Il nuovo cancelliere tedesco dovrà fare soprattutto una cosa: seguire il tracciato di Merkel. Una missione di politica interna ed estera.
Mentre Olaf Scholz prestava giuramento e si insediava come nono cancelliere tedesco del dopoguerra dopo 16 anni di regno Merkel, le capitali di tutto il mondo si chiedevano cosa sarebbe cambiato.
La risposta breve: non molto.
Germany’s new Chancellor ought to not deviate from Merkel’s pathway. A domestic political mission among many international challenges.
As Olaf Scholz was sworn in as Germany’s ninth postwar chancellor this month following Angela Merkel’s 16-year reign, capitals around the world were wondering what would change.
The short answer: Not much.
Si chiude oggi il Consiglio europeo, 107° e forse ultimo dell’era Merkel. Tutto dipenderà da se la coalizione “a semaforo” in Germania riuscirà a partire prima del 16 dicembre, prossimo appuntamento dei 27 leader europei.
Come spesso accade di questi tempi, è stato un Consiglio segnato dalle divisioni: su stato di diritto in Polonia, energia, migranti. In tutti i casi, l’atteggiamento attendista della Germania di Merkel è stato determinante. Tutto rimandato, nell’ennesimo tentativo di spegnere le tensioni.
“Angela, ci manchi”, hanno fatto sapere gli elettori a Merkel, impegnata in uno stoico (quanto spento) tour de force pre-elettorale al fianco di Armin Laschet, candidato cancelliere per la CDU. “Salvate il soldato Laschet” è l’imperativo di queste ore, mentre i socialdemocratici cercano di imporre il loro candidato, Olaf Scholz, come unico vero erede di Merkel.
The German elections are just around the corner. After Angela Merkel’s 16-year-long reign, Germany seems to be heading towards a three-way coalition with the Social Democrats as the senior partner.
Will the new government support a swift, green and digital transition? Between Washington and Beijing, what changes for Berlin’s foreign policy? Will austerity make a comeback in Germany and the EU? And which prospects for German relations with Italy and France?
Mysterious and transparent, cautious but daring, cordial yet ferocious. In a few weeks’ time, Angela Merkel will bow out, leaving behind some unanswered questions about her true personality. She is Germany’s eight Chancellor since the birth of the Bundesrepublik. In the last seventy years, the Bundesliga counted only eight trainers, while the Berlin Philarmonic contented itself with seven directors. For Germans, stability is not an abstract idea, it’s a value to live by.
A key mistake to avoid in thinking about Germany’s future economic policies is to personalize.
The 2017 to 2021 Parliament has not been plain sailing for Germany’s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). In late 2018, Angela Merkel announced her intention to step down from the CDU leadership, after disappointing state election results in Bavaria and Hesse.
The Germans did not pay much attention to this year’s election campaign until early September. The consequences of the pandemic, July’s devastating floods, and the dramatic collapse of Afghanistan dominated discussions in the media and among the public. But the 26th of September is now just around the corner and the race for the Chancellery has been in full motion in the last weeks.
For 16 years, Angela Merkel has shaped the dynamics of the EU, more so than any other European head of state. This was not only due to Germany’s economic and political leverage, but very much due to her as a person, too. Stoic, pragmatic and with a lot of patience, she was often able to mediate between different claims and interests and to position herself as a central figure when it came to negotiating workable compromises.
Da oltre un anno, dalle elezioni federali tedesche del 24 settembre 2017, l’Europa vive con la sua leader storica dimezzata. E si vede. Angela Merkel perse la consultazione di allora e, nonostante l’indiscutibile tenacia, da quel momento la sua autorevolezza in Germania e la sua capacità di “mediazione in avanti” nell’Unione europea sono crollate.
