Merkel vista por Merkel

Putin

Despite the many criticisms received for her tendency to dialogue with controversial interlocutors, such as Vladimir Putin, Merkel believes that this strategy has been very beneficial. “Conversations may take place differently when there are reservations or concerns, but I always go to them with an open heart and with the hope that they will move something … When someone has a completely different vision of the world, you have to listen. Because if we stop listening to each other, we will stop finding solutions, “he said in a recent interview with the German public television channel Deutsche Welle.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel has referred to her as a “compromise machine”. Merkel tilts her head and narrows the description: “I am not a machine, but it is true that I always try to reach an agreement and that I often do.” “The only secret to achieve a commitment,” he reveals, “is perseverance, investing the necessary time in it.”

Puncture with the weather

In her own self-critical assessment, Merkel acknowledges that her efforts to protect the climate are not yielding satisfactory results. “This last has been the twenty-sixth convention on climate change, I led the first as Minister of the Environment in Bonn, and yet the reports of the Climate Council are increasingly alarming. At my first G8 meeting in Heiligendamm, we received a lot of praise for Bush considering cutting US emissions in half by 2050. Today we know it was an honorable goal, but insufficient. And I entrust the young people: they have to press. We have gained speed, but the distance with the scientific recommendations has not stopped growing. And that has to change in this decade.

Refugees

Globally recognized as a crisis manager, she identifies the pandemic and the refugee crisis as the hardest moments of her 16 years in government. “I do not like to call it a crisis because we are talking about human beings,” he corrects, “what I find unfortunate is that human traffickers still have an advantage today.” His balance on this point is positive, “because now we are better prepared, better equipped in police or logistics matters, but also because we learned that we must do more for international organizations. Even though we now have the migratory pressure from Belarus again, we know that first of all we must talk with the countries of origin, or where the planes take off from. And in that we have made some progress, and we are better positioned. But it is still a great challenge for a world with many problems.

Multilateralism

“I have also always been concerned about something else that we could almost call a crisis,” he adds, “which is the questioning of many against multilateralism. That was always important to me, and I always tried to strengthen international organizations like the IMF, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, among others. I invited them every year, 13 times, and it was in my time that the G-20 emerged, after the financial crisis. Also an instance, from my point of view very important, to simply show that only together we can solve problems ».

Africa and Afghanistan

In this sense, he acknowledges that he has shifted German international politics from East Africa (Ethiopia and Kenya) to West Africa. “Not only because of the refugees, but also because of the defiance of terrorism, basically in Libya. Germany abstained from participating in the NATO mission and I was criticized a lot for that. But I was very concerned that nothing better would come after Gaddafi. And now it has been shown that it is a huge challenge for the international community. And those who pay the price are the neighboring countries to the south of Libya because there is an incredible amount of weapons at the disposal of terrorist organizations, which brings a great destabilization in this region. As a pending issue, Afghanistan points out: “It must be recognized that, no matter how good the intentions were, we have not managed to establish the order we wanted.”