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Merkel's confession, from clashing with Helmut Kohl to tremors: My mother had just died

2022-12-27 22:49:39Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Merkel's confession, from clashing with Helmut Kohl to tremors: My mother
Merkel

The chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021 reviews some important moments in her life, not only for politics: "My motto in politics has always been: we will succeed. Therefore, as a politician, I have never dealt with catastrophic scenarios, but I have always looked for solutions"

...Angela Merkel's new office is the same as that of her predecessor Helmut Kohl as former chancellor. It is located on the fifth floor of an anonymous building, where Margot Honecker lived as Minister of Education, on Unter den Linden, between Hotel Adlon and the Russian embassy. For our interview, she chose the meeting room on the same floor, which offers a beautiful view of Pariser Platz and the Brandenburg Gate. Her political advisor, Beate Baumann, is with us throughout the conversation. Before the start of the conversation, photos are taken; quickly, because Angela Merkel does not like to be photographed. The reason will be understood later.

The cameras go away, Merkel relaxes. He has not been in office for a year...

Mrs. Merkel, although she is no longer chancellor, does not seem to have changed.

In 2019, in front of the chancellery in Berlin, just as she was waiting for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, she was seized by a sudden, very strong tremor that everyone could detect. Was Mrs. Merkel the one putting the sticks under Chancellor Merkel's wheel?

"In any case, it was a difficult moment. In a way it was like going dark for a moment, moreover on an official occasion, during the playing of national anthems. Maybe I was too tense. My mother had died and I had very little time to care for her in the last weeks of her life. It was also very hot and as always the camera lens was pointed at me like a gun barrel. Suddenly they gave me the feeling of being completely transparent".

Merkel's confession, from clashing with Helmut Kohl to tremors: My mother

The American writer Siri Hustvedt also had similar experiences, which she recounted in a book entitled The Trembling Woman, where she asks herself: am I afraid of something that seems unknown to me? Have you asked yourself the same question?

I asked myself: what is going on? It was something I couldn't explain. It was almost the end of my term and I had decided not to run again. All in all it was another signal that the decision was the right one.

Do you believe that in Germany sooner or later the moment will come when a prominent politician, in such a situation, will also be able to say that he has resorted to psychotherapy? In my case there was no need, but it wouldn't seem serious for a politician to say that. Naturally I went to the doctor to make sure everything was fine neurologically. I have taken care and I take care of my health.

Can we say that, by nature or by God's gift, you tend not to feel fear?

I would rather say that I have faith in God, or that I am optimistic.

You had disagreements with Helmut Kohl, whose office you now have. Politically he was a heavyweight...It took some courage to stand up to him.

I have experienced it in politics with men and in other situations; the low voice, the imposture, benefited from both. For example, former minister Rexrodt, even though I had won a seat in the front row, spoke into the microphone above my head. Helmut Kohl also spoke loudly when angry.

You mean he was yelling?

On those occasions he became impetuous, and at those moments it was always assumed whether anyone would or could resist him. The fact that I have ever said things that were unusual for political mores has to do with my origins. I have not been formed since childhood by Christian Democratic youth associations. I had my own language and my own ideas. Sometimes he stood out and to some he seemed brave, but he was not.

You have said several times that throughout your life you have not been able to get out of your mind that the GDR collapsed not so much because of the lack of democratic freedoms, but because the economy did not work. Our former editor Helmut Schmidt, who had lived under a dictatorship, claimed to have created a certain distrust of his own people. Do you feel something like that too?

I wouldn't call it disloyalty to my own people... Under National Socialism, Germany has gone terribly far. Therefore, I am absolutely convinced that the structure of our state and its constitution contain a high dose of wisdom, in which the independence of the press, justice and democratic processes are widely weighed. It is quick to question everything and, for example, to declare the sentences of non-transparent courts. I myself received a formal reprimand from the Constitutional Court for saying in 2019 that the result of Thuringia's prime ministerial election in February with AfD votes should be annulled. I could have commented on this decision of the Court, but I didn't, because I have to respect it. We must never give up on this point. Are you worried that the system might explode quickly? "We need everyone's awareness, otherwise the system can explode. For this reason I don't like to hear about those "Prenzlauer Berg district bubbles". Of course we are not talking about the whole of Germany, but we should never consider a part of the individuals of a country as foreigners and the rest of the population as representatives of true democracy. Nothing good will ever come of it but we must never regard a portion of the individuals of a country as aliens, and the rest of the population as representatives of true democracy. Nothing good will ever come of it but we must never regard a portion of the individuals of a country as aliens, and the rest of the population as representatives of true democracy. Nothing good will ever come of it

Your chancellorship was strongly characterized by an issue that emerged relatively late: the refugee policy in September 2015. Regarding the criticism leveled at you for the consequences of your liberal policy, you stated: "If we now start apologizing for showing a face humane in emergency situations, then this is no longer my country"

Many have judged this sentence authoritarian and discriminatory. Some were given the impression that you got the right to decide how the country should be.

"When I said that sentence, I was thinking especially of the people who had received the refugees at the Munich station. I saw my decision to allow refugees into our country as consistent with our fundamental rights and values. And it was these basic values ​​that I wanted to underline with that sentence".

Have you ever thought that with your politics you have actually contributed to the division of the country, (in the sense of division)?

"Of course I thought about it. And of course, from a political point of view, it's always good when 90% of people are of the same opinion, even better if it's mine. However, there are situations where disputes cannot be avoided. I helped the people who, so to speak, knocked on our door and at the same time, among other things, with the EU-Turkey agreement, I helped address the root causes of the exodus"

As a politician, who is said to always think about the consequences, have you imagined and therefore considered the price of this controversy?

"I believed that this match could be won. And I was convinced that I had to take a risk, because if I didn't it would cause a rift within society."

Will you act differently today in some respects?

"No!"

/ Corriere della Sera


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