Declining a job offer at the United Nations, Merkel is living a comfortable "retirement" life

The office of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on the 19th that Merkel declined the work invitation sent to her by UN Secretary-General Guterres without specifying. Guterres allegedly invited Merkel to chair a high-level advisory body at the United Nations, responsible for global public goods. It is not possible to determine why Merkel declined this invitation, and Merkel after "retirement" is also quite low-key. But from some details, it can be seen that the former prime minister is enjoying a comfortable and calm "retirement" life.

Decline the invitation

Merkel's office said Merkel spoke to Guterres last week to thank him for the invitation but said it would not accept the offer.

U.N. sources said Guterres had previously written to Merkel inviting her to serve as chairman of a senior U.N. advisory board responsible for global public goods. The agency is said to be one of the representative reform projects proposed by Guterres after his second term of office began in January this year.

German media quoted UN sources as saying that the agency will set global public goods, as well as areas involving common interests and urgent needs to improve governance, and propose solutions to achieve the goals. It is expected that the work will cover topics such as the ozone layer, vaccines, space junk, and global trade.

There are also reports that with Patricia Espinosa's tenure as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change due to end this summer, some U.N. diplomats are hoping Merkel will take over.

In fact, "retiring" to work for the United Nations is the choice of many leaders, such as Guterres, who served as The Prime Minister of Portugal. But Merkel seems to have little interest in the opportunities that these crowds envy. Because Merkel's office did not make a specific explanation, the outside world did not know the specific reason, but some clues can be found from her previous statement.

Late last year, Merkel said on her departure that she did not intend to continue working at a high level of stress, but instead considered what she wanted to do.

"I'm not going to resolve political conflicts. I have been working on this for many years, as Federal Prime Minister for 16 years. She said: "For many years, I have been occupied by the agenda set for me, and I must be on standby at any time... Now, I'm going to see what I want to choose to do. But that may not become clear until a few months later. ”

Understated and cozy

Merkel officially stepped down at the end of last year. For 16 years, she has been at the helm of Europe's largest economy and the European Union, and is considered the most powerful woman in the world. Yet even during her tenure as chancellor, Merkel remained low-key, shying away from attention outside of her duties.

When she left office, she was also tight-lipped about her "retirement plan". Despite all the speculation, Merkel only hinted that she would live a quiet life of reading and sleeping, in stark contrast to her predecessors.

Merkel said last September that she had never had time to stop and think about what she was interested in besides politics because of decades of unusually busy work. At the age of 67, she doesn't have a lot of time left in her life, so she needs to think carefully about what she wants to do next.

"Do I want to write, speak, go for a walk, stay at home, or see the world?" I decided to do nothing at first and see what happened."

After officially leaving office, Merkel remained away from the spotlight, but this did not hinder the attention of the outside world. According to reports, on the first day after "retirement", Merkel went shopping at her favorite Ulrich supermarket. In mid-December last year, Merkel was photographed shopping at the Kadivy department store in Berlin. In the photo, she was interested in a Spanish sausage that cost 34.80 euros (about 250 yuan).

Merkel after "retirement" does not need to worry about making a living. According to the German Taxpayers' Association in August last year, the former prime minister received a "pension" of about 15,000 euros (about 100,000 yuan) a month. Like other former German chancellors and former presidents, Merkel has the right to own an office with an office manager, two assistants, a typist and a driver.

But in the near future, Merkel may be seen again on the shelves. According to Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, Merkel's longtime aide Beate Baumann is working with her on a political memoir.

Bowman said the memoir would not "retell [Merkel's] life" but would have Merkel "personally explain her key political decisions and review her life journey." The writing process is expected to take two to three years.

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Column Editor-in-Chief: Yang Liqun Text Editor: Yang Liqun Title Image Source: IC PHOTO Photo Editor: Xu Jiamin

Source: Author: Lu Yifei