Namrata Sharma

The 2021 German Federal Elections made history as it ended the 16-year era in German politics where Angela Merkel ruled and created a legend as no other German politician. Merkel is known to have transformed German politics since being voted into office as German Chancellor in 2005. She is the first female Chancellor of Germany and has been listed eight times in the Forbes’ most powerful women. Merkel is an East German-raised politician with a doctorate in quantum physics and has been one of the most powerful persons on the planet for more than a decade. She has broken several stereotypes, set several legendary political decisions, and has established the fact that gender is not a barrier for an individual to be one of the most powerful person on earth for 16 years.

Crisis manager

Born in West Germany, she was taken to East Germany and grew up there. In school, her favourite subjects were maths and Russian, and she topped in both. She excelled in her class and later as a professional too. As her political career progressed, Merkel is known to be a crisis manager politician who took last minute decision but always succeeded in steering away Germany and Europe from several crises. She will go down in history as a leader with a significant number of years in power; Konrad Adenauer is known to be the only German Chancellor before her to have had such a strong standing. Merkel has been established to have reigned in stronger position and has made more historical achievements than Helmut Kohl and Helmut Schmidt.

Katya Adler, the Europe editor of BBC, writes that “Merkel’s EU policy is mixed”. Angela Merkel is known to have intervened in rescuing the Eurozone, but she was also responsible for provoking a deep north-south divide there. This divide was resurfaced in the form of the migrant crisis and also during the COVID-19 pandemic. The southern Europe felt abandoned to face the brunt of such crisis. However, at the nick of the moment, Merkel played crucial roles in tiding both crises out of danger.

Adler writes that Merkel was convinced by the COVID-19 crisis that richer countries like Germany should shoulder debts of poorer EU countries who were suffering disproportionate economic effects of the pandemic. She therefore set a precedent in the EU which was a radical positioning for a German Chancellor. France's Economy Minister, Bruno Le Maire, was a key architect of the EU's COVID recovery fund, which was jointly proposed to EU leaders by Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron.

Bruno is quoted in BBC to have described this as a game-changer for the EU, thanks to Merkel's courage: "She proved to be able to take decisions against the current way of thinking in Germany and in favour of the better integration and better efficiency of the European continent." Merkel is often known to have taken last minute decisions which saved not only Germany but Europe in general. That was the same approach she took while steering away Greece out of a financial crisis to save the Eurozone.

According to The Guardian, Merkel fended off a long-term recession in Germany at a time when most European countries were hit by the global economic crisis.  She introduced an economic stimulus package which shortened working hours thus the workers worked less but has their earnings topped by the government rather than business houses. As a result, Germany survived and even flourished during the economic crisis. This was supported by low interests on bonds and strong position as an exporter. Another controversial but important stand Merkel took was opening Germany’s borders to more than a million refugees and asylum seekers in 2015. She made headlines globally, was admired my many but criticised by some.

One issue that comes up in the global media is Merkel’s fear of dogs and the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin purposely takes his Labrador when meeting Merkel although he is aware of her fear of dogs. She brushed that aside by mentioning his behaviour as male ego, but kept a constant dialogue with him over the Crimea dispute. Merkel has a good command over the Russian language and understands the Russian culture due to her East German upbringing. She has told the western leaders many times that pressurising Putin too much could push Russia into a political and economic crisis which would be counterproductive not only to Russia but Germany and the entire Europe.

Personal image

One very interesting fact about Angela Merkel is her fashion impact. She is quoted by Reuters as having spoken to the Zeit Newspaper in 2019 saying: “For a man, wearing a dark blue suit for a hundred days in a row is no problem at all, but if I wear the same blazer four times in two weeks, citizens write to me." Merkel always took hard decisions not worrying how it would impact on her personal image. She looked at the broader impact of her decisions in Germany and Europe mainly. However, all her policies and stand has had a global impact.

Merkel is a legendary woman who has set trends and broken taboos. She is an East German, protestant and childless woman who climbed the ranks of the Christian Democratic Union, a male-dominated, largely Catholic political party with roots in West Germany. Some argue that she has not only changed the CDU as a party but also the social norms in Germany as a whole. As the first female political leader in Germany she has left many men behind. She is known to have set new policy directions on almost everything from energy reform to family and women’s rights, including the decision to introduce female quotas into boardrooms. What an admirable woman!

(Namrata Sharma is a senior journalist and women rights activist. namrata1964@yahoo.comTwitter handle: @NamrataSharmaP)