Merkel: The end has just begun

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Behind Angela Merkel turbulent days. She confessed a fault, suffered an intra-party defeat, and had quite a busy visit. The analysis of a eventful week.

Just a forced Smile for the guest to more settled Angela Merkel during the obligatory Handshake photo after the press conference with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday not to get carried away. The previous 30 minutes had mastered the Chancellor confidently. The strong differences in relation to the Turkey she had named. And you played no friendly relationship, where there is no friendship. You could say: There it was again, the “old” Angela Merkel. The processing the big issues of foreign policy, only interests, not emotions. A Chancellor, who know how to assess the situation and do not perform – no matter, by the way, such as male and makes defying her.

The sovereign appearance at the visit of Erdogan, as difficult as it was, should have done well. Finally, it was not three days, that in the Republic, the word “Chancellor of the interior twilight” of the round. Many observers saw the end of an Era, Merkel finally ushered in: A week, would forget, the Chancellor is probably better.

Merkel gets out of control

Or one that you will remember for a very long time. The past eight days, so much can already now say, were a turning point. What Merkel on 24. September said to Causa Maaßen, didn’t exactly fit the image of the Teflon Chancellor, to which everything runs off. The controversial constitutional protection chief Hans-Georg Maaßen was initially with the blessing of the three party leaders of CDU, CSU and SPD to the Secretary of state carried away, only to then, after protests from the population, to a newly created Post in the Ministry of the interior with the same constant content. And as Merkel said the Back-and-Forth? You have to be very different from the needs of the Ministry of interior to concerns instead of what would be in the interests of the citizens. And then she said the phrase that caused a stir: “I am very sorry.”

Merkel Erdogan in the Chancellery: the end of an eventful week

In this clarity, errors are not fit even to this Chancellor. It is a fact that The Causa Maaßen is you went completely out of control. Her sense of situations, and have been awarded for 13 years, has been lost. Basically, an apology in the tough business of politics can be seen also sometimes, as a strength – but not in this case. To Merkel with their insight was simply too late. The excuse – not a sign of strength, but an admission of weakness.

Trust in the group, withdrawal

While in the comment columns of the country this has been discussed, such as the sudden Reumut the head of government, should be interpreted to stand for Merkel on Tuesday, the next stress test. One that actually, no one seriously would have thought that it would be: the regular election of Union presidents. Although there was for the first time in more than 40 years, a candidate for the office, as the Public largely unknown Ralph Brinkhaus challenged his party colleague Volker Kauder. But since Merkel campaigned vehemently for Kauder, hardly believed to the fall of the Merkel-Familiar. And yet he came. And again, for the second Time within 24 hours, had to Merkel to admit in a small voice, to have lost.

Merkel, Volker Kauder, shortly before the vote on Tuesday

The defeat is likely to pain. With Kauder, only Merkel is not loyal to the majority of buyers away. Much worse, the more it weighs, the group stands in a disciplined manner. What can move a Chancellor, not even their own people closed behind the white? The claim from the ranks of the FDP, you had to put the question of Confidence, let her be – Angela Merkel – but bounce off.

The end of self-determination

But what if you not only the group, but at the Congress scheduled to take place at the beginning of December in Hamburg, the majority of the party refused allegiance? Merkel, as many observers expected, should stand for re-election as CDU leader, in this fateful hour. Finally, it is repeatedly stressed that party the presidency and the chancellorship must lie in a Hand. You should get a lesson missed, or is currently, actually, unthinkable – even to lose, can you stay a little further in the Chancellery.

What remains as a conclusion, at the end of this turbulent day? That will be the end of her chancellorship in the not-too-distant future, Angela Merkel is likely to have already been at the beginning of this week is clear. You should, however, have believed that their departure from Power, self-orchestrate, she’s probably already been disabused. The otherwise so self-certain Chancellor has missed the point of a self-determined departure from the office, obviously. In terms of foreign policy – that of Erdogan has shown-visit – like you hold the reins still in Hand. However, the Call for renewal from within its own ranks is also you can no longer ignore.


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    Author: Oliver Pieper