German chancellor Angela Merkel debated Martin Schulz, the leader of the Social Democrats, on television tonight. It was the party leaders’ only debate before the election later this month.
Here are my highlights and takeaways. (more…)
Tag: Angela Merkel
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Highlights and Takeaways from the Merkel-Schulz Debate
Angela Merkel (EPP)
Martin Schulz (Bayern SPD) -
Marriage Vote Has All the Characteristics of Merkel’s Success
German chancellor Angela Merkel waits for other leaders to arrive at the G7 summit in Bavaria, June 8, 2015 (Bundesregierung) Germany’s vote for marriage equality is a perfect example of how Angela Merkel has been able to stay in power for twelve years.
Parliament unexpectedly voted to legalize gay marriage on Friday after Merkel announced a free vote. A quarter of her own Christian Democrats joined the left in supporting marriage equality. (more…)
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Merkel’s Call Not to Rely on America: Reckless or Prudent?
German chancellor Angela Merkel answers questions from reporters in Berlin, November 9, 2016 (Bundesregierung) Angela Merkel stunned Germany’s allies this weekend when she suggested Europe could no longer rely on the United States.
“The times in which we can fully count on others are somewhat over, as I have experienced in the past few days,” she told supporters of her conservative party in Bavaria.
Merkel had just returned from NATO and G7 summits in Brussels and Italy.
She added: “All I can say is that we Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands.”
Despite the qualifiers — “fully”, “somewhat” — the message was clear. Merkel even lumped the United Kingdom and the United States together with Russia among the countries that Europe must cooperate with “in a spirit of friendship.” (more…)
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Other Conservatives Should Be Wary of Imitating Kurz and May
Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz takes a phone call at Brussels Airport, Belgium, May 22 (ÖVP) Center-right parties in Western Europe are responding to competition from the nativist right in radically different ways.
Whereas Dutch prime minister and liberal party leader Mark Rutte argued against the “pessimism” of the nationalist Freedom Party in the March election and won, conservative leaders in Austria and the United Kingdom have chosen to appease reactionary voters.
Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian foreign minister, has been elected leader of the Christian democratic People’s Party because he appeals to voters who might switch to the far right.
Kurz made his name writing an Islam Law for Austria that, among other things, prohibits foreign funding of mosques.
He also took a hard line in last year’s refugee crisis, going behind Europe’s back to do a deal with neighboring Balkan countries to control the influx of people.
Other leaders were dismayed, but Austrian voters seem to approve.
A year ago, the Freedom Party was faraway the country’s most popular with around 32 percent support in the polls. Support for the ruling Social Democrats and People’s Party languished in the low twenties. Now the three are neck and neck. There is a good chance Kurz will be the next chancellor. (more…)
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It’s Not You, It’s Us: Germans Ready to Let Merkel Go
British prime minister David Cameron and German chancellor Angela Merkel answer questions from reporters in Berlin, May 29, 2015 (10 Downing Street/Arron Hoare) Twelve years into the Merkel era, Germans are ready for a change.
A Politbarometer poll conducted for ZDF television found that one in two voters want Martin Schulz, the Social Democrat, to become chancellor after the election in September.
38 percent prefer Angela Merkel to stay. (more…)
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Merkel Proposes to Ban the Burqa: Why and Why Now?
Angela Merkel’s proposal to ban the burqa has caught some of her foreign admirers by surprise.
A headline at the left-leaning Vox reads, “Germany’s famously tolerant chancellor just proposed a burqa ban,” implying it is both intolerant and out of character for Merkel.
Vox is right when it argues the timing is political. Merkel recently announced she will seek a fourth term as chancellor next year and is facing criticism of her immigration policy from the right.
But this is not an about-face. If anything, her open-doors immigration policy was. (more…)
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Sound Policies Not Enough to Fend Off Populist Challenge
German chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with American president Barack Obama in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC, May 2, 2014 (Bundesregierung) After Donald Trump’s unexpected election victory in the United States, liberal-minded commentators (this one included) looked to Germany’s Angela Merkel to keep the barbarians at bay.
The centrist German leader gave some indications that she’s up to the task of defending liberal democracy and the liberal world order from the nationalist-populist challenge. She conditioned the future of the American-German alliance on shared Western values and urged Germans, after announcing she would seek a fourth term as chancellor next year, to unite and shape globalization “together with others” rather than fight it.
“Openness will bring us more security than isolation,” she said.
Did we read too much into this? (more…)
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Merkel Must Be Careful Not to Repeat Clinton’s Mistake
German chancellor Angela Merkel answers questions from reporters in Berlin, November 9 (Bundesregierung) “The people in Germany have never had it so good,” Angela Merkel said on Wednesday — and she exhorted them to stay the course that has brought them this far.
In a speech to parliament that was seen as heralding her campaign to seek a fourth term as chancellor next year, the German leader called for unity on “multilateralism” and “shaping globalization together with others.”
“Openness will bring us more security than isolation,” she said.
That’s quite a reversal for the Christian Democrat, who only a few years ago said Multikulti had failed. (more…)
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Dark Days Ahead for Liberals
Washington DC at night (Pixabay/skeeze) The light are going out for liberals and globalists around the Western world.
Austria is on the verge of electing its first far-right head of state since the end of the Second World War.
Poland last year switched its centrist, pluralist government for an ultraconservative administration that is threatening the independence of the judiciary and the freedom of the press.
Marine Le Pen, who leads a party that was once unambiguously fascist, is almost certain to make it into the second round of France’s presidential election next year.
Even in the United Kingdom, the homeland of liberalism, there was an atmosphere of isolationism and xenophobia around the vote to leave the European Union in June.
And now America, “the last best hope of Earth,” as Abraham Lincoln once called it, has elected Donald J. Trump. (more…)
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Is Austerity Losing the Battle in Europe?
The different measures implemented in Europe in order to boost growth through increased monetary action, investment and structural reforms have replaced austerity as the new dominant dogma. While Angela Merkel is adapting to the new situation, Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann disagrees with more budget flexibility and a possible QE by the European Central Bank (ECB) in 2015.
In the past few days, Andrea Bonanni, Brussels correspondent for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, published an article in which he announced that Angela Merkel and Germany had lost the long battle over austerity in Europe. (more…)
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In German Election, Merkel Is the Safest Choice
German chancellor Angela Merkel meets with other European conservative party leaders in Brussels, December 13, 2012 (EPP) Polls predict that German chancellor Angela Merkel will cruise to a comfortable victory in this week’s parliamentary elections. We would welcome her reelection.
Although the liberal Free Democrats, who emphasize economic freedom and individual responsibility, are more aligned with the Atlantic Sentinel‘s views, their leader, economy minister Philipp Rösler, looks unfit for the chancellorship. Merkel, by contrast, has proven herself to be a wise leader since she first assumed office in 2005 — sometimes pragmatic, otherwise steadfast. (more…)
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Germany’s Merkel Drawn into Drone Procurement Scandal
Germany’s cancelation of its Euro Hawk unmanned drone program has become an issue for Chancellor Angela Merkel who had so far been able to stay out of the controversy. Revelations in Der Spiegel this week suggest that she might no longer be able to protect her defense minister, Thomas de Maizière, one of her most trusted cabinet members.
The procurement of the Euro Hawk, a variant of the American Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle, has been a financial and political disaster for the German coalition. Necessary adjustments in light of approval problems would have added between €500 and €600 million to the program, on top of the €500 million already spent on the prototype. Five planes were ordered. Similar cost overruns on those would have caused the program to far exceed the €1.2 billion it was allowed.
A cooperation between the American company Northrop Grumman and Europe’s EADS, the Euro Hawk was supposed to enhance the surveillance capabilities of the German military and support NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance system. (more…)
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Germany’s Merkel Dominates Preelection Polls
When German voters decide the new composition of the Bundestag in the fall of this year, one thing seems almost inevitable: Angela Merkel will remain chancellor, unless all three parties left of center agree to form a coalition government of their own.
Although the scenario seems highly improbable, Merkel will be presented with a tough choice of her own. While it is too early to put too much faith in opinion polls, the current numbers are startling: Merkel’s conservatives are consistently breaking the 40 percent mark while the Social Democrats led by Peer Steinbrück can barely meet 30 percent of voter approval.
But Merkel’s present coalition partners, the liberal Free Democrats, are caught in a battle for political survival, failing to meet the necessary 5 percent mark to be represented in parliament in almost every poll. In recent weeks it has become clear that the Christian Democrats are already taking the possibility of a new coalition partner into their calculations, showing a dwindling support for the liberals in upcoming provincial elections. This strategy is painful for the liberals but makes sense from Angela Merkel’s point of view. Why rely on a razor’s edge majority on the right when a more comfortable margin could be reached with the Social Democrats or the Greens? (more…)
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Merkel Finds Growing Partner in India
She came and conquered quietly.
Understanding the significance of shifting geopolitical relations in the world, particularly the rise of Asian giants, the German chancellor came to India with a “look east” policy followed by many of the European nations in the recent years.
Although Iran not allowing the chancellor’s plane to overfly the country made the news, what’s far more interesting is that Germany is prepared to deepen both trade and cooperation in the area of nuclear technology with India at a time when it is itself shutting all nuclear reactors in the wake of the accident in Fukushima, Japan in March. Altogether, Germany and India are expected to boost bilateral trade up to €29 billion next year.
While European countries are struggling to recover from the global economic downturn, improving ties with rising powers as India is a sure way of maintaining their influence across the developing world. Superior European technology will find a market in India which is growing fast and investing in research and development.
India has at the same time come to realize that with increased trade, it can expand its leverage in Europe as part of its quest to acquire a bigger role in international politics.
Apart from bilateral issues, Germany and India affirmed their commitment to United Nations Security Council expansion or reform to include more than the current five permanent member nations. Germany and India would both like to wield veto power permanently. India, with its huge population and booming economy, may have a slight edge over Germany although the latter could encounter fewer resistance from Britain, France and the United States.
Angela Merkel’s visit coincided with a minor drift in Indo-Russian relations as Moscow intends to play a greater role in Afghanistan once American and NATO troops pull out. Germany’s experience, having fostered stable relations with Russia despite considerable political and strategic differences, could be a lesson to India as it has to cope with Russian assertiveness in Central Asia.
In conclusion, it is safe to assume that India’s role as a great power will only be amplified in years to come, whether it ascends to permanent Security Council membership or not. Under Merkel’s leadership, Germany appears to recognize that likely trend as well as the need of courting India in order to maintain a favorable balance of power in the world.