Angela Merkel's successes and failures

But even after 14 years in power, Angela Merkel is still Chancellor and wants to remain in the post until the end of the mandate. She has the support of opinion. Despite criticism of the coalition, most citizens agree that Merkel should remain Chancellor until autumn 2021. You know me “, that was the sentence she campaigned with in the 2013 election. That means: With me you know where you are, a sentence with which the CDU put Merkel in the center of the campaign.

Germany and the world have changed much since 2005, when Angela Merkel first became Chancellor. The political scene in Germany has changed and polarised. Alternatives to Germany ( The AfD has entered all the country's parliaments and in Bundestag. Large traditional parties have lost much support.

The world situation has deteriorated. The “Chours when we could overall rely on others have passed “, Merkel said two years ago, when US President Trump rejected NATO's existence. In 2016 the British voted out of the European Union. Farther behind the referendum and coming to power, Merkel has noted a serious “crisis of Western democracies”, says her biography Ralph Bolmann. He thinks the aim of the Chancellor is that by the end of its mandate, Europe will not enter chaos.

Merkel was never a great visionary. In this context, there is a great difference between it and French President Macron. Following several EU reform proposals Merkel has rejected and ignored, Macroni has launched a major debate on NATO's role as well. Many German Democrats have hoped that Merkel would do some things like Macroni and leave more traces on European politics, rather than routine behavior in times of crisis.

Angela Merkel, however, has made some changes, with the very change of patriarchal policy in her party. She refuses feminism as a feminist. “I don't want to adorn myself with the feathers of others“, she told the newspaper Die Zeit. In Bundestag, the percentage of women from 42% to 31% has declined from her coming to power.

Merkel often keeps silent about the fact that she has, in fact, refused the introduction of female quotas in Bundestag. On the other hand, it has helped come to the site of Annegret Kramp-Carrenbauer, as chairman of the CDU, as well as Ursula von der Leyen to the helm of the European Commission. Her words “me you know”, suggest she's ready for accounting. But her biography Bolmann states that Merkel is also ready for more flexible and pragmatic politics.

As a physicist by profession she believes in nuclear energy. But in its mandates it is set to give up the nuclear power plants following the tragedy in Fukushima. In the end, it has allowed married couples of the same gender. While the military service, which the conservatives previously refused, has also been lifted.

But its most controversial decision was the opening of the border in 2015 for refugees. The AfD was immediately attacked against the Chancellor and charged that some of the settlers committed crimes. While the AfD victims have named them “the bodies of Chancellor“.

So Merkel for some has become the most hated figure, while for others the savior of Western values. Magazines Time has declared it the 2010 personality. While rightists were demanding her leave from power, some of them even put on a hanging model that said “was reserved for Merkel.

Merkel, however, is still the most supported figure in the polls or among the most supported. The Chancellor is aware of the old-time contradictions. She said she thought before the last elections, if she would run for Chancellors. Merkel herself rarely appears in election campaigns and is limited to state visits.

Foreign policy experts say, she is missing the clear line in foreign policy. It doesn't have any clear national strategy, which is transparently showing, what Germany's interests, powers and weaknesses -- ” -- Roderich Keyeweter thinks.

In polls last autumn of the Allensbach Institute, confidence in politicians in Germany is being lost. Only 57% of respondents think stability is one of Germany's top priorities, while in 2015 about 81% thought so. The current political system is considered a priority only 51%, and four years ago it was 62%.

What will be Angela Merkel's legacy? Bolmann believes that “Merkel would like to see herself as a politician who has led the country in times of various crises, such as the financial crisis, the euro crisis, the Ukraine crisis and the refugee crisis, and that relatively secure. So you see yourself as a politician who has maintained stability. “

In addition, Merkel has made the country more liberal and open, which has resulted in the introduction of AfD in Bundestag. The AfD now symbolizes an opposition that opposes changes of values”.

Angela Merkel no longer has time to make slow changes and no major political twist is expected. The Chancellor is increasingly paving the way for her potential successor, Annegret Kramp-Carrenbauer, who could come to the post of Chancellor if she wins the race within the CSU. But anyone who comes instead of Angela Merkel will not find it easy. His/her work will always be measured with Merkel, and that's not easy. / DW