkel has always been an outsider. A pastor’s daughter raised in Soviet-controlled East Germany, she spent her twenties working as a research chemist, only entering politics after the fall of the Berlin Wall. And yet within fifteen years, she had become chancellor of Germany and, before long, the unofficial leader of the West. In an age of dead-certain demagogues, the humility and decency of Angela Merkel’s chosen epitaph speak for themselves. A priest’s daughter from small village of East Germany controlled by the Soviet Union to the core of the global political stage, even if she did not embark on the scientific research as physicist or teaching path she dreamed of when she was young, she should have no regrets. Calm and cautious, she followed the high standards she set and did her best to walk her own path. He defended the values of his beliefs, and used a humble and solemn image to leave a note and change for this era and represent the embodiment of German values. Merkel is arguably a completely atypical political figure, with no eloquence to incite the masses, and even her perpetually scripted speeches are boring. In front of the public, she always looks calm and pragmatic, always putting on a No. 1 expression and making a "pyramid" gesture of touching the tips of her fingers, like an old monk who has been transcended and has no emotions of her own. But who will take the stigma as the most air-polluted city of Europe? The responsibility of economic recession？ 7.Merkel’s contribution: a pastor’s daughter in west Germany , a research chemist lead German as Chancellor for 16 years. Also the leader of EU, G7. She focused on international cooperation, strengthening transatlantic economic relations, stimulus plan on infrastructure spending and public investment to counteract the great recession, also focused on future energy development, phase out nuclear power and reduce greenhouse gas. Abolish conscription, ,ogramt crosos and pendemic. opposition party is too weak , not because she is strong. She knows how to cooperate. 8. Questions by Florence:
The Chancellor - The Remarkable Odyssey of Angel Merkel Author: Kati Marton (born April 3, 1949) is a Hungarian-American author and journalist. Her career has included reporting for ABC News as a foreign correspondent and National Public Radio, where she started as a production assistant in 1971, as well as print journalism and writing a number of books. She is a former chairwoman of the International Womens Health Coalition, and a director (former chairwoman) of the Committee to Protect Journalists and other bodies including the International Rescue Committee, Human Rights Watch, and the New America Foundation. Summaries Ronald Reagan’s plea “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” in June 1987. Under Kohl, Germany became Europe’s largest country and soon the Continent’s economic powerhouse. Political Life: Angela Dorothea Merkel is a retired German politician and scientist who served as the chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union from 2000 to 2018. Merkel was the first female chancellor of Germany. During her tenure as Chancellor, Merkel was frequently referred to as the de facto leader of the European Union (EU) and the most powerful woman in the world. Merkel was born in Hamburg in then-West Germany, moving to East Germany as an infant when her father, a Lutheran clergyman, received a pastorate in Perleberg. She obtained a doctorate in quantum chemistry in 1986 and worked as a research scientist until 1989. Merkel entered politics in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989, briefly serving as deputy spokeswoman for the first democratically elected Government of East Germany led by Lothar de Maizière. Following German reunification in 1990, Merkel was elected to the Bundestag for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. As the apprentice of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Merkel was appointed as Minister for Women and Youth in 1991, later becoming Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety in 1994. After the CDU lost the 1998 federal election, Merkel was elected CDU General Secretary, before becoming the partys first female leader and the first female Leader of the Opposition two years later, in the aftermath of a donations scandal that toppled Wolfgang Schäuble. Following the 2005 federal election, Merkel was appointed to succeed Gerhard Schröder as Chancellor of Germany, leading a grand coalition consisting of the CDU, its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Merkel was the first woman to be elected as Chancellor, and the first Chancellor since reunification to have been raised in former East Germany. In the 2009 federal election, the CDU obtained the largest share of the vote, and Merkel formed a coalition government with the Free Democratic Party (FDP). In the 2013 federal election, Merkels CDU won a landslide victory with 41.5% of the vote and formed a second grand coalition with the SPD, after the FDP lost all ➔ 1 of its representation in the Bundestag. At the 2017 federal election, Merkel led the CDU to become the largest party for the fourth time; Merkel formed a third grand coalition with the SPD and was sworn in for a joint-record fourth term as Chancellor on 14 March 2018. In foreign policy, Merkel has emphasized international cooperation, both in the context of the EU and NATO, and strengthening transatlantic economic relations. In 2008, Merkel served as President of the European Council and played a central role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. Merkel played a crucial role in managing the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the European debt crisis. She negotiated the 2008 European Union stimulus plan focusing on infrastructure spending and public investment to counteract the Great Recession. In domestic policy, Merkels Energiewende program has focused on future energy development, seeking to phase out nuclear power in Germany, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and increase renewable energy sources. Reforms to the Bundeswehr which abolished conscription, health care reform, and her governments response to the 2010s European migrant crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany were major issues during her chancellorship. She served as the senior G7 leader from 2011 to 2012 and again from 2014 to 2021. In 2014, she became the longest-serving incumbent head of government in the EU. In October 2018, Merkel announced that she would stand down as Leader of the CDU at the party convention, and would not seek a fifth term as Chancellor in the 2021 federal election. Personal Life: Merkel was born Angela Dorothea Kasner in 1954, in Hamburg, West Germany, the daughter of Horst Kasner (1926–2011), a Lutheran pastor and a native of Berlin, and his wife Herlind (1928–2019), born in Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), a teacher of English and Latin. She has two younger siblings, Spouses: first: Ulrich Merkel (1977- 1982), second: Joachim Sauer (married:1998), No children. Contents: A Journey for a young woman from behind the iron curtain, and then become the head of a reunited Germany and twenty-seven countries. An intimate and deeply researched account of the extraordinary rise and political brilliance of the most powerful – and elusive – woman in the world. Angela Merkel has always been an outsider. A pastor’s daughter raised in Soviet-controlled East Germany, she spent her twenties working as a research chemist, only entering politics after the fall of the Berlin Wall. And yet within fifteen years, she had become chancellor of Germany and, before long, the unofficial leader of the West. ➔ 2 Acclaimed author Kati Marton sets out to pierce the mystery of this unlikely ascent. With unparalleled access to the chancellor’s inner circle and a trove of records only recently come to light, she teases out the unique political genius that is the secret to Merkel’s success. No other modern leader has so ably confronted authoritarian aggression, enacted daring social policies, and calmly unified an entire continent in an era when countries are becoming only more divided. Again and again, she’s cleverly outmaneuvered strongmen like Putin and Trump and weathered surprisingly complicated relationships with allies like Obama and Macron. Famously private, the woman who emerges from these pages is a role model for anyone interested in gaining and keeping power while staying true to one’s moral convictions. At once a riveting political biography, an intimate human portrait, and a revelatory look at successful leadership in action, The Chancellor brings forth from the shadows one of the most extraordinary women of our time. In September 2020 a Pew Research Center survey found Angela Merkel to be the world’s most trusted leader, regardless of gender. Negotiating is an arduous, patience-trying process—unsuitable work for those seeking immediate attention and credit. Most politicians desperately seek both. Attention and credit were the least of the rewards Angela Merkel sought. The outcome was her singular goal. In an age of dead-certain demagogues, the humility and decency of Angela Merkel’s chosen epitaph speak for themselves. Questions 1. Why Germany is the economic head of the European continents? What is their recent status as a world power? (1)With its solid manufacturing base and many “hidden champions”―globally successful small and medium-sized businesses―the German economy has drawn worldwide admiration, despite regular criticism of its strong emphasis on exports. (2)Because of its size―the result of a number of wars and a peaceful reunification in 1990―Germany is big enough to play in the European premier league. But at the same time, it is too small and too weak to dominate the continent. Germany’s power depends on its ability to get along with its European neighbors and to cooperate closely with them.
2. What are your appreciations of Angela Merkel? her political ideologies? (1) Merkel led Germany and even Europe through the euro crisis and the refugee crisis. Her embrace of diverse values, indirect promotion of same-sex marriage, opposition to nuclear energy and welcoming of immigrants, among other policies, have been absent from past conservative German leaders. (2) However, despite the support of public opinion and the affirmation of foreign leaders, Merkels administration is not without controversy. Germany, which she is about to hand over, is in the midst of the fourth wave of the new crown epidemic. At the same time, facing the gradual wariness of the Western world towards China, Merkel also admitted that her initial China policy was too naive. And Belarus, which is in conflict with the EU, is also holding a large number of border refugees in an attempt to threaten EU member states. (3) With the Arab Spring hitting the Middle East in 2011, war broke out in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and a large influx of refugees into Europe, 2015 became a key turning point. Merkel announced that she would not expel refugees, and even called on EU countries to jointly provide refugees with asylum. Merkel, who has a scientific background, also loves history. Facing the influx of refugees, what came to her mind was that in 1938, US President Roosevelt convened countries in France to discuss how to deal with Jewish refugees who fled due to the persecution of Nazi Germany. At that time, the Western leaders People choose to watch the fire from the other side, and watch it from the sidelines. Taking the Christian Lutheran faith as her core value, on the one hand, she is well aware of the dark history of Germany during World War II, and on the other hand, she is deeply impressed by the suffering of the people caused by requiring poor countries to implement austerity policies during the European debt crisis; In East Germany, she has heard many stories of refugees trying to cross the Berlin Wall in her life. Perhaps the above total factors make her realize her value and spirit only by accepting refugees. However, this has become the most controversial part of her political career. This crisis has exposed her major decision-making blind spot, which is to stand up boldly before convincing the German people and gaining public support.
3. What is Angela Merkel’s political leading style you feel is very pragmatic? Do you think Taiwans nowadays leader, Tsai yin-wen can be like her to perform starting from the interests of the country and the people? (1)Tsai Ing-wen became the first woman to be elected president of Taiwan, and is poised to be the most powerful woman in the Chinese-speaking world. But the 59-year-old opposition party leader, who can often be seen on the campaign trail with her two beloved cats, first came to Taiwanese politics as an outsider. Called "Little Ying" by local media, Tsai grew up in Fenggang, a village in southern Taiwan, before moving to Taipei as a teenager. A lawyer by training, she first studied at National Taiwan University, where she once reportedly failed a criminal law class. Nonetheless, she kept furthering her law studies with a masters from Cornell University and a Ph.D from the London School of Economics, teaching the subject for some time. Shes speaks English fluently and is regarded as the most internationally-minded leader the island . It wasnt until 2004 that Tsai joined the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). By 2008 she was made the partys chairwoman but it wasnt always smooth sailing. She lost her first bid for the presidency to the incumbent Ma Ying-jeou in 2012 and resigned as DPP chairwoman after the defeat. It wasnt until 2016that she resumed the position and made her second, this time successful, attempt at the presidency. On 24 November 2018, she resigned as leader of the Democratic Progressive Party and refused Premier William Lais resignation after a major defeat in local elections． In the 2020 election, she was re-elected as president with an increased share of the vote.[4] Tsai is the second president from the Democratic Progressive Party, and the first president to have never held a prior elected executive post. She was the youngest of eleven children. She is descended from the Hok Lao Hakka and Taiwan aborigines, and has a quarter of Paiwan ancestry. Tsai is unmarried and has no children, making her Taiwan’s first unmarried president. Tsai is known to be a cat lover Defense policy and indigenous programs Diplomatic relations Cross-strait policy Energy policy Green e nergy Break-up of Taipower Nuclear energy Forward-looking infrastructure Judicial reform Labour reform National languages New Southbound Policy Pension reform Same-sex marriage Transitional justice and ill-gotten assets 4. There are many achievements that Angel Merkel acted during her 16 years in office, no matter in domestic & foreign policies, what is your most touching and convinced to you for her greatness in her political achievements? ■ Energy developments, phase out nuclear power in Germany, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and increase renewable energy sources. ■ Health reform ■ Euro currency integration? ■ The European Debt Crisis in 2008 global recession? the serious financial crisis in Greek. ■ European Migrant Refugees - give asylums to resolve the refugee crisis, opening their country to more than a million refugees in 2015-2018. ■ the War in Ukraine ■ COVID-19 pandemic in Germany & Europe Continents ■ Open Chinese markets—leveling the playing field for trade between the two, at least to some degree—and even attempt to tackle the always thorny issue of high-tech security.
After sixteen years at the helm, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is leaving office. While political observers often predicted her demise, at the end of her fourth term Merkel is at the height of her popularity. Merkels success is rooted in her understanding of what is and is not important in German politics
Maintaining popularity in times of crisis This type of leader is historically rare. The stature of most political leaders declines after a first honeymoon period. Moreover, for a leader to end a sixteen-year career at unprecedented capital is historically unique
Maintaining her standing for this long is astonishing, especially given the major crises Merkel has faced. These include the Eurozone crisis (2010–13), the refugee crisis (2015–17) and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Her leadership style, and the measures she pursued during these crises, stirred considerable controversy. But rather than depleting her capital, the financial crisis and the pandemic seemed to bolster her success.
Only the refugee crisis had serious adverse consequences, and reduced Merkels leadership capital for several years.
The secret of Merkel’s success Her lowest-scoring skills are political vision and communicative performance. At times she was even less popular than her opponents, a fact that often caused observers to predict her imminent demise.
However, vision, communicative performance and popularity are of minor importance in German politics. For historic reasons, the German electorate regards with suspicion the charisma and pathos associated with visionary leadership. Germany is, culturally speaking, a meritocracy. German voters prefer Merkel’s reasoned, compromising and fact-based approach to politics over sweeping statements.
Popularity is not the most important thing in the German system. What is crucial is who can deliver the vote during elections and in parliament.
Moreover, party leaders and lead candidates for the chancellorship are selected by party members and – as evidenced in last year’s election – their choice is often based on internal party considerations rather than public opinion.
Finally, Germany has a ‘constructive’ vote of no confidence. This means that the chancellor can only be replaced when a majority in parliament rallies behind a rival candidate. For 16 years, no other candidate was able to command such a majority (i8).
Merkel may not always have been the most popular German politician, but she always maintained high public trust (i7). Many features give political leaders legitimacy in citizens eyes: competence, care, trustworthiness. Academic research and opinion polls show that Merkel has always scored very highly on all of these traits.
Keeping everyone on board But we cannot attribute Merkels exceptional leadership for four terms solely to context. Angela Merkels strong leadership skills – as demonstrated by her ability to shape party platform (i9) and parliamentary effectiveness (i10) – also help explain her success.
From the start of her career, Merkel understood that in the German system it is crucial to maintain a close network of party allies. And while Merkel may not be charismatic in public, she forges close and personal connections with ease. These connections, along with her capacity to sniff out the political mood, helped her outscheme her many challengers for the party leadership. Some observers even labelled her Machiavellian.
Merkel knows how to play the political game. She also has the capacity to keep everyone on board, even when making controversial decisions
But with the possible exception of her public condemnation of Helmut Kohl’s role in the CDU finances scandal, Merkel has never resorted to devious tactics. When discussions about her party leadership were raised in 2018, Merkel simply took herself out of the equation.iverted attention from the discussion so she could get on with being chancellor.
Disappointing us at a rate we can absorb Over the years, Merkel has showed the same political savviness in her policymaking. Combining principle and pragmatism, she could often carve out difficult compromises, and sell them politically. She has never been afraid to openly change her position when her convictions changed, or parliamentary tactics demanded it. Indeed, she did so on nuclear energy, refugees, and collective EU loans.
Combining principle and pragmatism, Merkel could often carve out difficult compromises, and sell them politically
At the same time, she is also known for sticking to unpopular positions when convinced she is right. Her strict approach to Covid-19 restrictions is one example. Such compromises and U-turns often left party members on both sides of the debate unhappy. The parliamentary records show that some – but never more than a handful – also dissented from the party line. Two leading scholars once wrote that great leadership is about disappointing your own people at a rate they can absorb. Merkel has been superlative at this.
So, Merkel is stepping down and has no plans to continue in politics. She can boast a record of exceptional leadership, and will be sorely missed. Let’s hope that if another crisis hits Europe, she will contemplate running for President of the European Council. For once again, shell be able to disappoint us at a rate we can absorb. The deeds in Germany year deeds 1987 Mr. Gorbachev tear down the wall Chancellors of Germany in office 1982-1998 Kohl 1998-2005 Schroder 2005-2021 Angela Merkel (8th) Angela Merkels Political Career A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 2002-2005 Leader of the Opposition of CDU 2000-2018 Leader of the Christian Democratic Union During her tenure as Chancellor, Merkel was frequently referred to as the de facto (in fact) leader of the European(EU) and the most powerful woman in the world. The deeds in Germany year deeds 1949 The 2nd World war, Germany divide into West & East Germany 1961-1989 erected the Berlin Wall 1987 Mr. Gorbachev tear down the wall 1990 East & West Germany reunification formally, Berlin is the Capital Chancellors of Germany in office 1982-1998 Kohl 1998-2005 Schroder 2005-2021 Angela Merkel (8th) Angela Merkels Political Career A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 2002-2005 Leader of the Opposition of CDU 2000-2018 Leader of the Christian Democratic Union During her tenure as Chancellor, Merkel was frequently referred to as the de facto (in fact) leader of the European(EU) and the most powerful woman in the world.
5.Compare the characters of the three politicians on the nowadays political stage, Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump. (1)“She doesn’t need to win every argument. She doesn’t have to get in the last word. She quietly assesses the different factors involved in a given situation and then decides which way she wants to go, and does it quietly and without fanfare.” (2) She is extraordinary. She knows who she is. She does not try to be anything other. She is an authentic leader, which is critical. She has a set of strong values, and she understands Germany’s history exceedingly well, in part because she comes from East Germany. So she has a certain humility that comes from her particular biography. She fights for her country and for her people. She is analytical, she’s fierce, she’s a very skilled politician. She didn’t start out that way, but she certainly has become that. And she knows how to operate on the world stage — no easy task.
(2)Trump: you are fired (3)Putin: A fight is inevitable, you have to throw the first punch. 6.Adolf Hitler provoke hatred in ethnic groups and led to the holocaust with anti-Semitism and racism. Angela Merkel also met the anti-Islam while her government showed humanitarianism to implement the migrant policy. Are there still many nowadays politicians who use xenophobia, populism, and nationalism to demagogue country people? what are the lessons we have learned from the behaviors? (1) “Many people like the image of Germany as a model of humanitarian virtue. At the same time they know the country could not continue to welcome refugees like it did. It is this set of feelings that Merkel is appealing to.”
By the end of 2015, 890,000 asylum seekers had entered Germany, many without proper identity checks, overwhelming local
7. What do you think of Angela Merkel’s core values for her contributions to the world? (1) Merkel led Germany and even Europe through the euro crisis and the refugee crisis. Her embrace of diverse values, indirect promotion of same-sex marriage, opposition to nuclear energy and welcoming of immigrants, among other policies, have been absent from past conservative German leaders.
Related Reading: 1.Kati Marton:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kati_Marton 2.Merkel: https://www.amazon.com/Chancellor-Remarkable-Odyssey-Angela-Merkel/dp/1501192620 3.Marrie Currie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie 4.Why German strong; https://carnegieeurope.eu/2014/03/14/foundations-of-german-power-pub-54955 5.why Merkel great: https://theloop.ecpr.eu/the-secret-of-angela-merkels-extraordinary-success-her-understanding-of-german-politics/ 6. Her leadership: https://theloop.ecpr.eu/the-secret-of-angela-merkels-extraordinary-success-her-understanding-of-german-politics/ ７．ｒｅｆｕｇｅｅ：https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-election-refugees-idUSKCN1BL09K ８．ｖａｌｕｅ：https://www.dw.com/en/how-value-driven-is-angela-merkel-e04/av-56019712 9. https://unherd.com/2021/09/angela-merkels-reign-of-failure/ After 16 years, Angela Merkel’s long reign as German Chancellor is drawing to a close. So prepare yourself, preferably with a sick bag, because the hagiographies will be nauseating. Just as Boris Johnson represents everything that British remainers hate about Britain, Angela Merkel embodies everything they love about Germany — the country they regard as the grown-up in the room. Her fans do have half-a-point. Merkel is the epitome of Germany’s role in the world. But as we’ll see, that’s not something to be proud of. Indeed, the closer you look at her record, the less there is to show for it. There’s no denying her staying-power. When she first became Chancellor, in 2005, her opposite numbers in Britain and America were Tony Blair and George W Bush. She certainly hasn’t lacked for time. Or look at it this way: just one Chancellor (Gerhard Schröder) separates Merkel’s Chancellorship from that of her mentor, Helmut Kohl. However, there were five Prime Ministers between Boris Johnson and Kohl’s contemporary, Margaret Thatcher (and five Presidents between Joe Biden and Ronnie Reagan). Is it any wonder that Germany’s leaders look down upon their allies with a certain Teutonic superiority?
The walls are going up across Europe
With so many terms as Chancellor one might assume Merkel to be a political genius — an election-winning machine in the mould of a Blair or Thatcher. But that’s not the case. In fact, she’s bungled one election after another. The first one was 2002. As leader of the Christian Democrats (CDU), Merkel should have been the centre-Right’s candidate for Chancellor. But instead she was out-manoeuvred by Edmund Stoiber — the leader of the CSU (the CDU’s Bavarian sister party). She had to wait until 2005 to get her first shot at the top job — and she very nearly blew it. A lead in the polls was lost after loose talk about introducing a flat tax. Instead of increasing her party’s vote share as expected, she reduced it. She was only saved by the fact that the incumbent Chancellor — Schröder — lost more votes that she did. It was a shattering experience for Merkel — but it taught her two things: Firstly, never to be interesting again. And, secondly, that she didn’t have to succeed in order to win, she just had to do less worse than her rivals. And so she became Chancellor — but only by forming a “Grand Coalition” with the Social Democrats. At the next election in 2009, her vote share went down again. Luckily for her, her coalition partners (and main electoral opponents) were pulverised. Moving swiftly on, she swapped them for a new coalition partner — the Free Democrats. Her second term in office was dominated by the Eurozone crisis. That was when the rest of the EU realised who was in charge. The so-called ‘PIIGS’ — Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain — were forced into austerity measures that made George Osborne’s budgets look positively Keynesian. Populist protest movements began to stir all over Europe. But Merkel didn’t mind. Her hardline policies were popular at home and at the next election in 2013, she scored her one clear victory — the highest share of the vote for the CDU since the days of Kohl. Yet, as per usual, her allies didn’t fare so well. In fact, the Free Democrats crashed out of the Bundestag altogether. Shortly before he became Prime Minister, David Cameron asked Angela Merkel what it was like to lead a coalition. “The little party always gets smashed”, she observed through crocodile tears. In 2013, Merkel needed a new little party, having broken the old one. In practice, that meant another Grand Coalition with Social Democrats.
And so we come to Merkel’s calamitous third term in office — and in particular her chaotic mishandling of the refugee crisis. The Syrian civil war wasn’t her fault, of course. Nor is there anything wrong with helping refugees. However, suddenly flinging open Germany’s borders (and then slamming them shut again) was entirely the wrong way of going about it. She destabilised politics at home and abroad — while providing a massive encouragement to the people smugglers. In the 2017 German general election, the CSU was punished with its worst result since the 1950s and the Social Democrats with their worst result since the 1930s. They still had enough seats to cobble together a not-so-Grand Coalition, but the populist AfD was left as the largest opposition party. So, with the exception of 2013, Merkel has never received a ringing endorsement from the German electorate. She’s just been in the best position to pick up the pieces of her own political failures. Then again, holding together a broken system is what she’s all about. That’s not just in Germany, but across Europe — where the system in question is the single currency. German leaders — and Merkel is no exception — love to preach fiscal responsibility. They’re in a strong position to do so: Germany’s record of balanced budgets compares well to the spiralling debts of other nations. The bit that’s left unsaid, however, is that German rectitude is built upon a mercantilist scam of continental proportions. The Eurozone is a distorting mirror whose effect is to make German exports permanently cheaper than they should be and those of weaker economies more expensive. Add to that the trade barriers erected around the Single Market (but removed within it) and German exporters can hardly fail. The trade imbalance forces Germany’s partners into debt — and thus dependency upon the European Central Bank, conveniently headquartered in Frankfurt. Right how, the deficits of countries like Italy and Spain are entirely financed by ECB bond purchases — which means they must do as they’re told. Merkel did not design the Eurozone. She inherited the system from her predecessors. Nevertheless, during her Chancellorship, Germany has exploited its position to reach a level of economic and political dominance that is, if not unprecedented, unusual for having been achieved through peaceful means. Very few German politicians are willing to say any of this out loud. One of them is Sahra Wagenknecht, an outlier even within her own Left Party. She has accused her country of “abusing a highly dangerous, half-hegemonic position.” “Half-hegemonic” is exactly right. Germany dominates, but it doesn’t lead. Under Merkel, Germany’s power has been used not for reform but to embed the status quo — no matter how difficult a position this places her friends in.
Europe is waiting for its Napoleon
She is, for instance, directly responsible for Brexit. By refusing to give David Cameron any concession on free movement of people across borders she doomed the Remain campaign to defeat. For her, the theoretical framework of the “four freedoms” was more important than the real world difficulties of an English-speaking nation that was wide open to the impact of uncontrolled immigration. Another failure of leadership is Europe’s security. When Donald Trump was elected President, the New York Times breathlessly proclaimed Merkel the “the liberal’s West’s last defender”. Really? Her and whose army? Certainly not the sub-par German military, nor the fabled European Army that Merkel paid lip service to but never had any intention of paying for. Meanwhile Trump has come and gone, and America is still defending Europe’s borders. Germany’s main contribution to Europe’s security during the Merkel years has been to undermine it. On the one hand Germany joins in with ritual denunciations of Russian and Chinese aggression, but on the other enthusiastically pursues lucrative trading relationships with both regimes. There’s no better example of this than the Nord Stream gas pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea. The route is specifically chosen to bypass Russia’s vulnerable neighbours, thus weakening their economic and strategic positions at a time of growing tension. Merkel wasn’t responsible for the first of these pipelines, but it was her government that doubled down with Nord Stream 2, in the face of bitter opposition from Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. Germany wouldn’t be so dependent on Russian fossil fuel imports if it had made more progress on decarbonising its economy. For a while this was a policy area on which Germany did, for once, take the lead. Merkel went out of her way to identify herself with the issue, becoming known as the Klimatkanzlerin (“Climate Chancellor”). But that went out the window when, in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, she caved in to a crazy plan to phase out Germany’s existing nuclear power stations. Not even Japan, where the disaster actually happened, went that far. By prioritising the end of nuclear over the end of coal, Germany will continue spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere until 2038. It is now the United Kingdom that leads the world’s biggest economies on this issue — and Boris Johnson who’ll preside over the closure of the last British coal-fired power station in just two years time. Aside from global warming, Merkel has bequeathed two final gifts to the world. The first is Ursula von der Leyen — the deeply unimpressive defence minister who Merkel installed as President of European Commission. It was a foolish appointment, as made clear in the shambles of the vaccine procurement programme. Merkel’s other parting shot is Armin Laschet, her chosen successor as leader of the CDU and candidate for Chancellor. This is a man is so uninspiring that German voters have turned to the dying Social Democrats in desperation. The CDU, meanwhile, is set to get its worst ever result — a verdict not just on Herr Laschet, but on 16 years of Angela Merkel. |
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