Angela – how? Nobody outside of Germany knew who Angela Merkel was when she first became chancellor in 2005. And no one could have guessed what mark she would leave on the world.
But she is quickly catching up, even in foreign policy. From the beginning, she shaped it mostly herself instead of leaving it to the foreign minister in question. As the host of the G8 summit in Heiligendam in 2007, she has already sovereignly treated the most important heads of state and government in the world. From this perspective it was almost a world of welfare.
In the euro crisis, Germany takes a leading role
But the chancellor soon has to switch to crisis mode: in 2008, the world financial crisis broke out. The euro, one of the strongest symbols of European unity, is under pressure. "If the euro collapses, Europe will collapse," warns the head of government.
Almost reluctantly, the economically strongest EU country with Merkel at the helm is assuming a leading role in Europe. On the one hand, the German government is forcing the countries in charge to implement a hard course of austerity and reform; in Greece, some critics even draw parallels with the German occupation in World War II.
On the other hand, Merkel approves of comprehensive European aid. German guarantees for the debts of other countries have increased dramatically.
The fact that the rest of the European Union has accepted Germany's new leading role as a whole can also be thanked for Angela Merkel's careful performance. It connects the "culture of restraint" with the "culture of responsibility", as the political scientist from the University of Halle, Johannes Warwick, expressed it in an interview with DW.
No longer such a close partner of France
The increasingly important role of Germany also led to the deterioration of relations with France. Merkel, though, keeps talking about a close partnership; the media even refers to the good cooperation with President Nicolas Sarkozy as "Merkozy". But Merkel did not pay much attention to the demands of various French presidents, recently Macron, for the deepening of the EU, for example, the creation of a joint finance minister.
Henning Hof from the German Society for Foreign Policy calls it a "missed opportunity". Warwick tells DW about the "increasing alienation" from France and that Merkel "does not have a great vision" in terms of deepening the EU.
Fascinated by China
Otherwise, the chancellor continues the foreign policy of previous German governments: thoroughly, without grand gestures, preferably with the consent of all parties, constantly taking into account German economic interests in the world.
It has paid off: trade, above all with China, is increasing very quickly. Merkel travels to China often and seems to be fascinated. Henning Hof sees in her "admiration of China's economic power that borders on awe." She speaks extremely cautiously about human rights there.
The Americans point to the other side of the growing dependence on China. Hof believes that Angela Merkel "for a long time underestimated the dangers posed by autocratic systems, above all China and Russia, systems that use geo-economic means of power, misinformation and undermining the West".
Generous asylum policy
If Angela Merkel had left office in 2015, her overall successful record would probably have been quickly forgotten. But nothing has made her as famous around the world, and nothing has polarized the public as much as her decision in the summer of 2015 to open the borders to incoming refugees and migrants.
She justified it with Christian love for her fellow man, but also with the experience she had as a citizen of the GDR with borders that could not be crossed. Merkel poses for "selfies" with Syrian refugees, and Germany becomes a dream destination for people from all over the world.
Some celebrate her almost as a saint. In 2015, "Time" magazine declared her "person of the year" and even "chancellor of the free world". Others, above all the governments in the east of the EU, strongly resent her for trying to impose her generous asylum policy on the entire EU. that right-wing populism is spreading in Europe.
The relationship with Washington became colder
Angela Merkel was initially an ardent "transatlanticist". Even as an opposition politician, she supported the war led by US President George Bush Jr. in Iraq; a war that the majority of German citizens rejected at the time.
However, relations cooled down, among other things, because the USA, with Presidents Bush and Obama, increasingly oriented itself towards Asia. During the time of Obama, who in retrospect called Merkel his most important foreign policy partner, in 2013 it was disclosed that the US secret service had been spying on the chancellor for years. Merkel is outraged: "Spying among friends - that's impossible!"
Dark clouds
And then the world political situation became dark very quickly: Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the British voted to leave the EU in a referendum in 2016, and soon after in the USA, Donald Trump became president. With his slogan "America first", he showed his disregard for multilateralism. He even called NATO into question. In 2017, Angela Merkel states with disappointment: "The times when we could trust each other are partly over".
The looming storm clouds prompted Merkel to run for chancellor once more in 2017 – and so she did for the fourth time.
Conversations with autocrats - for reasons of state
She saw herself as a beacon in world politics. "Germany, to a greater extent than others, is oriented towards the multilateral framework," Warvik explains her motive.
Hof believes that she has an "uncanny ability to hold Europe and the West together - just like parties in conflict". with its constant support for the German-Russian gas pipeline project "Nord Stream 2", it resented the USA and the eastern countries of the EU.
The relationship with the USA has visibly improved after the inauguration of Joseph Biden in 2021. In July, Biden invited Merkel - as the first head of a European government - to Washington, and characterized her political life's work as "historic".
On the other hand, personal animosities or political differences of opinion have never prevented her from entering into a conversation with autocratic heads of state and government such as Vladimir Putin, Recep Erdogan or Xi Jinping - for reasons of state. Warwick says she has "legendary stamina" in negotiations.
"Nothing is implied"
What is her foreign policy legacy? - Maybe what she said in 2019 at Harvard University when she received her 16th honorary doctorate: "Nothing is taken for granted. Our individual freedoms are not taken for granted (which will become a tricky topic in the corona crisis, ed.), democracy is not taken for granted, just like peace and prosperity".
Angela Merkel's great moments occurred above all in crisis situations, and there were plenty of such during her long reign. She was never an orator who could set the masses on fire, but above all, in crises, she displayed what Warwick calls "a mixture of pragmatism, incisiveness, and a robust personality."
And Hof sees her as a "tireless crisis manager" who "achieved great things". Admittedly, also as a politician who always tried to "preserve the existing". According to him, she "used crises too little as opportunities for fundamental changes"; for example, it did not advocate for greater integration steps in the EU.
Warwick summarizes Angela Merkel's policy as follows: she understood "that Germany has global interests and that on the one hand Germany is too small to achieve its goals on its own, and on the other, due to its size and role in Europe, it must be a leader."
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