IThis is a phrase from Angela Merkel that stands out from all those she uttered during her sixteen years in the chancellery, a phrase that will remain in the memory of the Germans: for some, rather on the side of the left liberals, Merkel s ‘is shown to be almost immune to criticism, when for others, more on the national-conservative side, this sentence sounded like the height of betrayal.
No I’m not talking about his famous “Wir schaffen das! “ – ” We’ll get there ! – by which, in 2015, she encouraged the Germans to complete the integration of 1 million refugees. I am talking about this sentence she uttered to justify her decision, in September of the same year, to open the borders to these starving and frozen men, women and children: “If we are to start apologizing for showing a friendly face in emergency situations, then it is [plus] my country. “
A humanitarian act
With this “Friendly face”, she wanted to speak of a human figure, of a humanitarian act. And, with the end of the sentence, she said how much it meant to her. These words weren’t opportunistic, they weren’t hypocritical, they were fundamentally sincere. Even the socialists, the supporters of the left party Die Linke or the ecologists of the Grünen (the Greens) carried him and still hold him in esteem for this sentence. The strength of Angela Merkel, who carried her throughout her sixteen years in the chancellery, is never to have indulged in purely opportunistic actions.
However, the fact is, moreover, that his political convictions, in almost all circumstances, have been extremely expedient for the majority of Germans: comfortable, able to rally a majority, in accordance with national economic interests. Even this sentence that I quoted to you was, at the time, opportune: a great wave of solidarity swept through Germany for a short time, turning it into a host country. But it didn’t last – and Merkel soon tried to switch to Turkey [en mars 2016], and even with Libya, dubious or even downright dirty agreements, which no longer had anything in common with this human face.
The exit from nuclear power
Such timely reversals have occurred in other policy areas as well. For example, as a first step, to serve the interests of companies, the Merkel government largely invalidated the “nuclear exit” (ie the closure of nuclear power plants) planned by the “red-green” coalition government of Gerhard Schröder. . Then, after the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011, Merkel radically changed her position, in turn calling for a rapid phase-out of nuclear power.
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