Germany’s former Chancellor Angela Merkel has turned down an offer by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a job, her office and UN sources said on Wednesday. Merkel “spoke to the UN secretary-general in the last week, thanked him, and let him know that she would not be taking up the offer,” her office said.
What role did Merkel turn down?
Guterres had offered Merkel the chair of a high-level UN advisory body on global public goods, UN sources said. The advisory board is one of Guterres’ flagship reform projects that he proposed for the UN in his second term, which started in January. The body will “identify global public goods and other areas of common interest where governance improvements are most needed, and to propose options for how this could be achieved,” according to UN sources cited by German media. The global public good is to include topics such as the ozone layer, vaccines and global trade.
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Merkel bids farewell after 16 years in office
The last goodbye
The last two months have been full of goodbyes for Merkel. Here she waves as she departed the chancellery for the last time having formally handed the reins to Olaf Scholz, on the day he took the oath of office in the Bundestag.
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Merkel bids farewell after 16 years in office
Out of the hot seat
After Germany’s federal election in September, Merkel was no longer a member of the Bundestag. Though she stayed on as caretaker chancellor until a new government was finalized, protocol decreed she had to watch Wednesday’s proceedings from the viewing gallery.
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Merkel bids farewell after 16 years in office
Standing ovation
International leaders like former US President Barack Obama have said publicly how much they appreciated Merkel’s leadership. Colleagues at home made it clear that they felt that way too, with members of the Bundestag clapping for the first woman to lead the German government.
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Merkel bids farewell after 16 years in office
No hard feelings
Merkel’s successor Olaf Scholz gave his former boss a large bouquet to bid her farewell. They were not campaign rivals, as Merkel had already chosen to step down before the election. And although they are from different parties, they governed together in two coalitions, with Scholz most recently serving as her vice chancellor and finance minister.
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Merkel bids farewell after 16 years in office
Friendship and continuity
Before leaving office, Merkel made a point of bringing Scholz with her to meet foreign leaders and to major meetings such as the G20 summit. Merkel said it was important for the global community to know there would be continuity despite a change of government in Germany.
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Merkel bids farewell after 16 years in office
The rhombus retires
Merkel’s famous stance, with her hands together in a diamond shape, is known as the “Merkel rhombus” or “power rhombus” in Germany. It was a sign of her steadiness and unchanging demeanor, but also indicative of a politician who would rather get to work than worry about photoshoots. Merkel, who has never courted the limelight outside of politics, may well be happy to have the latter behind her.
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Merkel bids farewell after 16 years in office
History repeats itself
On November 22, 2005, Merkel ended up holding two bouquets, one a gift to her and the other awkwardly passed back to her by her predecessor Gerhard Schröder. Schröder and Merkel have not had the kind of relationship she is likely to have with Scholz going forward. He has often criticized her publicly, and she has tried to distance herself from his close ties with Russian leaders and businessmen. Author: Elizabeth Schumacher
What is known about Merkel’s post-retirement plans?
After 16 years in office as German chancellor, the 67-year-old conservative politician quit German politics at the end of last year. She did not stand again in the federal election in September that was won by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz. Before stepping down, Merkel had avoided the spotlight outside of her political duties and had been tight-lipped about her post-politics plans. Merkel’s longtime aide Beate Baumann is working with her on her political memoir, according to Der Spiegel magazine. The memoir would not “retell [Merkel’s] entire life,” Baumann told Der Spiegel, but rather “explain her key political decisions in her own words, and look back on her life’s journey.”
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
‘Kohl’s girl’ no longer
Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl and other political insiders once called her his “girl.” Merkel stepped out of his shadow in 2001, when she led the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) in the opposition. But her real moment came in 2005.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
Narrow victory
In the 2005 general election, the CDU, along with its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, eked out a win over the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), led by then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. It was actually the CDU’s worst election performance in its history and an inauspicious start for Merkel, but she hit the ground running.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
A new chancellor
The CDU and SPD formed a “grand coalition” government and Merkel became the first woman, first former East German and the first scientist to become chancellor — as well as the youngest person ever to hold the position.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
Host with the most
Merkel quickly showed prowess. At the G8 summit in 2007, she welcomed the leaders of the eight largest economies to Heiligendamm, on the Baltic Sea. She joked around with then-US President George W. Bush (left) and Russia’s Vladimir Putin (right).
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
Boys being boys
On the European political stage in the fall of 2008, Merkel had to share the spotlight with the big male egos of French President Nicolas Sarkozy (front) and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The growing financial crisis quickly became the European Union’s most pressing concern.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
Help or hinder?
The public debt of some European Union member states kept growing, threatening the very existence of the euro as a currency. Merkel’s offer to help came with austerity demands. That did not go down well, especially in Greece, where newspapers ran images comparing the moment to Nazi Germany’s occupation in World War II.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
Reluctant campaigner
Merkel is not the best orator. Her speeches are often halting and she rarely goes into depth on policy. Yet her quiet pragmatism and sober modesty have won wide appeal. That has helped her run four governments.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
‘Mutti’
At some point in her long tenure, Merkel went from chancellor of the country to mother of the nation. She was sometimes referred to by supporters and opponents alike as “Mutti,” a rather old-fashioned word for “mom.” It can be meant a little sarcastically, but it’s often also said with affection, as in this Merkel supporter’s poster, a play on words that translates as “fully Mutti-vated.”
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
‘We can do this’
Few of Merkel’s statements have had such a lasting impact as the one above. The chancellor won widespread praise in 2015 for staying committed to the EU’s open-border policy and allowing more than 1 million migrants and refugees, many escaping the Syrian war, to enter Germany and the bloc. A vocal minority, however, pushed back against open migration.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
Time’s ‘Person of the Year’
Time magazine named Merkel its “Person of the Year” in 2015, and even “chancellor of the free world.” She has shown her mettle in the face of multiple crises, whether financial, social or political.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
Model of discretion
Merkel is discreet. She remains silent on her personal thoughts about less agreeable leaders, and deals with them as a matter of state interest.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
Down-to-earth
Merkel knows what a liter of milk costs, and years leading the country seem not to have gone to her head. Here in 2014, she visited a Berlin supermarket with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. It’s not unusual to spot the chancellor doing the grocery shopping on her own in downtown Berlin.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
Diamond of trust
Merkel is known for holding her hands together in a diamond shape. She has said it helps her stand up straight. And it has helped the CDU: The party used the diamond symbol on campaign posters for the 2013 general election. It became synonymous with trust and calm.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
A private life
Merkel is a very private person. The public knows little more than the fact that her husband, Joachim Sauer, is also a scientist. The two have spent many Easters on the Italian island of Ischia. Due to the global travel slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was the obvious exception.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
And then came COVID
The coronavirus pandemic has changed much more in Germany than Merkel’s travel habits. The country — and other nations — turned to her for answers in the crisis. Her serious, fact-based style has boosted her popularity.
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Angela Merkel: 16 years as German chancellor
Auf Wiedersehen, Frau Dr. Merkel
Two years ago, Merkel made clear that she would not seek reelection in 2021. When she goes, she’ll have served for 16 years — matching the record of her mentor Helmut Kohl, Germany’s longest-serving chancellor. Author: Christoph Hasselbach
fb/sms (dpa, Reuters)