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| German Chancellor Angela Merkel |
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, under siege
domestically but widely seen as a pillar of Western liberalism, announced on
Sunday that she will seek a fourth term next year.
Slightly hoarse but clearly determined after consulting
leaders of her conservative Christian Democratic party, Ms. Merkel said the
decision to seek a fourth term was “anything but trivial,” for her country, for
her party and for herself.
A scientist with a low-key manner, Ms. Merkel rejected the
idea that, after the election of Donald J. Trump as president in the United
States, she had a lone role in keeping Western liberalism alive. “That is
grotesque, even almost absurd,” she told reporters.
But she also said that the campaign ahead of the German
elections in fall 2017 would be unlike any other she has fought in an
increasingly polarized country. She faces stronger challenges on the right and
left, while the war in Syria, the arrival of large numbers of migrants and the
continuing euro crisis tear at Germany and place new demands on its people.
Since the election in the United States, speculation had
mounted that Ms. Merkel would bow to pressure to run again and uphold liberal
values in a world transformed by Mr. Trump’s victory and Britain’s vote last
summer to leave the European Union.
Ms. Merkel, 62, has served 11 years as chancellor. She is
the first woman and the first person raised in Communist East Germany to hold
the post.
Since coming to power in 2005, Ms. Merkel has gradually
acquired a political stature commensurate with the power of her country, Europe’s
largest economy and its most populous nation, with about 81 million
inhabitants.
But her image as the cautious caretaker of her country’s
interests has suffered over the past year, after she opened Germany to hundreds
of thousands of asylum seekers, many of them Muslim refugees fleeing wars in
the Middle East and Africa.
The prospect of integrating almost 1 million newcomers into
Germany has weakened Ms. Merkel’s standing at home, despite garnering some
praise, particularly from President Obama.
Visiting Berlin last week, Mr. Obama lavished compliments on
his longest-standing ally in his eight years in office, saying that if he were
German, he would vote for her.
Ms. Merkel responded to the election of Mr. Trump with a
robust appeal for him to follow Western values and respect human dignity. This,
she said, was the basis of any close cooperation.
Even as commentators and leaders outside Germany invoked her
stature, Ms. Merkel has been eager not to hog the limelight.
“One person alone can never solve everything,” she said on
Friday at a news conference with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain. “We are
strong only together. In that, I want to do what my duty is as chancellor.”
In the days before her party leadership met on Sunday,
several Christian Democrats said that the next parliamentary elections would be
difficult to win with Ms. Merkel, but impossible to win without her.
As she entered the atrium of her party headquarters on
Sunday, she was applauded by about two dozen people on a second-floor balcony.
While Ms. Merkel mentioned several times that her ability to
continue would be contingent on good health, she showed little weariness and
gradually became almost feisty as she outlined the challenges to German
industry and citizens in the 21st century.
Germans should stick to their tried and tested concept of
“social market economy,” a blend of welfare state and capitalism, as they
navigate this new world, Ms. Merkel said.
But she acknowledged that even in this conservative and
comparatively wealthy country, politics has been thrown into turmoil by the
rise of the populist, right-wing Alternative for Germany party.
It is now in 10 of the country’s 16 state Parliaments and seems
certain to win seats in the federal Parliament next year. That would scramble
conventional coalition building, since no mainstream party has been willing to
govern with the populists. Read More at nytimes.
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