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On the 70th anniversary of former Chancellor Angela Merkel

2024-07-17 09:01:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

On the 70th anniversary of former Chancellor Angela Merkel

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel

When Angela Merkel was elected in 2005 as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, there were not a few voices that doubted whether she really had the will for the position of chancellor. No one believed at that time that Merkel would be Chancellor of Germany for 16 years in a row. Before her, only two chancellors had achieved this: Konrad Adenauer of the CDU (in the years 1949-1963) and Helmut Kohl of the CDU (1982-1998).

But Merkel did not become chancellor of Germany "so to speak" by chance. She has shown her desire for power from early on. In the midst of the CDU donation scandal, she openly criticized her political mentor, Helmut Kohl, in a newspaper article. Shortly after the article, she was elected chairman of the CDU party. Earlier she had gathered experience as a minister in Kohli's cabinet.

Merkel and the CDU

Politics needs power. She knew this well and therefore changed many programmatic elements of the CDU party, orienting it closer to the center of the political spectrum. Topics such as conscription, nuclear energy and the model of a classical family, which were once core to Christian Democratic beliefs, Merkel changed. In 2011, she also announced Germany's gradual renunciation of nuclear energy.

Critics say that she has deflated the profile of the party, made the CDU more social-democratic. Some CDU members even created a new party, Alternative for Germany. But among young people, Merkel's course seems to enjoy sympathy.

Symbol figure for Europe

Her instinct for power, her tactical-strategic skill and the ability to adapt, made Merkel one of the most important politicians in Europe and Germany.

As in the G7 summits or the EU summits, Merkel was a strong defender of German interests in the international arena. During the economic and financial crisis of Europe, Merkel turned into a symbolic figure of saving the euro.

Angela Merkel and refugees

In October 2022, the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR awarded former Chancellor Angela Merkel the renowned Nansen Prize for her refugee policy. Merkel was heavily criticized in Germany for her stance on refugees, the opening of borders in 2015 and 2016 and especially her slogan "We will make it".

At the height of the Syrian war, Germany accepted more than 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers.

Life in two German states

Merkel was born on July 17, 1954 in Hamburg, in the former West Germany. Merkel is of German and Polish descent. After her birth, her father, who was a Protestant priest, was appointed to a church in the state of Brandenburg, which was then in the former East Germany.

In her memoir, Freedom - Memories 1954 - 2021, to be published in November, Merkel recounts her "life in two German states - 35 years in the former East Germany and 35 years in reunified Germany.

On the 70th anniversary of former Chancellor Angela Merkel

Merkel is the first and so far the only woman to have been chancellor of Germany. However, after her departure from politics, Merkel's legacy has faced criticism, especially for her approach to Moscow as well as Germany's dependence on Russian gas./ DW