One of the remotest possibilities must have been that the shy and scholarly physicist with little interest in politics would rise to hold the highest office in Germany — chancellor. German politics had been ruled by men from West Germany for as long as anyone could remember.
So, she was awkward and unathletic at a young age. She didn’t seem to like being the center of attention. She was shy, and found reading a good way to escape.
Her father and her mother demanded much of her, and it seems she demanded a lot from herself. Angela wanted to be more than competent in anything she did. She wanted to be the best.
This wish to be better than others was obviously at work in Angela Merkel every early — and at school she was, as a former teacher says, an “exception,” an “ideal pupil.” In all her subjects (except sport) she achieved extremely good grades, yet at the same time was not looked upon as a “grind.” She was rather inconspicuous, which was connected to another elementary rule which she was taught by her parents: Never draw attention to yourself.
Communism and socialism would later be seen by many as blind to the real needs of human nature. Some would comment years later that communism was the organized prevention of whatever came naturally. Others argued that a good idea — the redistribution of wealth so all could have a good life — was at war with another better idea — human freedom.
Big Brother was watching. She would now and later learn to keep her real thoughts to herself, to create a private world that was separate from a public and political one. Her parents had taught her this as well, but dealing with the Stasi probably reinforced this teaching. Later, reporters would note that she could talk a good deal about herself but never reveal anything. She was a politician in the making.
Many groups called for her resignation. She faced her first political crisis.
She survived by staying calm, listening to the evidence on all sides, and appealing to rationality and not emotions. No one could prove a healthy crisis really existed. She rode out the storm. She had learned another valuable political lesson — remain calm and keep reassuring people that their worst fears are not based in real evidence and in science.
She thanked her supporters and her party, but then got down to business. She didn’t believe in long-winded speeches. She began to list the issues that her country faces.
The lowest economic growth of all 25 member states of the EU, debts as high as never before in the history of the FRG, people fearing for their pensions, a dramatic increase of poverty in our country, the feeling of two-class health care, but above all the depressing number of 5M registered unemployed.
She knew that many people thought of her as a scientific cold fish, but she was always honest and straightforward.
If all people have to worry about is the way I look then their lives must be very fortunate.
The rivalry between Germany and Great Britain over economic supremacy in Europe is an old one, and Merkel made the German voters very aware that they were losing to their old rival.
The VAT is essentially a European sales tax, but is added to both goods and services. The sales taxes in the various US states apply to goods only, not services, so the VAT is a much larger tax on many more things. As such, it is a very important source of revenue for European governments.
Suddenly, Merkel was on the defensive, and the 7-year record of the Schroder government was not the main issue in the campaign. He spoke in generalities about his record, but was extremely specific in his attacks on her. Her personality became an issue. She was a problem-solver and got into great detail analyzing problems. She rarely smiled at voters. She replied harshly to hecklers, not hiding her annoyance with them. She did not tell simple stories with happy endings to appease her listeners. She had come a long way from East Germany, but she did not like to tell her story. She wanted to talk about the future.
Some advisers had urged her to travel east and meet first with Poland and some of the Baltic states. Merkel knew, however, that history and tradition dictated certain protocols, and so she visited France first, to emphasize the importance of their relationship.
Decision-making within the EU is enormously complicated, with many issues to confront. France had refused to ratify the EU constitution only weeks before, and some called it a European crisis. A June 2005 summit meeting of the EU had been a disaster, with no agreement about its budget.
Money was a sore point with all the EU nations. Some countries, such as France and Germany, wanted a budget big enough to have a strong federal union and common policies on trade, agriculture, and technology research and development. Some other countries, most notably Britain, hoped for a smaller budget. Britain had even wanted a substantial rebate on what hit had already paid. The French and English had taken to insulting each other.
One issue they did not discuss but which made the local papers was the cost of the Bush visit — some $15M for the 12.5K police officers they used, welded manhole covers in Stralsund needed for tight security, the stands to hold audiences for ceremonies, and more. Straslund was too poor a city to pay the bill, but the matter would be resolved somehow.
The first component of the method is that she studies an issue very carefully. Merkel pays attention to details. She looks at all sides of any political issue, and then tries to understand it logically, like a problem to be solved. She tries not to make a decision without a good deal of thought before. Unlike some world leaders, she does not listen to her “hunches,” or first impressions. She finds out what others think, especially experts. She describes her approach very briefly: “I am, I think, courageous at the decisive moment. But I need a good deal of start-up time, and I try to take as much as possible into consideration beforehand.”
A second component of the Merkel method is having no grand philosophy, no unified theory of politics. Her biographer says she is “independent of ideology.” She does not have a definite vision of the future she would like to see. She is not trying to fit the world into a set of values she hold dear. Some of the members of her party do not like this about her. They adhere to values and traditions that have been around for centuries. Instead, she want to defend and solve real problems. She doesn’t want to invent problems. She thinks politics should always react to conditions, and change. Sometimes a government needs to lean toward being a welfare state, and sometimes a security state. Grand schemes always fail.
She does not have a grand philosophy of how everything is supposed to work, but she can crystallize ideas into forms others can understand and work with.
A picture of Russian empress Catherine the Great hangs in her office. Merkel says she admires the empress very much because Catherine was “a strong woman.”