Angela Merkel: “Can go to the cinema and take care of the garden”

Of course, an average day looks more relaxed than before. The days are quite filled out, but with more free time, especially on weekends.

What is new is that I can take care of friendships again, that I can go to exhibitions, that I can go to the cinema, that I can take care of my Uckermark garden more.

I don’t have to look at the cell phone every hour any hour, I don’t have to decide anything in no time. I have a lot more self -determination in life, and I enjoy that too.

I kept a piece of carefree. Fight and joy grow from it. For example, when I appear at the Kirchentag or read from my book, I speak to people and want to have an enhancing and optimistic effect and do not want to collapse among the problems of the world.

A woman has never been in the highest state office. I cannot predict the majority in the Federal Assembly for 2027, but I would be happy if a woman is number one in the state after I was a chancellor and now several Bundestag presents. That would really not be bad!

If diversity or equality issues are overempined in the eyes of the people, then the pendulum will keep back. In my view, however, this is no justification for pruning mental freedom in a worse manner or free teaching and universities.

The east chose AfD very strongly. Of course, I regret that, for example, my former constituency has now been won directly by the AfD. But I want to point out that there are still very, very many people who do not choose AfD.

If the AfD comes in government offices, I would say, it is a danger to democracy. There is also a lot of what is expressed by AfD representatives with democracy.

I would always say that even the imperfect that you have, you have to maintain and cherish and not smash before you don’t have something new and better. It is also with the UN organizations with the other international organizations, with the international meetings. So it is with German-American or European-American cooperation.

If we want to keep the advantages of Schengen permanently, i.e. the free movement of movement within Europe, then we have to think of the entire migration policy, legal and illegal migration. Therefore, the common European asylum system is an important step.

The question is whether we believe that acceptance for Europe is greater when a country like Germany acts primarily in the German internal borders or whether one is subject to the effort to keep trying to solve the problem together in Europe, even if it is so difficult.

Corona was an incredible challenge. In 1990 I would not have dreamed that one day I would be the Chancellor who had to restrict basic democratic freedom. But I felt committed to doing this in order to save human lives. At the price that I also had to take freedom to many citizens who take for granted to take for granted.