The former CDU leader and Chancellor is celebrating her birthday. Congratulations come from party friends and also from the traffic light coalition. One congratulations is particularly heartfelt – and another is missing.
Party friends and prominent representatives of the traffic light coalition have honored former Chancellor Angela Merkel on her 70th birthday for her commitment to Germany, Europe and democracy. Her successor as Chancellor, Olaf Scholz (SPD), attested to the CDU politician’s “impressive political career” on Platform X and added: “She has worked tirelessly for the country.”
Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz sent Merkel “warm congratulations” via X. Merz, who is also CDU chairman, added: “For around three decades you have shaped our country’s politics and taken on responsibility: in the CDU, in parliament and in the government.” Merkel ousted Merz from the chairmanship of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag in 2002. The relationship between Merz and the former chancellor has been strained ever since.
The former Chancellor wants to celebrate in a small circle
According to a spokeswoman, Merkel wants to spend her big birthday in private. How and with whom exactly is unclear. “Even during her active political time, the former Chancellor generally did not provide any information on private inquiries,” the spokeswoman explained. “Her attitude to inquiries of this kind has not changed even after she left office.” Merkel was Chancellor from 2005 to 2021.
The CDU is looking forward to the ceremony in honor of Merkel’s birthday in the fall, Merz wrote. The reception is planned for September 25 at the Berlin Academy of Sciences as part of the CDU series “Berlin Talks.”
CDU on Merkel: One of the most important stateswomen of our time
In an X-Post from the CDU, it says of Merkel, who led the party from 2000 to 2018: “Her ability to remain calm and make prudent decisions, especially in difficult situations, has made her one of the most important stateswomen of our time.”
Baerbock with personal congratulations
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock paid tribute to Merkel with a personal post on X: “Dear Ms Merkel, for 16 years you stood for the unity of Europe with humanity and perseverance – always with the deepest conviction for democracy and international law,” wrote the Green politician. Merkel has “opened more doors for women of my generation. All the best from the bottom of my heart!”
Former SPD leader Gabriel: After the end of Merkel’s term, vacuum in Europe
Former SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel, who was foreign minister under Merkel, wrote in a guest article for “Spiegel”: “Above all, during her 16-year chancellorship, she gave Europe a political center and tamed its centrifugal forces. That seems to me to have been Angela Merkel’s greatest political achievement. To this day, this role remains vacant.”
Gabriel’s article continues: “It is reasonable to doubt whether (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would have launched his terrible war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022 if the Chancellor had ruled for another legislative period.”
No congratulations from Putin
According to a spokesman, Russian President Putin no longer has any contact with Merkel and did not congratulate her on her 70th birthday. There are no plans to send her a congratulations, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in Moscow. The last time the two spoke on the phone was before Merkel left the chancellery at the end of 2021, Peskov told the state news agency Tass. According to these reports, Merkel met the Kremlin chief about 30 times during her time in office from 2005 to 2021.
Many politicians had already congratulated Merkel before her birthday. Congratulations also came from Gerhard Schröder (SPD), whom Merkel replaced in the chancellery after the 2005 federal election. “Of all political opponents, she is a special one. After all, she won,” he told the magazine “Stern”. He liked Merkel’s “typical North German charm” as well as her ability to be ironic and self-deprecating.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised the former Chancellor as a “role model and a trademark of our democracy.” Merkel had decisively shaped the path of a united Germany as Chancellor.
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder told the dpa: “Congratulations on your 70th birthday – on a great life’s work to the most important living political personality in Germany.” The CSU and Merkel had a changeable relationship at the beginning – “that also applied to me,” Söder admitted. There were major differences, especially in migration policy. “But during the Corona pandemic, everything changed for me,” Söder said.
Evangelical pastor’s daughter, physicist, chancellor
Merkel was born in Hamburg. Her father took up a pastorate in Brandenburg – Merkel grew up in what was then the GDR and studied physics. In 1990 she was elected to the Bundestag. Merkel served as Minister for Women and then as Minister for the Environment. She did not stand for the 2021 federal election. In connection with the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, critics accuse her of naive dealings with Putin. Many see her as responsible for Germany’s long dependence on Russian natural gas.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
