Daily Times

HOW a Lutheran Pastor’s daughter Angela Kasner became German Chancellor Angela Merkel? How a farm grew-up girl became the first ever woman Chancellor of Germany? How a woman transformed German economy again to the stature of a great power? Why she has been under attack by the US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May in a constant manner? These questions are among many others which seem relevant to know in the ever changing geopolitical order of the world. There are a few individuals who possess remarkable abilities to rise and shine while becoming a role model for others to follow – German Chancellor Angela Merkel can be said as a perfect example.

Angela Kasner was born in Hamburg, West Germany on July 17, 1954. Her Lutheran family migrated from West to East Germany near East Berlin, where she grew up in a rural area. She has a PhD in Physics from Leipzig University and married her university fellow Ulrich Merkel in 1977 but divorced in 1982. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 she got involved with the East German Government. After the Re-unification of Germany on October 03, 1990, she became part of the cabinet of Chancellor and recently deceased Helmut Kohl. Soon after Merkel became Secretary General of her party Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1999 and its first ever female leader in 2000.

In 2005, when Merkel took office, the unemployment rate in Germany was 11.5% and now it is reduced to less than 4.8%. In Merkel’s early years the German budget deficit was more than 3.3% and now Germany has surplus budget unlike United Kingdom or even the United States. According to EuroNews, Germany has harnessed 23.7 billion Euros as a surplus in the greatest ever budget surplus in its history in the last fiscal year. Also, the German GDP grew by 1.9% while Britain and American economies grew by 1.8% and 1.6% respectively. The report also confirms that Merkel’s moral attitude and policy towards migrants resulted in increased government spending on houses and integrating over one million migrants mostly coming from the Middle East and Africa.

Merkel openly condemned the proposed Trump Wall on the US-Mexico Border during her visit to Mexico in June this year. She aggressively refuted Donald Trump’s vision on immigration and refugees. Germany received more than one million migrants and still ready to absorb more. She said that ‘putting up walls and cutting oneself off will not solve the problem’. Merkel also discussed the proposed Trump’s withdrawal from North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexican President Enrique Pena. Perhaps, she intended to fill the gap by the anticipated US withdrawal with the second largest economy of South America. According to ‘The Balance’, an online financial and economy information provider, Germany maintains a mixed economy by allowing a free market economy in consumer goods and business services.

Merkel is steering Germany to its ultimate destiny – a great power. She has the fate of German nation in her hands and on May 28, 2017, in her ‘Beer Tent Speech’ also urged other European nations to take their fate in their own hands. Russian news outlet Sputnik, in its May 31, commentary, argued that, Germany under Merkel is going to seek independence from United Kingdom and the United States. Apparently, UK after its Brexit campaign and Trump’s protectionist policies and his overtly confrontational behaviour towards Germany, have seriously affected Merkel and her future policies. Forbes Magazine, named Angela Merkel twice as the most powerful woman on the planet. She was also named as the 3rd most powerful person in the world just after Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Angela Merkel is a wonder woman and she did uphold moral and liberal values under intense international, regional and national pressure. Her stance on immigrants completely out-played other Western nations. She said on a number of occasions that Germany is a strong country and will continue to absorb immigrants. In fact, Merkel is cleaning up the blood-spattered mess created by Russia, America and Britain especially in the Middle East and the Northern Africa. Apart from few issues, the most important thing she needs to address is the military power of Germany. It is a fact that Germany needs a strong military to be completely independent. The American Military Bases in Germany are against the sovereignty and prestige of the German nation. Germany is the descendant of Prussian Military traditions and a great power in itself. Merkel has to realize that Germany is now free from the clutches of the inhumane Treaty of Versailles.

The writer can be reached at mmab11@gmail.com