EP60: Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 until 2021. This impressive tenure makes her the second longest-serving Chancellor since the Second World War.

Merkel’s time in power was characterised by a series of major crises. Over Merkel’s sixteen years as Chancellor, the World became a much scarier and more unstable place. This conversation deals mainly with Merkel’s handling of four crises: the 2008 financial crisis, the 2015 migrant crisis, and the relationship with two troublesome world powers, Russia and China. 

Whilst she steered Germany through this period, many have criticised Merkel for merely attempting to manage crises rather than solve them. To give Merkel her due, broadly managing crises, as the Germans have done, is better than broadly failing to manage them, as her British and American counterparts did. This conversation isn’t supposed to make you love or hate Merkel, but to make up your own mind. In truth, she probably isn’t deserving of such strong emotions in either direction.

My guest for this conversation is Oliver Moody. Oliver is the Berlin correspondent for the Times, and I’d encourage you all to read his analysis of what still is by far the most important country in the European Union. As well as Merkel’s handling of the four crises, we discuss Germany’s democratic future, and whether the country’s immediate political future will be as stable as its recent past.