My question to Angela Merkel

Alexis Tsipras: "Angela Merkel did not succeed in making Europe less German but she tried to make Germany more European."

In this bonus episode of my question to Angela Merkel, Alexis Tsipras, who was the Greek Prime Minister during one of the most important crises for his country and the EU, tells of his fascinating relationship with Angela Merkel, an adversary, just as much as an attentive counterpart. While he deplores her firmness with regard to budgetary austerity, he also praises her ability to listen, her knowledge of issues and her honesty. He delivers an exhaustive and fascinating portrait of the German Chancellor.

Available on EuroPod and on all listening platforms.

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This episode bonus of "my question to Angela Merkel" is part of the series War & Peace, by the International Crisis Group, EuroPod's partner.

After sixteen years at Europe’s helm, Angela Merkel is stepping down from power. The federal election in September also marked an end to the long-term hold her political party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), had had over German politics. Merkel’s likely successor, Olaf Scholz, is now looking to forge a “traffic light coalition” between his Social Democratic Party (the SPD, whose trademark colour is red), the Greens and the Liberals (yellow). While Scholz and his allies have made ambitious commitments to modernise Germany, it remains unclear what, if anything, this portends for foreign policy. Foreign affairs have so far taken the back seat during coalition negotiations, eclipsed by domestic concerns. Still, Germany’s new chancellor will be forced, however reluctantly, to contend with tremendous geopolitical shifts on the continent and further away. 

This week on War & Peace, Hugh and Olga are joined by Jana Puglierin, Head of the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Berlin Office, to make sense of Germany’s future under a new chancellor. They discuss the deprioritisation of foreign policy, possible sticking points between coalition members, the future of the transatlantic alliance with the United States, and increasingly bitter relations with Russia, Turkey and China. They ask whether Scholz’s chancellorship will chart a new course for Europe, and how Germany and the continent are poised to contend with a world of great-power competition. 

For more information, explore Crisis Group’s work on Europe and its neighbours by checking out the regional pages on the left-hand side of our website. You can follow Jana’s work on the ECFR website. 

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They are both monsters of European political longevity. Jean-Claude Juncker, former President of the European Commission, answered EuroPod’s questions on Angela Merkel's career and legacy. You have already heard some extracts of what he said on “My question to Angela Merkel” and now you can enjoy the full interview by Quentin Ariès, journalist at Cafébabel and EuroPod partner for this podcast series.

In this podcast, Juncker recalls:

• the Greek sovereign debt crisis
• the so-called “migration crisis”
• the Covid-19 pandemic
• the Brexit negotiations
• Merkel’s role on the world scene

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your favourite streaming platform to make sure not to miss the next bonuses. You can also find the written version of the interview on EuroPod. Coming up, the full interviews to Alexis Tsipras, François Hollande and more! And if you haven’t already, listen to the series and follow Emilia’s quest for THE perfect question to ask Merkel.

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The journey is about to end. Emilia has already walked us through the most pivotal moments of Angela Merkel’s life and political career, including her reaction to the financial crash, the Greek sovereign debt crisis and the rise in migration flows in Europe. However, before deciding on which question to ask Merkel, she also wants to reflect on the way her departure will change politics both in Germany and in the EU. Emilia will tell us about Merkel’s 180° U-turn on the question of European debt. She will share with us the kind words of Alexis Tspiras on her legacy. She will explain to us why she thinks that Angela Merkel is the perfect image of what Europe is today. 

The guests featured in this episode are:

• Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019, previously President of the Eurogroup and Luxembourg’s longest serving Prime Minister.
• Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019 and leader of the Official Opposition since then.
• Florence Autret, journalist and author of “Angela Merkel. Une Allemande (presque) comme les autres”.

To learn more about German foreign policy after Angela Merkel leaves office, check out the podcast of our podcast partner, the International Crisis Group. 

You can find it on their channels: 

https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/western-europemediterranean/germany/wp-s3-episode-5

But you can also find it on EuroPod:

https://www.europod.eu/player/69/war-peace/298/en/s3-episode-5-german-foreign-policy-after-merkel

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By now we know all about Angela Merkel’s life and political career up until her famous “Wir schaffen das!”. Now Emilia will tell us all about Merkel switching gears on her Atlanticist side with the arrival of Donald Trump while at the same time being reluctant in taking on the role of leader of the free world after the departure of Obama. We will discover why she was against a referendum on Brexit and learn about her determination to show a firm hand throughout the negotiations which unfolded after the victory of the  “Leave” campaign. 

The guests featured in this episode are:

• Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019, previously President of the Eurogroup and Luxembourg’s longest serving Prime Minister.
• Eszter Zalan, journalist for the EUObserver.
• Judy Dempsey, journalist and senior fellow at Carnegie Europe.

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Emilia has already delved into every detail of Merkel’s life and political career up until her reaction to the Greek sovereign debt crisis. As we will discover in this episode, before she could catch her breath, Merkel was faced with yet another challenge, one that would make her enter history: a consistent surge in migratory flows. Emilia will tell us about Merkel being in favour of a common European asylum system and about her making sure that no more walls prevented freedom of movement. We will discover all about her famous words “Wir Schaffen das” and understand whether the far right anti-EU party AfD got more popular just because of Merkel’s choices.

The guests featured in this episode are:

• Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019, previously President of the Eurogroup and Luxembourg’s longest serving Prime Minister.
• Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019 and leader of the Official Opposition since then.
• Florence Autret, journalist and author of Angela Merkel. Une Allemande (presque) comme les autres”.
• Joyce Mushaben, political scientist, former Professor at Georgetown University and author of “Becoming Madam Chancellor: Angela Merkel and the Berlin Republic”.

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By now we know all about Merkel’s life and political career up until how she reacted to the financial crash of 2008. In this episode, we will discover about the time the EU was on the verge of a new crisis because of Greece’s instability. Emilia will tell us about Merkel holding back even though European leaders only had 72 hours to prevent it, about her stating that “Germany can’t do well if Europe doesn’t”, about her key alliance with Sarkozy in Brussels against the likes of Papandreou and Berlusconi.

The guests featured in this episode are:

• Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019, previously President of the Eurogroup and Luxembourg’s longest serving Prime Minister.
• Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019 and leader of the Official Opposition since then.
• François Hollande, President of France from 2012 to 2017, previously First Secretary of the Socialist Party.
• Judy Dempsey, journalist and senior fellow at Carnegie Europe.
• Florence Autret, journalist and author of “Angela Merkel. Une Allemande (presque) comme les autres”.

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Emilia already told us all about Merkel’s youth and retraced every step of her political career up until the role she played in closing the deal on the Lisbon Treaty. But as we will discover in this episode, that was only one of the many challenges Merkel had to face ever since becoming Chancellor. Emilia will tell us about Merkel turning to books herself in the face of the financial crisis, about her disagreements with Sarkozy on what to do about the most fragile EU economies, and about her taking so long to decide how to address the financial crash that even Jean Claude Juncker ended up bothered by it.

The guests featured in this episode are:

• Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019, previously President of the Eurogroup and Luxembourg’s longest serving Prime Minister.
• Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019 and leader of the Official Opposition since then.
• Florence Autret, journalist and author of “Angela Merkel. Une Allemande (presque) comme les autres”.

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Emilia already told us all about Merkel’s youth and the beginning of her political career, including her years as Minister and leader of the opposition. Now, it is time to learn about her debut as Chancellor, which made her predecessor Schröder lose its temper on national TV. But we will also discover how she responded to the failure of the European constitution treaty, how she managed to establish a working relationship with Sarkozy, and to close the deal on the Lisbon Treaty.

The guests featured in this episode are:

●     Michèle Alliot Marie, former Minister of Defense, Minister of Justice, and Minister of International affairs of France.

●     Florence Autret, journalist and author of “Angela Merkel. Une Allemande (presque) comme les autres”.

●     Judy Dempsey, journalist and senior fellow at Carnegie Europe.

●     Joyce Mushaben, political scientist, former Professor at Georgetown University, and author of “Becoming Madam Chancellor: Angela Merkel and the Berlin Republic”.

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With Angela Merkel’s youth and the beginning of her political career already covered, Emilia will move on to tell us about Helmut Kohl opening many doors for Merkel both within the government and within the party. Then, after having delved into the so-called “CDU donations scandal”, Emilia will tell us how Merkel managed to save the whole party from sinking and how she showed no mercy to her political competitors. We’ll find out how she took a European stance for the first time before even becoming Chancellor and how she managed to influence the choice of the President of the European Commission who would succeed Romano Prodi without even being at the negotiating table.

The guests featured in this episode are:

●     Jacqueline Boseyn, journalist, speechwriter and author of “Angela Merkel. Eine Karriere”.

●     Michael Schindhelm, filmmaker, curator and former colleague of Angela Merkel at a laboratory in East Germany.

●     Florence Autret, journalist and author of “Angela Merkel. Une Allemande (presque) comme les autres”.

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