Makes history as a crisis advisor – VG

Germans have until 6 pm on Sunday to vote for a new chancellor, after 16 years with Angela Merkel at the helm.

One of the most emblematic images of modern international politics, it shows Angela Merkel leaning on a table and staring at Donald Trump. He is with his arms crossed and seems to be evasive.

The photo was taken during a spontaneous gathering during a break during the G7 meeting in Canada in 2018.

Other world leaders, such as Shinzo Abe of Japan, Emmanuel Macron of France and Theresa May of the United Kingdom, are on the sidelines. It may seem that they decided to have serious talks with the then US president, but it is Merkel who bears the responsibility. She is mighty. The person who tells Trump.

– That picture is so powerful. says Kate Hansen Bondt, Secretary General of the Norwegian Atlantic Committee and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Norwegian Institute for Foreign Policy.

The German expert reminds us that there are several images of this situation that give a slightly different impression. Not everyone radiates the same symbolism as the photo taken by Merkel’s own photographer.

In any case, this does not prevent this particular image from radiating what Barack Obama was said to have expressed during his last meeting with Merkel when he was President of the United States. By then Trump had just won the election, the British were on their way to the chaos of Brexit, and many countries in Europe seemed drawn to the far right:

Obama is said to have told Merkel: “Now only you can defend the free world.”

Had it not been for the precise words, they must have been the gist of what Obama was trying to convey to Germany’s first female chancellor. A prominent member of the Obama administration claimed that it was the outgoing president who managed to persuade her to run for a fourth term.

– Merkel defended Germany’s post-war world order; Free trade, rule of law and democracy, says Hansen Bundt.

But it’s over now. There will be no more periods. 16 years allowed to become pregnant, decided to “the most powerful woman in the world.” On Sunday, a new chancellor is elected in Germany.

It’s time to say goodbye to my death.

In the sauna when the wall fell

But before she became the mother of all of Germany, she was a young girl in East Germany. Angela Dorothea Kasner was born in the summer of 1954. She grew up in the small town of Templin behind the Iron Curtain. There was his father Horst the priest.

Eventually, the young woman began studying physics at the University of Leipzig, before later earning a Ph.D. in quantum chemistry in Berlin. Meanwhile, she married and divorced her colleague Ulrich Merkel. I kept the name.

Three years after he received his Ph.D., the day came that would change the lives of both Merkel and all other Germans. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. But Merkel did not immediately join the celebration. Instead, she honored her usual Thursday date with a friend.

– Thursday was sauna day, so I went there. She’s in the same tall communist building where we’ve always been.

Nor was she in a hurry to get to West Berlin right away.

– I assumed that if the wall was open now, it wouldn’t close again.

When I first went, the 100 German lands people got from the East didn’t use the welcome perfection to buy exciting things that couldn’t be bought in the East. No, Merkel spent them on practical things, like paying for a public restroom and a cup of hot tea.

– It was November and it was cold, she said.

And her behavior in these November days is a clear example of the politician Merkel. Stable, wait and see, and realistic.

Like a good mother.

– No aunt and uncle

It was said that her party mates, who spoke lightly of her, called her “Mote”, meaning “mother” in German, but over the years it ended up being an homage. A German commentator said Merkel is like a mother you can trust:

“She may sometimes ask you to clean the room, but she’s always there for you when you need her.”

Kate Hansen Bondt shares the view that the nickname has taken root because Merkel gives Germans a sense of security.

There is just something about her down-to-earth and somewhat withdrawn personality. No aunt and uncle. She just stood there in her low-tops, black pants, and similar jackets of different colors, while these males bobbed around her. Everything from Berlusconi to Trump and Putin. Its calm and stability are among the reasons for its popularity, according to the German expert.

These are typical descriptions that are often repeated. Whether its political endeavors at home or on the international arena.

– Yes, she is characterized by a political style in which she spends time and divides problems into smaller parts, like a researcher. Hansen Bondt says it’s fact-based crisis management, sober and calm, and adds that some believe it could be on the slowest team.

Scientists argue

The word “crisis management” in particular is another key word when talking about the 16 years of Merkel’s presidency. Crises have arrived on the assembly line.

History goes down as “the crisis advisor par excellence,” as Hansen Bondt believes.

Especially the financial crisis of 2008, the euro crisis of 2011, the refugee crisis of 2015, and the pandemic of 2020 are still remembered – at least from an international perspective. But scientists argue about how well it handles all crises.

– Some believe that it exacerbated the euro crisis and the refugee crisis. Others believed it was crucial for Europe to stay together and transcend them. It has created confidence in an increasingly key German role in Europe. It was not, of course, says the German expert, that when I entered politics right after the fall of the Wall.

I think that Merkel’s most important legacy will simply be that she has ensured stability in times of global crises. They stood in line, and her achievement was that she ruled Germany, Europe – and to some extent the world – safely through it, according to Merkel biographer Ralph Pullman, according to NTB.

Erna Solberg: Have a sense of humor

One who has had many such crises with Merkel is our outgoing Prime Minister Erna Solberg. She told VG that they likely had their last conversation with each other as heads of state on Monday.

– I called and thanked for the cooperation. We agreed to keep in touch, says Solberg, who has spoken of a close and good relationship over the past eight years.

Solberg believes that Merkel has been very important to both Germany and Europe, and highlights her “amazing” ability to listen and talk to people. To constantly look for solutions to build consensus.

– It has been very popular because it is pragmatic and solution-oriented, as the Norwegian Prime Minister believes.

She also says that Merkel, despite her serious image, has more sense of humor than many credits her. An example is the time when the two of them sat at the back of the bus on their way to a dinner during a meeting with a number of heads of state. Most of them deviated from logistics and the entourage was late.

– Then she said humorously: “I think we Germans were more accurate,” Solberg smiled.

Stoltenberg: – one of the world’s most influential

Another Norwegian who knows Merkel well is Jens Stoltenberg. The two were newly elected prime ministers on his first official state visit to Germany in 2005. For eight years, they each led their respective governments.

Merkel was one of the most influential world leaders of our time. They are well respected and will be sorely missed, Stoltenberg tells VG, saying they worked closely especially during the financial crisis, but also on climate and global health issues.

Although he wasn’t able to get reelected as often as her, the collaboration would have continued to this day. Since 2014, he has led NATO.

– She was the first to call me about the job as a general secretary. Merkel has been a major supporter of cooperation between North America and Europe in NATO. He is always constructive and good at finding solutions.

Her eleventh NATO summit last June was her last as Stoltenberg’s “colleague”.

“I look forward to our continuing friendship, though we no longer want to be colleagues,” he says.

Abnormal

But of course it wasn’t her international efforts alone that led to her being repeatedly re-elected. It left behind a Germany that has halved its unemployment rate since it came to power, and that is financially doing what it is.

Kate Hansen Bundt thinks Merkel could have won a fifth term and four more new years, if she had wanted to.

– And I’m not the only one who believes that. It is not normal to be elected four times in a row. But she became, because she was always more popular than her party, the expert believes.

However, Hansen Bundt points out that not all is well in Merkel’s Germany either. The country saw increasing social dissent, a far-right party emerged, and the country was marked by some stagnation.

She ruled at home as stingy as she was in Europe during the euro crisis. It prevented the country from modernizing. The pandemic, for example, has exposed a lack of digitization and infrastructure. The same applies to changes in renewable energy.

These challenges are now another problem. Angela Merkel has other plans:

– I’ll get some sleep, go for a walk in the fresh air and think about what I want to do now. She said before the summer I’m looking forward to it.

Finally, it will allow the mother to relax.

note! The election result is expected to be ready sometime overnight through Monday.

Sources: BBC, CNN, Politico, The Guardian, Wikipedia, TASS, NTB.