Angela Merkel and Germany: A Turbulent Love Story

PHOTO BY SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES

By: Caroline Kim

Angela Merkel is almost a household name. You might know her as the first female German Chancellor or the third longestserving German Chancellor to date. She has an impressive resume; in her 15 years of leadership, she has led Germany through the 2008 financial crash, the European debt crisis, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the migration crisis, and the international consequences from Brexit, as well as Donald Trump’s election. In fact, Andrea Rommele, the dean of the Berlin-based Hertie School asked, “With both Merkel and Trump leaving office this year, the big question is: Whose legacy will win?

However, there has been some turbulence over her popularity in the past five years. When Merkel was pounded with doubts and criticisms over Germany’s ability to accept nearly 1 million migrants in 2015, she responded with a simple “we’ll manage this”. However, many German citizens remained unconvinced. The string of seven terrorismrelated events in 2016, culminating in the Berlin Christmas Market Attack, did not help erase the sentiment of fear evoked by the spectre of jihadist-terrorism worldwide. The threat of terrorism was forcibly shoved down the throats of German citizens by right-wing opposition party AfD, who contorted Merkel’s words and presented them to citizens as “you manage this,” propagating fear that Merkel was leaving her own citizens to fend for themselves amidst public disorder and security threat.

This reinforcement of fear worked, and by 2017, Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union had to form a coalition with the Social Democrats, making the AfD the largest opposition party. The increase in fear was met by a drop in her public ratings, but Merkel was continuously praised by the West for her decision to open her borders whilst the rest of the European Union closed them. In hindsight, she was merely not closing her borders and following the philosophy of the European Union; free travel. So, although she was painted as a pillar for democracy abroad and deserved praise for standing her ground despite ongoing pressures, Merkel was not a freedom fighter in any sense.

She later did succumb to pressures from other European countries by taking a conservative approach to immigration and enforcing tighter border restrictions. In order to halt irregular migration, an agreement between Turkey and the EU was made to enforce a resettlement scheme, which drastically slowed the flow of migrants to Europe in 2016. Merkel’s government even tried to limit asylum applications from north Africa by adding Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia to its list of countries considered safe. However, this proposal was later rejected by Germany’s parliament.

She also played with the risk of losing her popularity among German citizens with her ambitious approach to COVID-19. With her scientific background, she was able to recognize the severity of COVID-19 earlier than other world leaders and decided to act accordingly. She imposed lockdowns and seemingly strict restrictions, before the rest of Europe had time to assess the situation properly. She had to convince her citizens that she was making the right decision. Although diligent, reliable, and level-headed, she seems distant from her people and had to ensure that her words struck citizens with the right frequency. With the right setting and tone, she was able to convince her citizens through an unusual televised speech that she was weathering the country towards needed safety. And Germany did succeed in the early stages of the pandemic, keeping its infection numbers low and restrictions fairly loose. Her ambition and ability to weather crises shone through and protected Germany from losing control to this pandemic.

As Angela Merkel prepares to leave the German office this year, I wonder what will happen to the country that has followed her suit for 15 years. Will her legacy be honoured by the country that has flourished under her leadership, or will it succumb to leadership unable to continue her ambition?