Merkel’s memoirs: Merkel: Debt brake reform important for investments

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel, unlike many Union politicians, advocates a reform of the debt brake in favor of investments in the future. “The idea of ​​a debt brake with a view to future generations remains correct,” writes the 70-year-old former CDU leader in her memoirs, which she wants to present in Berlin today. “But in order to avoid distributional struggles in society and to do justice to the changes in the age structure of the population, the debt brake must be reformed so that it is possible to take on higher debts for future investments.”

Germany must “deal with the fact that the high, essential defense spending will lead to conflicts with other policy areas,” warns Merkel. It is clear that spending two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) on the defense budget is not enough. In order to maintain prosperity at the same time, spending on research and development of at least 3.5 percent of GDP is required. In addition, a lot of money is needed for development cooperation and the transformation to climate-neutral living and business by 2045.

The debt brake, which was enshrined in the Basic Law in 2009, largely prohibits the federal and state governments from financing their budgets with the help of new loans. While there is an absolute ban on borrowing for the states, the federal government is permitted to borrow up to a maximum of 0.35 percent of gross domestic product. There are exceptions to the debt brake, for example in certain emergencies.

How does the Union react to Merkel’s debt brake statement?

Before the planned early federal election on February 23rd, Merkel’s demand is unlikely to be very convenient for the Union; the CDU/CSU have long been insisting on compliance with the debt brake. However, Union candidate for chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz recently stated that the debt brake was a technical issue and should of course be reformed. The question is why. He appeared open to reform if it served investments, progress or the livelihoods of the young generation.

Merkel presents memoirs at the Deutsches Theater

The former Chancellor is presenting her memoirs, which she wrote together with her long-time confidant Beate Baumann under the title “Freedom. Memories 1954 – 2021”, at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. The evening will be moderated by journalist Anne Will. The publisher Kiepenheuer & Witsch writes about the almost 740-page book that it offers “a unique insight into the inner workings of power.”

Take a look behind the scenes of power

In contrast to her 16 years in office, Merkel allows a look behind the scenes of politics in some places in the book. There are no big surprises to be found, nor are there any admissions of serious mistakes in areas in which it has received a lot of criticism.

Merkel told the Editorial Network Germany (RND) that she did not consider any of her decisions in the various crises during her term to be a clear mistake. She acknowledges the criticism of her Russia, refugee, corona and digitalization policies, but: “I am not backing down from my decisions.” She was also saddened by the fact that there was often a lack of willingness to return to the circumstances of her time in office.

Important passages of the book at a glance:

Don’t let the AfD lead you by your nose

Merkel warns: If the democratic parties assume that they can keep the AfD down “by constantly talking about its issues and ideally trying to outdo them rhetorically without offering actual solutions to existing problems, then they will fail.” But if they manage to develop and implement effective answers across party political boundaries, “not as tactical maneuvers, but honestly in the matter and measured in tone, then the citizens will reward them for it.” This also and especially applies to refugee policy.

“The vast majority of people have an unmistakable sense of whether politicians are acting out of pure calculation, whether they are even letting the AfD lead them through the ring by the nose, so to speak, or whether they are acting because they are genuinely interested in solving problems.” , writes Merkel. She is accused of having made the AfD big through her migration policy.

A sentence and a photo will forever be associated with Merkel’s refugee policy. At her summer press conference in August 2015, with a view to the increasing number of refugees, she emphasized that Germany is a strong country. “The motive with which we approach these things must be: We have accomplished so much – we can do it!” The CDU politician is still amazed at the impact of this sentence today. “If someone had told me back then that “We can do it”, these three banal words, would later be held against me for weeks, months, years, and by some people to this day, I would have looked in disbelief and asked: Excuse me?”

Merkel also did not foresee the impact of a selfie with a Syrian refugee. “At that moment I had no idea what waves this picture and other selfies I took that day would cause, but I thought: Why not?”

Merkel’s assessment of refugee policy contains a warning: Europe must protect its external borders. “At the same time, however, Germany and Europe should never be tempted to assume that they can make themselves unattractive to people from other regions of our world with even the most drastic measures. That will not work.” Prosperity and the rule of law would always make Germany and Europe “desires”. “We can only deal with this successfully if the fight against smugglers and irregular migration is always linked to efforts to create quotas for legal migration.”

Corona – frustration with politics vs. science

Merkel justifies her course with government contact restrictions and everyday requirements. “The alternative would have been to expose everyone to the disease caused by the virus in a short period of time and watch our health system collapse. In doing so, we would have risked, if not accepted, the death of many, especially the elderly and those with previous illnesses.” She found it difficult to bear when, when it came to dead people, it was said, in a seemingly reassuring manner, that a person had not died of Corona, but with Corona. What would have been missing was to put “only” in front, according to the motto: the person was so old or something like that, he would have died soon anyway, whether with or without Corona.”

Looking back, Merkel shows frustration at some of the deliberations. “Even though I thought our federal order in Germany was fundamentally correct, I was now despairing of it.” As a scientist, it drove her “almost crazy” to act on the principle of hope, which is so popular in politics. Sometimes it was difficult for her to bear “when politicians accused scientists of constantly changing their minds, thereby revealing a major misunderstanding about the nature of science and research.” About a federal-state meeting in 2020, in which a researcher was “treated like a stupid schoolboy,” she writes: “Inside I was seething.”

Defense – Two percent target

Merkel admits that she “didn’t actually give a fiery public speech every day” for the goal of spending two percent of gross domestic product on defense agreed at the NATO summit in Wales in 2014. However, Merkel counters the accusation from representatives from the SPD, Greens and FDP that defense was massively neglected, especially during her time in government. “For the sake of honesty, however, it must be remembered that it was not the CDU and CSU, but the Social Democrats, who found it difficult, to say the least, to increase defense spending.”

Suspension of compulsory military service

The suspension of compulsory military service was one of several U-turns in Merkel’s policy. “The Union wanted to hold on to it, including me personally,” she writes. The coalition partner FDP, on the other hand, wanted to abandon compulsory military service because the military was no longer fair. According to Merkel’s account, the suspension was ultimately the return for savings in the defense budget of two billion euros through a reduction in the size of the Bundeswehr, which the then Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) was supposed to swallow in June 2010 during discussions for the 2011 federal budget. “Guttenberg was beside himself.” In return, he demanded a suspension of compulsory military service. According to Merkel, he finally laid the foundation for this through a lot of persuasion at the base of the CDU and in the CSU.

Putin – threads of conversation and a nail in the coffin

Looking at two decades of shared encounters with Vladimir Putin, Merkel writes that the Russian president and with him his country have changed “from initial openness to the West to alienation from us to complete hardening.” Even looking back, she believes it was right that until the end of her term in office she made it a point to “not let my own thread of conversation with Putin break off and to maintain ties through trade relations – beyond the mutual economic benefits.”

Nobody knows whether Putin’s attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022 could have been prevented if the corona pandemic had not existed and personal encounters had been possible instead of virtual meetings, writes Merkel. “But what is certain is that Corona acted like a nail in the coffin for the Minsk Agreement,” which was agreed in 2015 by Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia.

Ukraine – Merkel for diplomatic initiatives

Merkel expressly supports diplomatic initiatives to end the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The ability to deter is one thing, “it must go hand in hand with the willingness to take diplomatic initiatives. These must be planned in advance so that they are available at the right moment.” When that came “cannot be decided by Ukraine alone, but only together with its supporters.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj recently sharply criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) first phone call with Putin in almost two years and declared: “In my opinion, Olaf’s call opens Pandora’s box.”