The German chief said goodbye to her post tonight at the Zapfenstreich military ceremony, thanking the Germans for their confidence, “the greatest capital in politics.” He urged to fight for democracy that can be “fragile”. And he greeted power with the invitation to “always look at the world with the eyes of others.”
“Today I feel gratitude and humility at the position that I held for so long,” he began, while the whole country wondered if their eyes would be blurred with emotion after 16 years of government.
In his very short speech, Merkel instead addressed a thought to those who in these hours “fight to save lives”, in German hospitals overloaded by the pandemic emergency.
She recalled the challenges that faced her “on a political and human level.” And then he sat in the center of the scene (coat and black gloves on a cold Berlin night) to listen to the songs he had chosen.
So did Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schroeder before her, whose tears in “‘My way” are still remembered. “I want everything or nothing,” says instead the chorus of the song desired by the Bundeskanzlerin, in a text that reflects the strength and ;; integrity of the ambitions and aspirations of a woman who has impressed the world when facing the powerful (and the bullies) of Earth.
Then came a punk song by Nina Hagen, from 1974, “you forgot the color film”, “a youthful success in the GDR”, explained in a press conference hours before. Finally, a religious hymn, the Te Deum, before the national anthem. And no, the chancellor never cried. Merkel, leaving politics completely behind at the age of 67, stayed focused and once again controlled her emotions.
The Zapfenstreich is an opportunity reserved for the country’s defense leaders and ministers. Tonight’s, in a restricted format for the pandemic, with 50 officials wearing masks invited by her, was an event expected with some regret by many, in a Germany that still sees the Bundeskanzlerin indisputably at the top of the ranking of most politicians.
The date of the inauguration of the successor, Olaf Scholz, in office is December 8And tonight at the meeting was also this social democrat whom Merkel trusts, who will make her sleep “soundly”, according to her comment after the sensational defeat of the CDU in the September elections.
At 7:20 p.m., in the courtyard of the Ministry of Defense, the Chancellor had an almost normal work day behind her, with a few more days ahead, marked by another and last crisis summit to manage the dramatic development of the Covid emergency .
A great mediator of deep crises, such as the euro that put the EU and migrants to the test, Merkel leaves her Germany mired in the most serious health emergency in the history of the Republic.
And to those who asked her what her state of mind was, at that moment, she replied: “I would feel better if we were in the situation in Italy.” One of the last lines of his chancery also marks a step back from the promise that Berlin would never impose the vaccine against Covid: “If I were to sit in the Bundestag again I would vote yes,” he admitted today, making the latest turning point.
Source From: Ambito
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