Berlin, Dec. 7 (BUS): Angela Merkel secured a place in the history books as soon as she became the first female chancellor of Germany on November 22, 2005.
Over the next 16 years, she was credited with raising Germany’s standing and influence, working to hold a divided European Union together, managing a series of crises, and being a role model for women, the AP reports.
Now that near-record period ends with her leaving office at the age of 67 to acclaim on the outside and her continued popularity at home. Her designated successor, Olaf Schultz, is expected to take office on Wednesday.
Merkel, a former scientist who grew up in communist East Germany, has fallen by about a week short of the longevity record set by her former mentor Helmut Kohl, who reunified Germany during his 1982-1998 term.
While Merkel may lack an astonishing feat, the center-right Christian Democrat has come to be seen as an indispensable crisis manager and defender of Western values in turbulent times.
She has worked with four US presidents, four French presidents, five British prime ministers, and eight Italian prime ministers. The chancellorship was marked by four major challenges: the global financial crisis, the debt crisis in Europe, the 2015-16 refugee influx into Europe, and the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is undeniable that it gave Germany a lot of soft power,” said Sudha David Welp, deputy director of the German Marshall Fund for the US office in Berlin. “You have undoubtedly raised Germany’s image in the world.”
“When she first came on the scene in 2005, many people underestimated her, but she has grown in stature along with Germany’s role in the world,” added David Welp. Others in Europe and beyond “want a more active Germany to play a role in the world – perhaps that wasn’t the case before she took office, necessarily.”
In a video message at Merkel’s last European summit in October, former US President Barack Obama thanked her for “making the decision over many years.”
“Thanks to you,” he said, “the center has withstood many storms.”
Merkel has been the driving force behind European Union sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, as well as spearheading a hitherto unfinished effort for a diplomatic solution there. David Welp said she was considered “capable of having a dialogue with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin on behalf of the West”.
She has been steadfast in the pursuit of multilateral solutions to the world’s problems, a principle she launched at a military parade in her honor last week.
Merkel said the global financial crisis and the influx of migrants “have shown how dependent we are on extra-national cooperation and how indispensable international institutions and multilateral tools can be able to deal with the great challenges of our time.” Change, digitization and migration.
This position was a strong contrast to former US President Donald Trump, with whom she had a difficult relationship. At their first meeting in the White House in March 2017, when the paparazzi shouted at them to shake hands, Trump quietly asked, “Would you like a handshake?” But there was no response from the president, who looked forward.
Merkel has denied being called the “leader of the free world” during that time, saying leadership never belongs to one person or country.
Nevertheless, she was seen as a critical leader in the unwieldy 27-nation European Union, known for her stamina to win deals in marathon negotiating sessions.
“Multiple sclerosis. Merkel was a compromise machine,” Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said recently. When negotiations were blocked, she “mostly found something that united us to get things moving.”
That was evident in July 2020, when European Union leaders reached agreement on an unprecedented €1.8 trillion ($2 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund after a controversial four-day summit.
At its 107th and last EU summit, European Council President Charles Michel told Merkel: “You are a monument.” He added that the summit without it would be like “Rome without the Vatican or Paris without the Eiffel Tower.”
The appreciation of her peers has been real, although there have been plenty of controversies over the years. Merkel has always sought to keep the EU as tightly together as possible, but has vigorously defended Germany’s interests, colliding with Greece during the debt crisis and at odds with Hungary, Poland and others over their refusal – unlike Germany – to host migrants arriving in Europe.
Merkel said she was leaving the European Union “in a situation that certainly worries me”.
“We have been able to overcome many crises in a spirit of respect, always trying to find common solutions,” she said. “But we also have a series of unresolved issues, and there are great unfinished tasks for my successor.”
That’s also true at home, where her record — dominated by the crises she tackled including a resurgent epidemic as she steps down — is a mixed bag. It leaves Germany with lower unemployment and health financing, but also with well-documented shortcomings in digitization – many health offices have resorted to fax machines to transmit data about the pandemic – and what critics say is a lack of investment in infrastructure.
It has made progress in promoting renewable energy, but has also been criticized for moving too slowly on climate change. After announcing in 2018 that she would not run for a fifth term, she failed to secure a smooth transition of power in her party, which was defeated in Germany’s September elections.
The incoming ruling coalition under Schulz says it wants to “risk further progress” for Germany after years of stagnation.
But the general verdict of the Germans still appears to be in favor. During the election campaign, from which she was largely absent, Merkel’s popularity outweighed that of her three potential successors. Unlike her seven predecessors in post-war Germany, she will leave office at a time of her choosing.
Merkel’s body language and facial expressions at times offered a glimpse of her reactions that went beyond words. She once lamented that she couldn’t play poker: “I gave up. I can’t do that.”
She was not intimidated by Putin’s style. The Russian president once brought a Labrador to a 2007 meeting with Merkel, who later said she had a “certain concern” about dogs after they were once bitten by one.
She was never the most glamorous of political operators, but that was part of her appeal – the chancellor continued to take unpleasant walking holidays, was occasionally seen shopping in the supermarket and living in the same apartment in Berlin as she did before taking the top job.
Named the “world’s most powerful woman” by Forbes for the past 10 years in a row, Merkel is stepping down with the legacy of breaking the glass ceiling of male dominance in politics – although she has also faced criticism for not doing more for more gender equality. .
Obama said that “many people, girls and boys, men and women, have had a role model they can look up to in difficult times.”
Former President George W. Bush, whose relationship with Merkel’s predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, was strained by the latter’s opposition to the US-led war in Iraq, said that “Angela came and completely changed that.”
“Angela Merkel brought sophistication and dignity to a very important position and made very difficult decisions…and she did so on principle,” Bush told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle in July. He described her as a “compassionate leader, a woman who is not afraid to lead.”