Germany’s golden age is over, most Europeans think, when Merkel leaves

Under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany’s power and influence in European and world affairs has been unquestionable.

Now leaving office after 16 years, many Europeans believe the country’s “golden age” is over, including most Germans, according to a recent poll.

The survey, conducted by the European Foreign Relations think tank in 12 EU countries in early summer, with the results published this week, found that Europeans still see Merkel as a unifying force and hope that Germany continue to be the EU leader. However, there is pessimism at home and abroad about the future of Germany after Merkel.

The survey found that many Europeans see Germany as a declining power, no more and no less than in Germany, where the majority (52%) believe their country has passed its “golden age”. Only 15% of respondents in Germany said they believe their country is still in its “golden age,” and 9% of respondents believe it is yet to come.

Across Europe, a third of Europeans (34%) surveyed said Germany’s star was fading, 21% said it was in its “golden age” today and that only 10% believed that this period is in the future.

The data highlights the uncertainty in both Germany and its neighbors about the country’s future and its de facto EU leadership, once Merkel leaves office after the Sept. 26 federal election.

Despite some controversial policies, Merkel, 67, leaves the post on her own terms. He remains a popular reference figure in Europe, and much more so than his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, although analysts expect Macron to try to fill some of the leadership gap left by Merkel.

When the ECFR asked respondents who they would vote for in a hypothetical contest between Germany’s Merkel and France’s Macron for a role as EU president, the think tank found that a majority of Europeans (41%) would vote for Merkel. and only 14% would vote for Macron (the remaining 45% said they did not know or would not vote).

The greatest support for Merkel in these hypothetical elections was found in the Netherlands (58%), Spain (57%) and Portugal (52%). Even among the French, 32% would vote for Merkel and 20% for Macron.

Perhaps it is not surprising that there is such a lasting fondness for Merkel. She is seen as a stable, pragmatic and cold-faced pair of hands in a crisis, and has had some to deal with during her tenure in office.

Merkel has guided Germany, the eurozone and the EU at large through various traumas, including the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the subsequent sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone that culminated around the 2012 and the migration crisis of 2015-2016. More recently, it has played a prominent role in Europe’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and, along with Macron, has overseen the EU’s recovery plan.

However, Merkel’s policies during periods of crisis have not always won her friends over. He became a figure of hatred in Greece during the debt crisis, as Germany argued that strict austerity measures should be imposed on Athens as a condition of international bailout.

Meanwhile, his decision to allow hundreds of thousands of migrants, mostly from Syria, to enter Germany during the migration crisis also caused consternation in the country, and was seen largely as a boost to public support for the right-wing party Alternative. for Germany.

One of the great unknowns of his departure is how Germany’s relationship with the rest of the EU and the de facto leadership of the bloc could change once Merkel leaves office.

In the latest ECFR report entitled “Beyond Merkelism: What Europeans expect from post-election Germany”, published on Tuesday, authors Piotr Buras and Jana Puglierin point out that post-Merkel political leadership in Germany will have no more remedy to change their role, and relationship with the EU.

“Merkelism is no longer sustainable and the next German chancellor will have to find another way forward,” said Piotr Buras, co-author and head of the ECFR office in Warsaw.

“Merkel may have properly maintained the status quo across the continent for the past 15 years, but the challenges facing Europe now (the pandemic, climate change and geopolitical competition) require radical solutions, not cosmetic changes. what the EU needs now is a visionary Germany that will defend the values ​​of the bloc and defend its place in the world. “