[ad_1]
This week, she delivered an unusually lively speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Although she had already exhibited a lot of ideas before, she has been much bolder in describing what she hopes to be a stronger, more integrated Europe.
"We should work on the vision to one day create a real European army," she told the Chamber, fully supporting one of the many reforms of the euro area demanded by French President Emmanuel Macron. She also appreciated the nationalist policies of US President Donald Trump, stating, "The time when we could count on others without reservation is over.That means that we Europeans must take our destiny in hand if we want to survive alone. . "
She received a standing ovation for her speech – and some jokes. At one point, she smiled at the MEPs and said, "I'm really pleased with that! It seems like I'm embarrassing a few people here today!"
For a so-called lame duck, the Chancellor was in great shape.
While her potential successors are competing next month for the party's Democratic Christian Union (CDU) party, Merkel is free to focus on safeguarding her legacy. To do this, she must also ensure that she will not be deported until the end of her term in 2021. She is currently supported by Wolfgang Schauble, her former finance minister, who is currently president. of the Bundestag and the gray eminence of the CDU.
"She made the right decision at the right time," Schauble told Deutsche Welle's Tim Sebastian after the announcement. "Once elected Chancellor, you can only be dismissed without your own agreement if there is a majority in the parliament that elects another Chancellor." This is unthinkable, one can not imagine, in this His post is therefore constitutionally strong. "
Since last week, Merkel has used her public speeches to rally support for the European Union facing multiple crises, from Brexit to Italy's fiscal challenge. In Strasbourg, she warned the Italian government: "Anyone who tries to solve problems simply by becoming more indebted, while ignoring previous commitments, questions the fundamental factors of stability and strength that underpin the problem. "Euro," she said.
But Merkel also warns that growing nationalism threatens democracy and the liberal world order that underpins the EU.
Last week, she chose to speak at the Kristallnacht Memorial, or "The Night of Broken Glass," which sparked acts of violence perpetrated by the Nazi regime under the aegis of the state. in 1938, which targeted Jewish communities as a result of looting Germany and Austria.
"There are two urgent questions we must answer," she told the Berlin Syangogue Rykestrasse, one of the 1400 synagogues set on fire that night. "First, what did we really learn from the Holocaust, from this breakdown of civilization?" And second, from the first question: are our democratic institutions strong enough for an increase in Anti-Semitism, or even if a majority presents anti-Semitism, could this be prevented in the future? "
She continued: "We must not allow our societies to be divided into us and them, we and them, we oppose each other.Every man has the right and can pretend to be considered an individual by the time of his life. Second, democracy is the best Even though life in a democracy can sometimes be complicated, democracy is not limited to guaranteeing majorities, it is based on balance, on a balance between majority and minority – between government and opposition, division of powers. "
Merkel also warned that some segments of society felt left out and turned to populist leaders to offer "simple answers" and "language brutality".
On Friday, the Chancellor devoted herself to the domestic task of remedying the divisions of German society. She visited the city of Chemnitz, in the east of the country, where the death of a man in the neighborhood in August triggered spontaneous and violent demonstrations against Merkel and her migration policy on the part of extremists on the right.
Merkel answered questions from residents of the city in a town hall next to the mayor of Chemnitz, but for some of his critics, it was too little, too late. They pointed out that it took three months in Merkel to get to town.
"I am a polarizing figure, I know it," she said, explaining that she did not want to aggravate the tensions in the city earlier. "I did not want to come here in such hot times."
But only a few hundred came to protest against the Chancellor, much less than at previous demonstrations. Merkel stayed more than an hour, patiently answering a group of selected residents. She admitted that Germany 's decision to host more than one million refugees between 2015 and 2016 had not been organized in the manner publicly approved and had acknowledged a certain number of notorious crimes committed by asylum seekers. She also agreed that political decisions should be more transparent to the public.
A woman, furious, confronted Merkel about her famous phrase "We can do it", which aimed to strengthen the country in full influx of refugees in 2015: "What about finding an answer to the chaos? , to this "We can do it! & # 39 ;? We all thought you'd say yes, we made mistakes and we need to fix it quickly, "said the woman.
Merkel replied: "I said" we can do it "because I saw that what was coming was a huge task.What kind of chancellor would I be if I had said: "No, we can not do it"? "
What she regretted, said Merkel, does not proactively create better refugee policy before tens of thousands of people start flocking to Europe. "I knew we had to do something," she said. "My mistake was before the refugees came in. We did not help earlier to decide who can come in. We saw that we were not prepared for such a task."
Over the past 13 years, Merkel has navigated the country through political crises and dilemmas. Now she is focusing on safeguarding her legacy.
Beyond the big speeches, Merkel also seems to devote her time to such events, explaining her decisions to the voters who trusted her to run the country for so long.
