Angela Merkel’s long-awaited memoir, Freedom: Memories 1954-2021, is set to go on sale on November 26. In the detailed account, Merkel, the former German Chancellor, talks about her 16-year tenure in power and lets us look into her relationships with world leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and former US President Donald Trump in ways that were not easy to do before. Merkel’s legacy is currently under intense scrutiny due to current global crises. Reading through her memoir, some of the most controversial and defining moments in her leadership are brought to light.
The memoir reveals her political strategies and candid reflections on some of the most crucial decisions and relationships with world leaders. Here are five of the most debated moments that have come out of Merkel’s memoir, provoking intense discussions around the globe.
1. Mistaking Trump For Someone ‘Completely Normal’
One of the most striking confessions in Merkel’s memoir is about her early mishaps while dealing with former President Donald Trump. She remembers the notorious 2017 meeting that took place in the Oval Office, where Trump refused to shake hands with her in front of the cameras. Merkel tried to rescue the situation by whispering words that they should shake hands again.
And the moment she uttered the words, she regretted it. How could I forget that Trump knew precisely what he was doing? ” This, Merkel believes, marked a turning point in which she, as a politician, made a grave mistake in underrating Trump’s proclivity to communicate scandal in order to remain in public focus.
Merkel narrates how she treated the orange-juice billionaire as if he were any other head of state, only to wake up one fateful day to trumpet it out, realizing how wrong she was in reading him.
2. Membership Of NATO By Ukraine And The Bucharest Summit of 2008
The second major controversy surrounding Merkel’s memoir pertains to her stance on Ukraine’s anticipated membership into the NATO, specifically during the Bucharest summit of 2008. While Merkel opposed the move to provide Ukraine with an offer regarding membership into NATO, many have argued that it set Russia free to intensify aggression in the region.
Merkel vigorously defends her stance and writes that the declaration agreed to during the summit, according to which Ukraine and Georgia would eventually join NATO, in itself was a “battle cry” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. She recounts a chilling moment during their discussions where Putin warned her, “You won’t be Chancellor forever. And then they’ll become a member of NATO. And I want to prevent that.”
3. Asking The Pope About Trump
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election in 2016, Merkel went to an unlikely source of advice: Pope Francis. As Trump was a “winner-or-loser mentality” candidate motivated by his real estate career, Merkel did well to consult the Pope for information on how she should tackle the new U.S. President. She was deeply worried about Trump’s proposal to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accords.
The advice she said the Pope gave to her was “bend, bend, bend, but make sure it doesn’t break,” and Merkel probably tried to apply this advice to her dealings with Trump. However, through extensive diplomatic efforts, Trump pressed ahead in 2017 to officially pull out of the Paris Agreement—a move that Merkel considered a great loss for global climate diplomacy.
4. Criticism Of Trump’s Worldview
Merkel openly criticizes how Trump treats international politics as a business transaction. She compares his worldview to that of a real estate developer, saying how he could “only sell the parcel of land once.” In her book, she feels that Trump was heavily competitive and very self-centered, making his approach to the attributes she advocated: freedom, human rights, and democracy, stand out from the rest at times.
Merkel’s steadfast commitment to these principles, especially during Trump’s presidency, led to her being dubbed the “leader of the free world,” a title traditionally reserved for the US president. Her calls for cooperation and multilateralism often clashed with Trump’s “America First” policies.
5. Her Heartfelt Hope For Kamala Harris
Ahead of the 2020 US presidential election, Merkel had made a public expression of what she called her “heartfelt hope” that Kamala Harris, then Vice President-elect, would triumph over Donald Trump. As much as Merkel avoids openly endorsing candidates, her comments on the matter reveal concerns over the course global governance may take if placed under the leadership of Donald Trump.
Merkel, on the other hand, was optimistic about Harris, indicating in particular that she saw an opportunity in Harris as a new, more inclusive approach to US politics. And in her comments in the memoir, Merkel finds an essential counterweight to Trump’s divisiveness, an asset, she hopes, in shaping international diplomacy.
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