Merkel bid goodbye ; The beginning of the EU-Germany challenge.
“Merkel is leaving and saying goodbye to power after 16 years, and she is doing so without much fuss, according to her unique political style, which characterizes her time in Berlin and Brussels,” the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported. This model of calm, rational politics, and the search for compromise at any cost, has brought him countless successes and political stability amid rising international instability for Germany. The post-Merkel era, however, seems very tense.
Christian Ondendal, chief economist at the Center for European Reform, examines Merkel’s performance in the wake of the euro crisis, which left Germany with deep divisions in the European Union and raised the banner of austerity. A crisis that particularly affected the economies of southern countries, including Spain.
“This period was very long, and the end result was that Merkel allowed Europe and the central bank to bypass and ignore the German red lines themselves,” he said. Merkel did what every German chancellor did. “He tried to save the economy and protect German savings.”
Describing Germany’s austerity policies in Europe or allowing more than a million asylum seekers to enter the country during the German nationalist era as an “indelible stain” on Merkel, El Pais describes the German Chancellor’s legacy and place in history books. The occupation will still take time, but beyond the critical policies, it seems that Germany is currently reluctant to turn the page on its history and is demanding Merkel for a longer period of time.
“Today’s election in Germany is the first election in three decades without Merkel, and it remains to be seen who is the closest candidate to Merkel.” The latest German state television polls show that 80% of Germans view Merkel’s legacy positively, and if she were to run the tournament again, she would probably win and cross the finish line.
According to El Pais, four terms of Merkel’s presidency have been marked by major crises. Euro, Ukraine, refugees and epidemics. In Germany, the Merkel government has been associated with political stability and economic prosperity for more than three decades, but now the chancellor is stepping down with a long list of pending tasks. When Merkel came to power in 2005, Germany faced unemployment of more than five million people and was considered the sickest patient in Europe. But today the eurozone economy is three million less unemployed and there is an urgent need for workers in certain sectors and regions. Meanwhile, a significant proportion of refugees who entered Germany in 2015 have entered the labor market with relative success.
However, the staggering delay in digitalization, the lack of climate action at the height of the historical emergency, the delay in innovation and the economic woes are some of the challenges that await his successor. To the German economic situation must be added the worrying social dipole.
With Merkel’s departure from politics, an influential period of German politics in international affairs comes to an end. Angela Merkel has been called the de facto leader of the European Union; Forbes magazine has twice named her the second most powerful person in the world, the highest rank a woman has ever achieved. Merkel was named Person of the Year by the Times in 2015, and the magazine named her the Chancellor of the Free World. Since March 26, 2014, he has held the record for the longest term of office among the leaders of the EU member states. In 2016, she was named the most powerful woman in the world by Forbes Magazine for the tenth year in a row.
Today (Sunday) more than 60 million eligible German citizens are elected to the Bundestag. Although on this day, the federal general election is officially held with the presence of citizens at the ballot box, but in fact, postal voting has started a month ago.
What is certain is that Angela Merkel, who has been in charge of the German government for 16 years, will step down tomorrow, and in order to determine her successor from among the winning parties, we will have to wait for the voting results and consultations between The parties won in the coming days.
