Angela Merkel has kept a relatively low profile since she stepped down in 2001 after sixteen years as Germany’s Chancellor. But she has not disappeared from the public eye, and recently she has also spoken out about her own time as head of government.
Merkel has also recently become a podcaster: in collaboration with Deutschlandfunk, she has launched the podcast ‘Merkel Unplugged’, in which she answers questions from school pupils. This Friday, she also appeared on the political student podcast *Kaffee und Fluchen*, reports Die Welt.
“Do you think you have handed the country over to our generation in good condition?”, asked Albert Preußen, one of the two podcast hosts, at the start of the conversation. “In principle, yes,” replied Merkel. “In any case, I believe I have handed it over in better condition than I received it.”
Merkel is particularly pleased with economic policy:
When she took office, there were five million unemployed and high levels of debt in the country. To counteract the latter, her governments had introduced the debt brake and a very strict budgetary policy. Unlike in France or Italy, Germany’s debt is currently below 65 per cent. “This is sometimes underestimated.”
In March, the former Chancellor said she did not feel she had done enough for the climate, and she also touched on the subject in Friday’s podcast:
When it comes to ‘long-term issues’ such as climate protection, she admitted that they ‘have not lived up to the precautionary principle’.
She regrets not having voted in favour of same-sex marriage:
And also with regard to the law introducing the right to same-sex marriage, the so-called ‘marriage for all’, she would today, unlike in 2017, vote in favour of the proposal.
Merkel calls for an understanding of prosperity that is not purely economic:
She believes that the promise of prosperity ‘in principle’ still applies. ‘However, it has also changed,’ she added. Prosperity should not be understood solely in terms of gross domestic product per capita. Issues such as security, climate protection and biodiversity are also part of this. “What kind of world am I living in?”
Die Welt’s report says little about immigration, the phenomenon that, more than anything else, transformed Germany during Merkel’s time in office, not least after she opened Europe’s doors to mass immigration in 2015 during the war in Syria. But she maintains that she did the right thing in 2015, accuses the AfD of exclusion and praises ‘diversity’.
‘One must rejoice that the republic is “diverse”,’ said the former CDU leader. “If you do not take pleasure in meeting people, you risk becoming cynical and sarcastic, and I think that is the worst thing about politicians. I do not believe that has happened to me, and for that I am very grateful throughout all these years.”
Following her departure, several politicians in the CDU have distanced themselves from Merkel’s migration policy.
