For sixteen eventful years, Angela Merkel wore two important hats: German Chancellor and de facto leader of Europe. They came with different responsibilities, and pulled her in different directions. Now that she is gone, what is her legacy with each job?
As Chancellor, I think it is fair to say that she played a good hand reasonably well. The economy had been revived by the SPD labor reforms and by Chinese demand for German products by the time she came into office. She rode with the tide, never pushed the voting public too far, held off extremists, and frequently stole the SPD’s clothes during her tenure in office. At the time of her departure, Germany is clearly the great power in Europe, and is more prosperous than ever, but it suffers from a lack of investment and increased inequality. A more dangerous Russia looms, and China is no longer a reliable trade partner. The next few years are likely to be bumpy for the new coalition.
As the leader of Europe, her objectives were to keep the EU afloat and impose German values on it to the maximum extent possible. She barely succeeded at the former–the UK is gone, but Greece is still there–and ultimately failed at the latter, winning the ill will of the Greeks, Italians, and others along the way. She had no answers for the emerging illiberal democracies within the EU, and ultimately agreed to a number of very grubby compromises to keep immigration from getting out of hand. With Merkel’s departure, Europe is a project led by a visionary without the clout to make his dream happen–Macron. But the EU will continue to muddle through, because it always has.
The bottom line is that Merkel’s legacy is a mixed bag. But then, whose isn’t?