I have always been an admirer of German culture and civilisation. I have visited Deutschland more times than I can recall. German history, for the most part, has been dark, bloody and icy-cold. But I find the Germans of today to be warm, civilised and cosmopolitan.
No leader embodies the New Germany more than German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has ruled the country for the past 18 years. Not too long ago, she announced that she would no longer be seeking a fifth term as Chancellor. Elections are scheduled for September.
The greatest actors have always marshalled the wisdom to quit the stage when the ovation is loudest.
Angela Dorothea Merkel was born in the old German port city of Hamburg on 17 July, 1954, the daughter of a Lutheran pastor who moved to East Berlin before the communists built the wall separating East and West. She was a brilliant student at school; earning a doctorate in Chemistry from Karl Marx University.
She began her career as a research chemist before switching to politics in 1990 as a member of parliament in the newly unified Germany. She subsequently served in several ministerial roles before becoming leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Chancellor in 2005.
Merkel has been credited in helping Germany steer the course to being the stable and prosperous democracy that it is today. According to the influential Financial Times of London, Angela Merkel’s entire economic philosophy is anchored on three figures: 7%, 20%, and 50 percent. She has always noted that the EU makes up 7% and contributes 20% of the global GDP while accounting for a whopping 50% of social spending. She is a strong believer in financial prudence while shoring up economic fundamentals that ensure prosperity for all.
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In 2007, the government raised sales taxes by three percentage points to 19% in order to lessen the strain on public finances. The public deficit was reduced in line with the EU Stability Pact. The Government also raised the retirement age from 65 to 67 in order to reduce the demographic challenges facing an ageing society. Corporate tax reforms were also undertaken to give a new lease of life to the famed Mittelstand family-owned businesses that have been the life-blood of Germany’s post-war economic prosperity.
The administration was criticised for allegedly being slow in responding to the financial crisis of 2008-2009. The government passed a stimulus package worth €81 billion together with a €500 billion rescue fund for ailing banks.
The Greek financial crisis was a particularly sore point in Europe, as the Germans were blamed for implementing what was essentially a “shock therapy” approach. The Greek crisis nearly destroyed the Euro, but for the grace of God.
Her insistence on fiscal discipline, German-style austerity measures and refusal to throw money after problems won her few friends. But the fact that Europe has recovered and is on the path of steady growth has earned her respect, if not admiration.
Another great achievement is in the area of energy. Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, Merkel announced that Germany would be phasing out all her 17 nuclear reactors by 2022 and would embark on a long transition to alternative, more sustainable energy systems. Today, Germany is a world leader in clean energy.
Merkel also scores high on defence. In 2011, compulsory military service was abolished; thereby reducing the numbers from a costly and unwieldy 240,000 to a more manageable 170,000. The German military have acquitted themselves rather well on a number of peace-keeping missions.
In foreign policy, the administration was able to paper over the cracks in the Atlantic Alliance following Germany’s opposition to the American invasion of Iraq. Merkel has been criticised by her opponents for her open-door policy on immigrants. Germany today is a respected voice for world peace and for a law-based international order.
She has been described as “the undisputed leader of Europe”. During her six-months Presidency of the EU Council last year, she succeeded in getting member states to agree on a framework for tackling climate change and reform the Byzantine EU bureaucracy.
She has kept the door of dialogue open with Russia, following the acrimony accompanying Russian annexation of Crimea. A fluent Russian speaker, she has been in constant touch with Russian strongman Vladimir, who is said to unleash his Labradors around her when she visits, despite fully knowing of her fear of dogs. She has remained tough on human rights issues in both China and Russia.
Like all politicians, she is not without contradictions. She cuts the image of the boring academic that she is. She can make sudden U-turns in public policy. Some smaller members of the EU resent her hegemony.
This humble daughter of a Lutheran pastor rose from modest beginnings as an obscure research chemist to become the head of Europe’s greatest nation. She was once described as “the de facto leader of the free world”. She has broken the glass ceiling in a world dominated by Alpha men, from Konrad Adenauer to Willy Brandt and Helmut Kohl.
She achieved that feat through her strength of character, her intellect and her unique wisdom and courage. Reminds me of a line in the famous novel, Angela’s Ashes, by Irish-American writer, Frank McCourt, “You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace”.
Merkel has hardly changed her wardrobe in decades. A journalist once asked her why she often wore the same suits. She replied, “I am a government employee and not a model”. When some interest groups questioned her for raising the salaries of teachers ahead of professionals such as engineers and doctors, she replied that it was morally right that those who produce engineers and doctors should earn more than their products.
She and her husband, a Professor Emeritus of Quantum Chemistry at Humboldt University of Berlin, have lived in the same apartment that they bought when they were a young couple. No servants at their beck and call.
If today Germany is a prosperous democracy and one of the leading nations of the world, it is thanks to her outstanding leadership.
God give us such men and women in Nigeria! As one of her admirers recently prayed:
God be upon this silent leader.
God be upon the greatness of Germany.
