The World’s Most Powerful Woman Bows Out
Angela Merkel is stepping down. Sixteen years after she was first elected German chancellor, this weekend’s elections mark the end of her time in office. It is hard to imagine any other Western leader matching Merkel’s achievement – she has outlasted five UK prime ministers, four US presidents, four French presidents and seven Australian prime ministers. Her time in office is, however, not the only remarkable thing about her.
The first woman to lead Germany, Merkel, now 67, was also the first East German to lead the country after Germany’s reunification in 1990, at a time when many East Germans still considered themselves to be second-class citizens.
No-one would have guessed that the woman once derided for her ordinariness – she enjoys gardening and walking holidays, and to this day does her own supermarket shopping – would become one of the most influential politicians of our times.
Throughout her tenure, she steered Germany, and Europe, through what seemed to be an endless chain of crises – including the 2008 financial crisis, the subsequent Eurozone crisis and the European refugee crisis, not to mention the increasing aggression of both Russia and China. On the international stage, she has been a force for stability, renowned for her trademark calm demeanour and considered approach.
Merkel’s popularity with German voters has waxed and waned over the years, and she has copped criticism from both the Right and Left. Her consistent strength has been her ability to find ways to work with unlikely allies. That applies both in Germany, where three of her four governments were formed in coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats – the equivalent of the Liberals and Labor governing together here – and internationally.
She has largely driven Europe’s climate policy. In December last year, for instance, she famously negotiated into the early morning hours to convince other European Union leaders to commit to reduce carbon emissions by 55 per cent from 1990 levels, by 2030.
That ability to work well with others stems from Merkel’s most remarkable characteristic. Unlike many of her global peers, she isn’t driven by ego. In an era dominated by self-serving leaders without a sense of shame, Merkel – a pragmatist rather than an ideologue – stands out not just for her competence, but for her decency and her sense of duty.
“She planned to retire in 2016 but changed her mind after the election of Donald Trump, allegedly at the urging of Barack Obama.”
She is a leader who owns her mistakes. After winning plaudits for her handling of the first stage of the pandemic, when her lockdown strategy went wrong this year, she fronted the media to declare, “This mistake is mine alone,” asking, “all citizens to forgive me.”
On the other hand, she has been unapologetic about her very deliberate decision-making, which critics have railed against. “My decisions sometimes take a very long time, but when they are made, I very seldom have problems with these decisions,” she has said.
There is no doubt her sense of duty was influenced by her unusual upbringing. Her father, a Lutheran pastor, moved his family to East Germany – at a time when many East Germans were fleeing in the opposite direction – to run a seminary under a regime that disapproved of religion.
Merkel’s retirement reflects her sense of duty. She originally planned to retire in 2016 but changed her mind after the election of Donald Trump, allegedly at the urging of Barack Obama, who reportedly begged her to stay and try to hold the West together.
Five years later, Merkel has decided it’s finally someone else’s turn.