by Hui Min NEO Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – Crises have a knack for felling leaders. Not Chancellor Angela Merkel. During 16 years in power, the veteran navigated Germany through the 2008 financial turmoil and ensuing eurozone debt crisis, the 2015 refugee influx and then the coronavirus pandemic. While largely admired at home and abroad even in the final days of her reign, the legacy she leaves behind is marked both by light and […]
Tag: Angela Merkel
Thunberg to join mass German climate strikes before vote
by Deborah COLE Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – Tens of thousands of climate activists including Greta Thunberg are due to descend on German cities Friday ahead of the weekend general election to crank up the pressure on the candidates to succeed Angela Merkel. As Germany’s top parties hold final rallies ahead of Sunday’s vote, the Fridays for Future youth marches will make the case that the political class has let down the younger generation. […]
Merkel’s record mixed as she takes wheel at last IAA show
by Sophie MAKRIS Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – No German leader’s diary would be complete without a visit to the venerable IAA motor show, which welcomes Angela Merkel on Tuesday for the last time in her chancellorship. But the biennial celebration of all things auto-related is mired in controversy this year as Germany struggles to adapt its flagship industry to the electric and digital revolution. Merkel, who is quitting politics after an election on […]
France, Germany strengthen treaty ties to tackle EU crisis
by Laurence Benhamou Agence France Presse France and Germany on Tuesdasy signed a new friendship treaty to deepen their alliance at a time of crisis for the EU, drawing fire from the far right whom President Emmanuel Macron slapped down for “spreading lies” about the pact. Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel inked the accord to deepen ties as Britain prepares to leave the European Union and tensions are rising with populist leaders in the […]
Merkel’s Bavarian allies suffer historic election losses
by Ralf ISERMANN with Frank ZELLER in Berlin Agence France Presse MUNICH, Germany (AFP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CSU allies suffered historic losses in Bavaria state elections Sunday, dealing a blow to her fragile three-party coalition government. The Christian Social Union (CSU) scored 37 percent, a steep 10-point drop from four years ago in the wealthy Alpine state it has ruled almost single-handedly since the 1960s. As a result, it loses its absolute […]
Merkel, Erdogan hold tense talks in shadow of protests
by Antoine LAMBROSCHINI with Michelle FITZPATRICK in Frankfurt Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany’s Angela Merkel hosts Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Berlin Friday to try to repair badly frayed ties, a task complicated by planned anti-Erdogan protests and the chancellor’s own domestic woes. The pair is meeting a day after Germany beat Turkey to become the Euro 2024 host nation, following a tight race that took on political significance when Erdogan […]
Merkel in Washington to make Germany heard again
by Andrew Beatty Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel heads to the White House on Friday for talks with Donald Trump, facing an uphill struggle to save the Iran nuclear deal, avoid a trade war and make her relationship with the US president functional again. The German leader’s visit has already been overshadowed by a backslapping three-day festival of “fraternite” between Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron this […]
Brexit ‘challenging’ for EU budget: Merkel
FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — Net contributor Britain’s planned departure from the EU leaves the bloc’s remaining 27 members with a “very challenging” budget hole to plug, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday. Policymakers will need to find between 12 and 15 billion euros ($15-19 billion) of savings or new cash to make up for Brexit, EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has calculated — even as the bloc faces new challenges like deepening defence cooperation, securing […]
UPDATED: Merkel wins fourth term; hard right gains foothold in parliament
by Deborah Cole and Hui Min Neo Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – Chancellor Angela Merkel clinched a fourth term in Germany’s general election on Sunday, but her victory was clouded by the hard-right AfD party winning its first seats in parliament. Merkel, who after 12 years in power held a double-digit lead for most of the campaign, scored around 33 percent of the vote with her conservative Christian Union (CDU/CSU) bloc, according to […]
Trump talks with German, Italian leaders ahead of G20 summit: White House
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump spoke Monday with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy’s Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni about the upcoming G20 summit in Hamburg, the White House said. Trump and Merkel “addressed climate issues, the Women’s Entrepreneurship Financing Initiative and trade, including global steel overcapacity,” the White House said in a statement following their “extensive discussion.” “The president said that he looks forward to helping Chancellor Merkel make the summit a […]
German left-wing protesters vow to disrupt G20 summit in July
HAMBURG, Germany (AFP) — A ten-minute walk from Germany’s heavily-guarded G20 summit venue in the port city of Hamburg lies the graffiti-covered center of the left-wing protest movement vowing to disrupt it. “Capitalism will end anyway — you decide when!” reads a banner atop the Rote Flora, a former vacant theater that was occupied by squatters in 1989 in the midst of demonstrations and street battles. It has since become an alternative cultural center and spiritual home […]
Merkel says EU future more important than Brexit talks
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that the European Union’s future took priority over Brexit talks, in a rebuke to British Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to bring the negotiations up at a Brussels summit. “For me, the future of the (remaining) 27 member-states comes before the exit negotiations with Great Britain” said Merkel as she arrived for the two-day meeting. “We want to conduct these negotiations in a good spirit,” she […]





