Merkel: The most difficult moment of my term when I asked so much from the Greeks

The euro crisis, “when I asked so much from the citizens in Greece“, Said Angela Merkel as the most difficult moment of her 16-year term in the Chancellery, while she described as the most pleasant the moments” when we reached a compromise “, e.g. for the management of the coronavirus crisis or for the Treaty of Lisbon. In the most “uncomfortable” moments of her career, on the other hand, she included the fact that she lost her mother while she was in the public eye. “Sometimes they stare at me and I mean, ‘Do you see anything?’ I find this very difficult. One must build one’s space and protect it. I do not allow anyone who does not have a job to enter this areaHe said characteristically.

Speaking last night at an event with Nigerian writer Tsimamanda Ngozi Adici in Düsseldorf, Merkel spoke more about social, philosophical and personal issues and less about politics, while a few weeks before the end of her term, she appeared with an unusual disposal.

“What defined you?” Asked the journalist who moderated the discussion. «The fact that I grew up with people with mental disabilities and so I never had a phobia towards them. And the fact that I studied Physics. 80% of my classmates were men (…) I learned to fight for my place in a male-dominated environment“, Said Merkel, who tonight took care to correct her old position on feminism. In 2017, when asked if she was a feminist, she was embarrassed to say that she did not want “labels”. This time, in the same question, she stated that, in the sense that feminism is for men and women to participate equally in society, “then I am a feminist.” “Last time I was a little shy. But today I have thought better of it. And in that sense I can say, yes, we should all be feminists, “the Chancellor said with a laugh.

However, Angela Merkel denied, as the correspondent of the Athenian News Agency reports, that with her refugee policy she divided German society. “I do not see it that way,” she said, rejecting the claim that with her famous phrase “we will do it”, she addressed an open invitation to the refugees to come to Germany. «“In 2015 the refugees were at our door and to say ‘be careful, back to the Mediterranean’ was not a solution for me,” the Chancellor replied and when asked if she was leaving the Chancellery with a clear conscience, she said “yes”. “I think I gave my contribution. Now the country needs something newHe replied.

And what does he plan for the future after the Chancellery? Angela Merkel has been in politics since 1990 and has never had a “normal” working day. So, as she said, she soon stopped thinking about what else would interest her outside of politics. “It simply came to our notice then. I want to write; I want to talk; Do I want to go hiking? Do I want to be at home? Do I want to go around the world? I will not do anything for the time being and I will wait for what will come. “And I find that exciting,” he admitted.

However, according to a report by the Berliner Zeitung a few weeks ago, Angela Merkel, after 31 years in the Bundestag and 16 years in the Chancellery, will receive a monthly pension of 15,000 euros, while, like all former Chancellors, she is entitled to an office with four employees and a driver.