What will remain of Angela Merkel in 2021, after 16 years at the head of Germany?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a ceremony marking the end of World War II on May 8, 2020 in Berlin.
AFP - HANNIBAL HANSCHKE
Text by: Anissa El Jabri Follow
6 min
In Germany, 2021 will mark a break.
For the first time in sixteen years, Angela Merkel's face will not appear on posters for the elections scheduled for September 2021, as the Chancellor is not a candidate for re-election.
With his departure the end of a certain style and of a practice of power is announced.
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Discretion, proximity, collegiality: these are the ingredients of Angela Merkel's success in Germany.
Collegiality is a rule in this very decentralized country, but the Chancellor has always made it a very special point of honor to consult and bring together, even if it means wasting time in decision-making.
Discretion and proximity are essential keys to its exceptional popularity.
Favorite political figure of the Germans
, with
more than 70
% positive opinions on average
in the various opinion polls, Angela Merkel does her shopping herself, goes on vacation in hotel rooms at 50 euros a night, and answers even the most everyday, almost trivial questions.
On a show a few weeks ago, a host asked her, “
What do you use as smart technology at home
?
Your washing machine
?
A slight smile then brushes the face of the Chancellor who replies: "
the laundry, it's my husband who takes care of it
".
The most experienced leader in Europe is also very good at brushing aside sexist-scented situations.
In August 2020, during her traditional back-to-school press conference, a journalist asked if it was true that "
the United States Ambassador to Germany said that Donald Trump had literally charmed you
".
Again, the beginning of a smile appears at the corner of the Chancellor's lips, who takes pleasure in feigning ignorance and asks, narrowing her eyes: "
What would he have with me
?"
""
Charmed,
"must insist the journalist, under the laughter which begins to fuse in the press room.
"
Ach so
("
let's go
"), replies the chancellor, who this time laughs heartily.
"
You know very well that I never comment on diplomatic exchanges
," she adds, very seriously.
Succession failed?
The Merkel style and its mode of governance have not, however, imprinted German political life:
none of the contenders for his succession
is inspired by it.
Angela Merkel, who won against a
Helmut Kohl
nicknamed her a paternalist "
das Mädchen
" ("
the girl
"), has nevertheless tried to push female figures on the front of the stage.
First of all, the current President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, a few years ago.
Then, more recently, Annegret Kramp Karrenbauer.
But his Minister of Defense and runner-up
quickly threw in the towel after the catastrophic European elections
, and returned
the keys to their party, the CDU
.
Three candidates now clash with speckled foils to lead the party: three men from the West, over 50 and fathers, as if Angela Merkel had only been a parenthesis.
The most popular among supporters remains Friedrich Merz, an old enemy of the Chancellor (she dismissed him in the early 2000s).
Her appointment would be a form of political failure for Angela Merkel and would mark the political landscape.
As Hans Stark, researcher and adviser for Franco-German relations at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), reminds us, Angela Merkel “
has always led resolutely centrist campaigns, seeking the support of urban populations, graduates and women.
And this is not the case with this candidate, Friedrich Merz, who is someone very conservative and who frankly reminds me of the Helmut Kohl years.
He is not populist, but he does not have this openness, this modern societal conception that Angela Merkel had.
It was still she who had paved the way for marriage for all, saying that she herself was going to vote against it, but that she felt it had to be approved.
"
Few major reforms
His "
I am not voting for this text, but you should do it
" is a classic of the Merkel method: a search for balance and compromise, but which would also sign a lack of daring, according to his critics.
In reality, it can count relatively few major reforms on the German domestic scene to its credit.
This even if the announcement of the end of nuclear power in 2011 after the Fukushima disaster remains in everyone's mind.
Or the European recovery plan launched this spring with Emmanuel Macron - the latter implies the principle of Europeanization of public debts, a taboo so far in Germany and especially in his own party.
Chancellor
however upset a principle: loyalty to the United States, so far intangible in his country.
Far from being an initiative or a conversion to the French idea of European sovereignty, it is more simply a
reaction to Donald Trump's mandate
.
"
She has shown herself to be poles apart from Donald Trump and that from the start of her presidency, in 2016, when she said that today Europe can no longer trust its American ally as much as in the past
, underlines Hans Stark.
She didn't make it clear that trust was broken, but put it on hold a bit.
It remained in the years 2016-2020 as the opposite of Trump in terms of loyalty to multilateralism and a consensual approach to international relations.
"
For refugees, "
Germany without Merkel is like bread without butter
"
We can also consider it consensual, but capable of going it alone.
It was without warning either her European partners or consulting in her country that
Angela Merkel decided in 2015 on the unprecedented reception of refugees
.
He was criticized a lot and meant a difficult campaign for his re-election in 2017: according to experts, it would also have allowed
the AfD to take flight
and enter the Bundestag as the country's third political force.
For the hundreds of thousands of people welcomed, Germany still merges with its chancellor today.
When he announced his retirement at the end of his term in 2018
, a Syrian refugee blogger summed up his feeling: “
Germany without Merkel is like bread without butter.
"
►
See also
:
Germany: fifteen years in power for Chancellor Angela Merkel
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