About his political past Angela Merkel she has spoken many times in recent days, giving interviews before the book's premierein which he describes his entire political career and life in the GDR. During the presentation at the Deutsches Theater she returned to the topic of her last years as chancellorwhen one of the problems was the growing threat from Russiawhich was preparing to attack Ukraine.
Merkel emphasized that never acted against Ukraine, including in 2008, when it blocked the Ukrainian road to NATO. According to the former chancellor, Kyiv would be in a very difficult positionbecause it would not have full protection from NATO, and it could lead to greater provocation on the part of Russia.
War in Ukraine and the pandemic. Merkel on the situation in Germany
GermanThe politician mainly defended the position that at the request of the then President of Ukraine, Poroshenko and France decided to create the so-called Normandy format, which was supposed to lead to quick negotiations with Russia so that it would withdraw from Crimea i Donbasu.
The politician was also asked by Anne Will – a well-known German journalist who hosted the meeting – why, despite the annexation of Crimea, it did not give up on Russian gas and the construction of Nord Stream 2. The former chancellor defended her position, claiming that breaking off relations with Russia at that time made no sense. – I did not want to break off relations with Putin, it was not a mistake – she emphasized.
As she added, further sanctions were imposed on Moscowand trade contacts with Russia enabled the import of cheap oil. – This is what the situation looked like then I cannot imagine that without Nord Stream, Putin would not have attacked Ukraine – she said.
According to Angela Merkel The pandemic has contributed to the current political situation in Europe. When the world was fighting the coronavirus, politicians began to move away from each other instead of talking to each other, which had an impact on international politics.
Merkel emphasized that is unable to assess today whether the situation in Ukraine would have been different if there had been no pandemic. However, she drew attention to the fact that just before Russian aggression, when Joe Biden warned at the G20 summit in Rome about the increased concentration of Russian troops on the Russian-Ukrainian border, it was not possible to talk to Putin privately because he did not come to Rome due to the pandemic.
Angela Merkel published a book. I don't want to talk about mistakes
Angela Merkel, apart from minor mistakes, she didn't want to say much about the mistakes she made during her 16-year term. She rejected arguments that her migration policy was a mistake.
In her opinion, the decision to accept the first wave of refugees who were camping outside in Budapest was the right decision, because she couldn't imagine stopping migrants going to Germany at the border using water cannons. She also emphasized that has a different opinion on migration than the current candidate CDU for chancellor Friedrich Merz.
In the opinion of the former chancellor the only right way to limit illegal migration will be to sign agreements with the countries from which migrants reach Europe – for them to accept illegal immigrants in exchange for legal migration, for example skilled workers.
The only mistakes that Angela Merkel spoke openly about were: being a brake on the digitization and modernization of infrastructure.
Politically, it was more difficult to be a woman than a man from the GDR
Referring to the beginnings of his political career, Angela Merkel admitted that being a woman was a bigger obstacle on her way to the chancellorship than coming from eastern Germany. She recalled that many men stood in her way.
One of the memorable moments was on election night when, during a televised debate, when it became clear that Gerhard Schröder had lost the election, the outgoing chancellor made it clear to her what the role of women in politics was. However, she did not hide the fact that she did too her GDR past was a problem for her. She especially hated the term that was repeatedly thrown at her – “Educated German” (Angerernte Bundesdeutsche).
Angela Merkel's book “Freedom” was published on Tuesday in over 30 countries. The manuscript was closely guarded before its premiere. People who worked on the release had to sign a confidentiality agreement. To the media's surprise, no leaks reached the media – only authorized fragments of the book.