At the end of the month Germany will have a new Chancellor and no one imagines Angela Merkel retired

Although in just over 20 days Angela Merkel will no longer be German ChancellorHe said he would stay in post longer to make the transfer and bring whatever is needed to form the new government that will follow his own. “I will be obliged and obliged to continue. This will be the case until the last days of my government,” he recently told the agency. german wave.

On September 26, Germany will elect a new Parliament. Angela Merkel she will no longer run as a candidate. What will you do when you say goodbye to your routines? He has already said he wants to rest and read, but several joke that there will also be time to cook the potato soups how much do you love and prepare plum cakes, typical dishes of Germany which, of course, are also its weakness.

On average, over the past decades, new foreign ministers and the government cabinet have been sworn in between five and six weeks after elections. In 2017, however, it took five and a half months for the new governing coalition to be ready.

that is, it can happen that Angela Merkel surpass even his mentor, the former Conservative Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who was the oldest in power so far. His government ended in 1998 after 5,870 days.

To break that record, Merkel would have to stay on until December 17, 2021, perhaps much longer than she herself believed.

On several occasions, the Chancellor Angela Merkel which he will do in his free time and in general he has always responded evasively. However, during his last visit to Washington, he hinted that it would be good for his other self to rest: “I think I’m going to like it a lot “he said smiling. Then he added that he would like to think about “what really interests him”.

Over the past 16 years he had very little time for this. And with a mischievous smile, the outgoing Chancellor – who at the time of this question had received an honorary doctorate from Johns Hopkins University – added: “So maybe I’ll try to read, and my eyes will close, because I’m tired. Then I’ll try to sleep, and then we’ll see where I appear.”.

Angela Merkel, pensioner of 15,000 euros?

The Germans, who love the organization so much, already need to imagine what will become of their admired chancellor.

Photographer Andreas Mühe portrayed a German Chancellor lookalike in poses of great calm and solitude, and presented his works in an exhibition. Writer David Safier, on the contrary, thinks that Angela Merkel will be very bored without her busy schedule. In his humorous noir novel “Miss Merkel” tells of the former Chancellor’s difficulties with country life after moving into her holiday home in Brandenburg.

Drawing inspiration from British novels Miss Marple, From Agatha Christie, Safier brings down Angela Merkel on a murder and begins to investigate with enthusiasm. Your retirement is assured. A very humorous book that raises an overly justified question: Can a person who has planned their life in great detail for decades quickly disconnect?

“You realize what you almost always miss when you don’t have it anymore“Angela Merkel recently said in Berlin, surely in a different state of mind. Merkel, who turned 67 on July 17, won’t have to worry about her finances. Currently the chancellor to win 25,000 euros per month. To this is added a little more than 10,000 euros which corresponds to her as a member of Parliament, of which she has been a member for more than 30 years.

When Angela Merkel stop working, you will continue to receive your salary for three months, then half of it for a maximum of 21 months as bridging salary. To calculate the pension, what corresponds to him for his activity as Chancellor, Minister and Member of the Bundestag is taken into account.

Merkel takes advantage of the fact that she was many years of service. The exact calculations – to five decimal places – can be found in the nation’s ministerial law of 1953. Foreign ministers are entitled, after a minimum of four years in office, to 27.74% of their present salary. With each year in the position, this fee increases by 2.39167 percent, up to a maximum amount of 71.75 percent.

As a result of these calculations, Angela Merkel can count on a salary of around 15,000 euros per month. In addition, you have the right until the end of your working days protection staff and a auto service with driver. To this is added a Office specific to Parliament with a person in charge of the office, two advisers technicians and a typist.

A second race for Merkel?

Former officials are held to discretion, but although they cannot speak, they are valued economically as advisers due to their many important political contacts. Some of Angela Merkel’s predecessors went on to serve in the economy.

Helmut Schmidt, for example, became editor of the newspaper in 1982 The weather and he was a much sought after speaker. In an interview in 2012, he said: “I have made it a rule not to give lectures for less than $ 15,000”. Former Chancellors Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schröder they also knew, even better than Schmidt, how to take advantage of their political past and transform their notoriety into hard cash. A Kohl founded a political consultancy firm with which he won very well as a lobbyist and advisor.

Meanwhile, the law states that former members of government must consult with the seat of the German government, the chancellery, before a transfer to the economy, to determine whether their activity is contrary to the public interests. An ethics commission advises the government which, in case of doubt, may require an 18-month break before the change.

Merkel’s husband, Joachim Sauer, is staying in Berlin. Angela Merkel Again new position or to an ad honorem volunteer activity? So far, he hasn’t said anything about it. At least it is likely that at first it will stay in Berlin. Her husband, the quantum chemist Joachim Sauer, you are not yet planning to retire. Despite being professor emeritus at Humboldt University in Berlin, the 72-year-old scientist has had his senior research contract extended until 2022.

MM / DE