Displaying items by tag: Angela Merkel

A car with an anti-globalisation slogan on its side crashed into the gate of the office of German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on 25 November. The driver is in custody, and Berlin police wrote on Twitter they are investigating if he hit the gate intentionally. Photographs from the scene of the incident showed a vehicle with the words ‘Stop globalisation politics’ written in white on the Volkswagen sedan’s right side and ‘You damn killers of children and old people’ scrawled on the other. The police have said they do not suspect an extremist attack. The chancellor was due to host a video call with federal state leaders on the day of the crash, during which a lockdown extension and additional restrictions to deal with the coronavirus pandemic over the holidays were expected to be discussed.

Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, has outlined her vision of Europe's future ahead of taking over the rotating EU presidency, saying the pandemic will be a 'stress test' for the bloc. The presidency is responsible for directing the Council's work on legislation, ensuring cohesion between member states, and supervising the continuity of the EU agenda. She welcomed the proposal for a 750-billion euro rescue fund announced by Ursula von der Leyen on 27 May, but said more still needs to be done. She has previously said that Europe is facing its biggest crisis since the EU was founded and wants the bloc to take more global responsibility in handling the fallout from the pandemic, especially as ties with the USA remain strained. The US is Europe’s most important partner, but there are currently more difficulties than Europe would like.

Angela Merkel has been chancellor since 2005. Her Lutheran faith (she calls it an inner compass) expresses itself in her unflashy style and her instincts - debt is bad; helping the needy, good. She thinks ethically, not ideologically. ‘I’m a bit liberal, a bit Christian-social, a bit conservative’, she said in 2009. Her years in office have made her a familiar figure to Germans and to the world. However, Germany needs reform. The lowest-paid 40% of German workers are earning less than 20 years ago. Foodbank use is up. The rate of investment has been dropping since 2012. Bridges creak and potholed roads challenge even the best-engineered suspensions. The economically crucial car industry has been tainted, as has the country’s air, by emissions from the diesel engines it favours (a scandal it tried to cover up). Dirty coal is filling gaps left by closing nuclear plants, and the country’s carbon-dioxide emissions are up.