With Angela Merkel's stepping away, Germany witnesses the end of a successful era of peace and stability.
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- End of a superb era: "The leader of the free world", "eternal chancellor", "austerity queen", "climate chancellor", and many more — outgoing German chancellor Angela Merkel earned several titles in her 16-year-long term. She was seen as a steady and pragmatic leader not just by Germans, but the world. Her 'middle-of-the-road' approach helped Germany tide over every global crisis in the past one-and-a-half decade.
- Merkel and the world: Merkel was the world’s most powerful woman and her absence will not only be felt in Berlin, a vacuum will also be felt in Paris and Washington DC as well. Her stable hand has helped Europe deal with crises like the 2008 financial crash, influx of migrants, Brexit, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Her supporters call her the “Chancellor of Europe” as Germany became Europe’s largest creditor nation in the wake of Britain's exit from the European bloc. Despite an ongoing monetary crisis of the Euro Zone, Germany under Merkel managed to remain a regional superpower. During Merkel's term in office, Germany outperformed France, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy in exports. While inequality rose across the globe, Merkel managed to sustain a vibrant middle class in Germany.
- What made her special: Merkel was the first woman Chancellor from the conservative party and has been the Chancellor for 16 years from 2005 to 2021. She never took any extreme stand. As a strong export-based economy, Germany under Merkel outperformed France, the UK, Spain, and Italy in Europe, and posted robust exports behind only China and the US. During her tenure, the innovative “kurzarbeit” short-time work scheme saved thousands of jobs and prevented layoffs.
- Eurozone politics: Merkel’s push for an austerity-based approach to the Eurozone crisis for bailout of Greece in 2010 made her unpopular. But she was a humanitarian at heart, and in 2015, Germany took in a million of those who arrived in Europe during refugee crisis. She was called the “climate chancellor” for her role in pushing a low-carbon future for Germany and Europe. She could not bring a stronger action against Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Germany subsequently chose to go ahead with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline for gas supply. After 2016, Merkel came to be seen as the new “leader of the free world” for she addressed the impact of the pandemic in a timely manner with solidarity, relying on science not superstitution or fiction.
- India and Merkel: India and Germany held five Cabinet-level Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC) meetings so far signalling a growing political engagement and economic partnership. The fifth IGC held in 2019 (for which Merkel visited India) focussed on sustainable growth and a reliable international order. The IGC expanded its scope to artificial intelligence and digital transformation, and pushed forward the ‘Make in India Mittelstand’ programme. Both India and Germany have been at the forefront of the push for UN Security Council reform. There has been joint investment in higher education to enable greater people-to-people contact and collaboration in education. There are about 1.7 lakh Indians and people of Indian origin in Germany.
- Now, India has to engage Berlin on enhancing the aspect of Germany’s own strategy for the Indo-Pacific. There is scope to scale up defence cooperation.
- A major area of cooperation relates to climate change and building more sustainable energy solutions in India. Another would be investment in higher education and fast-tracking high-skilled Indian employment in Germany.
- Bilateral relations: India was amongst the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War.
- Both have a “Strategic Partnership” since 2001. India is amongst a select group of countries with which Germany has Inter-Governmental Consultations at the level of Head of Governments (German Chancellor and PM)
- There is an Indo-German Parliamentary Friendship Group where visit by Parliamentarians from both sides take place regularly
- Some States and Cities of India and Germany such as Karnataka and Bavaria have entered into twinning arrangements
- Institutional Cooperation Arrangements – Includes High Defence Committee, Indo-German Energy Forum, Indo-German Environment Forum, etc.
- Economic & commercial relations - Germany is India's largest trading partner in Europe and Germany is the 7th largest foreign direct investor in India
- Culture - Max Mueller was the first scholar of Indo-European languages to translate and publish the Upanishads and the Rigveda
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the role that the conservative politics of Germany played in stabilising the Eurozone, after the sovereign debt crisis. (2) Angela Merkel's personality defined her tenure as much as circumstances would want to have it otherwise. Comment analytically. (3) How did Germany manage its reconstruction after the second world war's destruction? Explain.
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