German sitting Chancellor Angela Merkel (Front) is applauded after the preliminary exit poll at the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party's headquarters in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 24, 2017. The conservative union led by German sitting Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday defended its dominant role in the Bundestag (German parliament) with 32.5 percent of the vote, according to the preliminary exit poll. (Xinhua/Luo Huanhuan)
by Xinhua writer Ren Ke
BERLIN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- As widely expected, Angela Merkel's Union Party again won Germany's once-in-four-year federal elections Sunday by garnering 32.5 percent of the votes.
The German chancellor of the past 12 years is regarded by many Germans as a competent "Mutti," the German word for "mommy" to try to protect her "children," namely Germans and perhaps Europeans, from going astray amid an array of crises that almost doomed the European Union.
PARADOX OF POWER PURSUER AND PRINCIPLE UPHOLDER
Merkel, 63, served as a sort of fire fighter in tackling the global financial crisis, euro crisis and refugee crisis. Without falling into chaos, Germany is enjoying a rapid growth and the lowest unemployment rate after its 1990 unification. Its influence on global issues has increased, too.
While Merkel's achievements have been widely recognized, her refugee policies have also drawn fierce criticism. She has an "unconditional will for power," but paradoxically refuses to abandon principles despite political risks.
A gifted language learner, a dedicated aficionado of Richard Wagner at the Bayreuth opera festival, a diehard football fan who listens to games in the Bundestag, Merkel was also vice spokesperson for the last East German government, minister of a united Germany and opposition leader. In 2005, she finally obtained the highest political post in Germany, and even the whole Europe.
Political observers find her career and character well demonstrate two paradoxical features -- pursuing power while adhering to principles.
On her office desk sits a portrait of Russian Tsarina Catherine the Great. Although Merkel tends to dismiss excessive interpretations, her official biographer writes that like Catherine, she pursues policies much in the spirit of the Enlightenment and loves to play politics with the aim of expanding her authority.
"Angela Merkel has an unconditional will for power," said the late political commentator Gerd Langguth.
In her political life Merkel has abandoned confidants when they fell out of favor with the public or powerful politicians. She did not come to the rescue of her two benefactors, both ministers who had to resign over scandals, but she took over the two men's respective roles in the party.
Germany's using hesitation as means of coercion in rescuing Greece in the euro crisis and its will to impose a German-style European Union (EU) have made the late German sociologist Ulrich Beck call Merkel "Merkiavelli."
However, the German chancellor insists on her values and principles despite political risks. Facing huge inflows of refugees fleeing wars and terrorism in the middle of 2015, Merkel decided to open German borders and accommodated them. The descendant of a Polish immigrant family told Dresden's angry crowd that Germany had "a moral obligation" to help them.
But that was followed by worsening domestic security and a plunge of the CDU in the polls. Conceding that her refugee policies were partly incorrect, Merkel reiterated that the decision was correct in response to a "humanitarian exception."
Her "welcome policy" during the refugee crisis drew fierce criticism from some central and eastern European states. Even at home her traditional ally in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union (CSU), threatened to end its partnership with the CDU, but Merkel refused to change her mind.
Instead, in her 2016 New Year's speech, she said "What matters is that we, also in the future, want to be a country in which we will be free, compassionate and open to the world."
Some international media, even those who were skeptical of Merkel, praised her bravery. The Economist commented that "Merkel may be the most powerful politician in Europe, but she has rarely shown much inclination for bold leadership ... In a crisis where Europe has little to be proud of, Merkel's leadership is a shining exception."
SYMBOL OF NEW AND OLD GERMANY
Over 12 years in office, Merkel steeled herself and became more and more seasoned. Many Germans have become used to her chancellery and almost regard her as a family member, giving her the nickname "Mutti." Sometimes "Mutti" displayed her down-to-earth side when she told media how to make her favorite potato soup.
Thanks to her advisors, Merkel's image has been cultivated as a traditional mother, protecting her children from going astray by instilling them with her moral principles and supplying them with economic means.
In his biography of Merkel, British political commentator Matthew Qvortrup said that in some ways, she was the personification of Germany in the post-war era, a Germany very different from the one so much associated with "blood and soil" nationalism.
Merkel too believed in a strong Germany, but one that uses its powers in a different way: a country that serves as a beacon and a model in the world, instead of a militaristic and imperial power.
The idea can explain why Merkel welcomes refugees, in defiance of many domestic and foreign objections, and partly explains why she, not a French or British leader, became the chief negotiator with Russia in the Ukraine crisis although Germany has no permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.
The world responded differently to Merkel and the "new Germany" under her leadership. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused Germany of seeking "moral imperialism," and Time Magazine awarded Merkel Person of the Year in 2015 "for providing steadfast moral leadership in a world where it is in short supply."
However, Merkel meanwhile represents the older Germany, as her values originate from the 18th-century philosophers Immanuel Kant and Wilhelm von Humboldt from the "older Germany," an embodiment of perverted ideas of greatness and national chauvinism.
Despite the vicissitudes, the "new Germany" still faces a paradox that the "older Germany" could not solve: Germany was too strong to be integrated into Europe, but was too weak to impose its values upon other countries.
How Germany deals with its so-called "semi-hegemony" will have an impact on the future path of the "new Germany" and Europe in the long run.
