The Critics Choir welcomed Friedrich Merz, a popular one who became a German Chancellor, last month When he broke the taboo against cooperation with the hard right side in approval of legal regulations. But that was the lonely voice of the dissent that swung the political scene of the country: Angela Merkel, once a former Chancellor who called Mr. Merz’s decision “badly”.
Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Merz greatly led the German Christian Democrats for most of this century. Mrs. Merkel won the early wheels, served as a Chancellor for 16 years and retired in 2021. Mr. Merz finally has a chance to win this month in the elections.
Mrs. Merkel, however, complicates her efforts – both open critics and more important, with the political legacy on which the German voters were committed.
German elections are animated by concern stagnant economyA ten -year increase in immigration, high energy prices and weak national security, with Russia waging the East and President Trump at risk that NATO will come out of the West. Problems led to Mrs. Merkel and how Germany managed.
It was Mrs. Merkel, who maintained the German border open since 2015, allowing what had happened millions of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere to settle. This step stimulated resistance between German voters. Many political leaders blame this for the rise of the alternative of the hard right side for Germany, or AfD, which tirelessly led the campaign to deport some immigrants and second in Christian democrats in national surveys.
It was Mrs. Merkel, who agreed to close the country’s nuclear power plants and an increase in relying on imported natural gas from Russia, helping to create electricity prices and the security crisis a few years later invasion of Ukraine in full in 2022.
And it was Mrs. Merkel, who, as economists say, did not come to the revitalization of the critical infrastructure of German German infrastructure and contributed to what German leaders often call the crisis of competitiveness. She also promoted a deepening of trade with China and the rest of the world. This bet on a globalized business model, which has spoiled in a new age of populist protectionism by countries such as the United States, and increased competition of cheap Chinese imports for Germany manufacturers.
In the striking weeks of the campaign, Mrs. Merkel criticizes the competition from all sides. Her Memoir It did not make Splash expect many analysts when it was released last fall. Poll released last week Bild intelligence organizations conducted by the INSA research agency found that 43 percent of the Germans now claim that Mrs. Merkel’s policies were bad for the country, compared to 31 percent claiming to be good.
In many ways, Mrs. Merkel finds herself in a similar historical position as President Bill Clinton in America. Once the most popular leader of his generation, the power of supervision of the economic boom. Now, like Mr. Clinton, who saw public opinion strongly turns against his steps to sign diesel and throw an open trade with China, finds her inheritance under the attack.
It responds with several regrets and the elections is close to Mr. Merz’s criticism.
This criticism caused resistance and renewed focus on Mrs. Merkel, although this month is not a parliamentary chair.
“Unfortunately, the book Merkel and her recent public statements are, unfortunately, rather about the fact that you are right rather than providing work solutions to the current problems of people,” said Nico Lange, former head of the staff of one of the ministers of defense Mrs. Merkel. Her actions, he added, “therefore perceived negatively, even most of her former supporters.”
In these elections in these elections, no one -time measures in 2015 are more than Mrs. Merkel’s decisions in these elections.
At that time Mrs. Merkel appreciated the German public for accepting downtrodden migrants, even those who did not qualify for the official position of the refugee. However, German society was tense ten -year influx of migrants who arrived with small or no knowledge of German and who often received considerable social assistance.
Many seemingly unrelated fatal attacks that have been performed by immigrants in German cities last year, forced migration to the top of voters, along with the economy.
Round analysts agree that AfD has helped, parts of which were classified as extremist German intelligence.
Mr. Merz tried to solve concerns about the migration of voters when he promoted a package of hard measures to migrate in parliament at the end of last month, violation of the postwar consensus Against work on adopting laws with parties considered extreme.
Mrs. Merkel’s decision to allow refugees to flow freely into the country, “For Germany, it was only a great shock we are still struggling with, which today explains some politicians,” said Cornelia Woll, President of Hertie School, a private university in Berlin . “I think it’s fair to say we bit more than we could chew?”
Economic research generally found that immigrants have increased the size of the German economy in the last decade by working and spending money. According to some measures, the nation was more successful than many of its peers who help immigrants integrate and learn the local language.
Report last year From the organization for economic cooperation and development, it has found that the employment rate for immigrants in Germany reached 70 percent in 2022, record and much higher than most other European Union countries.
Yet, public opinion surveys have shown growing voters with migration and crimes committed by immigrants. Politicians, including a wide range of Chancellor’s candidates in these elections, were increasingly responding by the convictions of politics.
Alice Weidel, a Chancellor candidate on AfD, last month in an interview with billionaire Elon Musk on his X -Social Media platform.
Christian Lindner, Chancellor Chancellor for Pro-Bundy Free Democrats, said in an interview that some German parties “still did not recognize what was the prevailing interest of people in this country-a break with Merkel’s policies”.
Even Mr. Merz accumulated. “We found that we left in this country with the participation of 10 years of misleading asylum and migration policy,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Mrs. Merkel.
Mr. Merz and his Christian Democrats joined the AfD to approve most symbolic migration measures at the end of last month; a second voice aimed at tightening the migration law, eventually failed In the middle of some party members’ defects.
The criticism of Mr. Merkel and Mr. Merz came just before the final vote and further tightened her relationship with the party she shares. After her retirement, Mrs. Merkel refused to take the position of an honorary party, as is often usual, and rarely appears at parties.
It also contributed to the image of stubbornness, which defined Mrs. Merkel’s time outside the office.
“He really does not recognize his mistakes,” said Stefan Meister, head of the Center for Order and Administration in Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia on the German Council for Foreign Relations. “I think that’s really essential to me.”
In her autobiography, Mrs. Merkel seems to blame her successors to the German main political parties for helping the rise of AfD by turning right in his problem with signature.
“Democratic parties have a significant impact on how strong AfD can happen in practice,” wrote Mrs. Merkel. “I am convinced that if they assume they can keep it by appropriating his themes for pets and even trying to overcome them in rhetoric without offering real solutions to existing problems, fail.”
And while she admitted several major mistakes in political questions, Mrs. Merkel’s book contained several wide confessions for error.
“I know I’m not perfect and making mistakes,” she wrote about about 700 pages in the middle of her almost 700 pages.
At the end she added: “The Chancellor should never apologize too often, but it should not avoid it when it inevitable, for fear that it could be interpreted as weakness.”
Melissa Eddy The report contributed.