The German elections of September 26, 2021 marked the end of Angela Merkel’s sixteen consecutive years political rule. She herself decided not to run in these elections. Her choice created the conditions for significant political upheavals, however, within a framework of political stability.
But the CDU lost for the first time in this elections and this is due to Angela Merkel. More specifically:
- Surely Angela Merkel is an admirable politician. She grew up in East Germany, became politician of CDU, was weaned from the regime of CDU which was expressed by Helmut Kohl and Wolfgang Schäuble, in ingeile at the right time the scandals around the party “shadow” fund, won the leadership in difficult times and ruled by a success in Germany for 16 consecutive years (please read the analysis entitled “The Post Angela Merkel Era for Germany“).
- Angela Merkel ruled based on the political center. Since the proportional representation of the German electoral system created during her governmental period a tradition of political consensus, and since the nature of the Federal German State is composed of 16 states, informally were established/institutionalized the political consensus and the political compromises.
- The governmental method of Angela Merkel, was to invest in long-term changes and since this strategy was supported by the great potential of the country due to the dominance that the German economy occupied within the EU.
- However, Angela Merkel attached great importance to the complete control of the party mechanism and to the direct or indirect neutralization of her internal party opponents. As a result of this long party strategy was to “impoverish” the political space of ChristianDemocrats and presenting today’s serious problems. One of these problems is the creation of professional party executives with a high degree of organizational and managerial party skills, but without having political thinking and tendencies of political autonomy.
- The Angela Merkel tried twice to replace itself in the leadership of the CDU excluding capable staff as the liberal German politician Friederich Mertz, and the popular Prime Minister of Bavaria, Marcus Zender.
Instead promoted to the leadership politically colorless but fans of her, as Ms. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Mr. Armin Lachet. Both of them achieved to transform the SPD in political champions sending SPD candidate Olaf Solz in Chancellery.
- The criticism of Wolfgang Schaeuble was very targeted, because as he said “the decision by Angela Merkel to hand over the party leadership and not to allow the replacement to emerge simultaneously in Chancellery – seriously hurt the electoral prospects of the CDU».
- In this context an important role played by the orientation of the majority of CDU party executives and most of the German political class who led away Germany to take the lead in developments at European level, giving priority to reducing inequalities between West and East Germany while strengthening simultaneously the national cohesion.
When Angela Merkel leading Germany twice in the European Avant-Garde, she “wounded” seriously by German public opinion. More specifically:
– The period (2015-2016) when she opened both the borders and the German society to one million refugees and immigrants, the result was to highlight the German far right with high rates.
– In 2021, with the creation of the European Recovery and Resilience Fund and the debt reciprocity through the EU Commission borrowing in the international capital markets. This option caused intense political opposition and turbulence in German public opinion.
- At the end of the governmental term of Angela Merkel, she has record popularity in Germany.
- During her 16 years in the German leadership, Angela Merkel showed impeccable personal political behavior and a model example to the citizens. Workaholic and efficient, dressed simply and practically, while staying in the same apartment with her husband of, maintaining and the same daily routine. She kept her distance from the corruption and shadow CDU funds of Helmut Kohl and Wolfgang Schieble without ever questioning her personal integrity and ethos.
The options of Angela Merkel will affect for many years both the CDU and the governmental way of Germany, and are sure that after Merkel era will continue standing obstacle to common Europeqn defense, the common European foreign policy, the guarantee of European external borders and the effective management of the migration – refugee problem.
