Merkel officially stepped down as Chancellor of Germany #俄方回应德国防长威胁使用核武器 #
On October 26, Berlin time, German President Steinmeier officially issued an executive order to Merkel to step down as chancellor, which means that Merkel finally ended her sixteen-year-long ruling career in a legal sense. However, it is worth mentioning that although Merkel is no longer the German chancellor, due to the close number of votes between the various parties in this German general election, a new chancellor has not yet been elected. So German President Steinmeier ordered merkel to continue to act as chancellor until a new chancellor is elected. According to some German media forecasts, considering the current negotiation process between various parties in Germany, the new chancellor may not be elected until December this year. In this way, Merkel will have to wait nearly two more months before she can fully retire.
Merkel's outstanding economic policies and pragmatic diplomatic strategies contributed to Germany's great development after the Cold War, and under her administration, Germany quickly recovered from the trauma of half a century of division and became the largest economic power in Europe. With the rapid growth of economic power, Germany's political influence is also growing, and germany has become an EU "speaker" on an equal footing with France, and has a huge say in the affairs of Central and Eastern Europe. So much so that some commentators argue that "Merkel used the economy to do what Hitler did not do with the army." However, under the brilliant political achievements, some of Merkel's political methods have also been controversial, such as she provoked the CDU party struggle, and eventually took advantage of the fishermen and became the leader of the CDU; for example, she betrayed her political mentor Cole for the sake of personal power, so that Kohl denounced Merkel as a "snake on her arm". But in any case, It is an indisputable fact that Merke led Germany to European leadership, and she was destined to become one of the most important leaders in German history, on a par with Bismarck and Wilhelm I.
Merkel left behind a strong Germany, but the world in which germany lived was fraught with challenges. Two major issues are particularly noteworthy for future German leaders: the first is refugees and the second is diplomacy.
Turning first to the issue of refugees, the Arab Spring began to sweep through many countries in the Middle East in 2011, with street movements, riots and even civil wars, which led to millions of Middle Eastern people being left homeless and reduced to refugees. In order to further improve Germany's international image and complement the shortage of cheap labor at home, Merkel chose to welcome these Middle Eastern refugees.
According to the China News Network, as of the end of October 2020, a total of 1.77 million refugees were living in Germany, while the total population of Germany was only more than 80 million. These refugees have a limited level of knowledge, many of whom do not even speak German, and can only rely on government finances to support themselves, which has brought a considerable burden to the German economy. Moreover, the crime rate of these refugees is not low, posing a huge threat to german social security. At the same time, these Middle Eastern refugees need to pass through the territory of Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria and other countries if they want to reach Germany, which also brings a huge diplomatic burden to Germany. How to deal with the refugee problem in the future will be one of the major problems for the new German government.
The second biggest problem facing Germany is diplomacy.
Although Germany is an ally of the United States and a member of NATO, under Merkel's mediation, Germany has been able to maintain good relations with China and Russia. Merkel has made twelve visits to China during her time in power, and even more recently, Merkel has been active in pushing to reopen the already frozen EU-China Trade and Investment Agreement ratification process. For Russia, Merkel can also make the Nord Stream-2 project completely under the threat of the United States. But Merkel's policy of friendship with China and Russia in no way means that the whole of Germany is friendly to China and Russia. We know that many organizations that are trying to split our country have set up their base camps in Germany, and many German politicians have actively echoed the rumors about Xinjiang and Hong Kong concocted by the United States.
As for Russia, the German defense minister even threatened to "take tough measures against it", so much so that Russian Defense Minister General Shoigu replied strongly: "I suggest that she study history well, or ask her grandfather to see what the consequences of Germany's last toughness against Russia were." In short, as a party to the defeat of the Cold War, some German politicians have a very strong "convert fanaticism" for the United States, and during Merkel's administration, this fanaticism could still be suppressed and pragmatic foreign policy adopted. But whether the new German government can get rid of the influence of bad mentality and correctly handle foreign relations has to be questioned.
All in all, Merkel's legacy for the new government is very good, but if the refugee issue and foreign relations are not properly resolved, the achievements of Merkel's sixteen years in power are likely to be destroyed. Merkel is finally free from heavy state affairs, but the future of Germany is even more uncertain.