COPENHAGEN Former Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel on Wednesday gave an extraordinary, nearly hour-long interview to Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish public radio companies.
We asked Merkel about, among other things, the mistakes she has been accused of making in accepting more than a million immigrants to Germany and her alleged blue-eyed attitude towards Russia.
Merkel also commented on the political situation in Western countries, where voters now more often than before give their support to leaders who support autocratic policies.
Read his answers to individual questions below.
Anti-immigration parties have clearly grown in Germany. Would you still let over a million foreigners into Germany like in 2015?
– Yes, I would make the same decision. At that time, there were especially Syrian refugees in the EU area. They stood on our borders.
– I was firmly convinced, and I still am, that when people in need of protection are at the door, so to speak, then you have to act humanely and treat them humanely.
– It doesn’t mean that everyone can stay. In each case, it must be checked whether the reasons for asylum really exist.
Would you still use the phrase “we can do it” when you have been criticized for it afterwards?
– The fact that I said that was already a sign. Deep down, I knew even then that it would be a difficult task.
– More and more refugees came. We couldn’t just watch from the sidelines as smugglers cashed in on them – risking their lives and deciding who gets there and who doesn’t. For this reason, the refugee agreement with Turkey was also born, which I am concerned about again was criticizedbut I would do that again too.
Germany’s far-right party Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has grown as a result of your policies. Could you have somehow stopped the growth of the AfD?
– The question is, what would have been another way to act.
– In the euro crisis, we could have excluded Greece from the euro zone. In the refugee issue, the alternative would have been to use water cannons at the border against refugees. No to both of these words, and that led to the rise of the AfD.
– On the other hand, perhaps also the democratic parties themselves caused the growth of the AfD, when they themselves pursued a very strict policy.
– I believe that we can make AfD’s support decrease if the democratic parties can really solve the problems. One such problem to be solved is illegal immigration.
In your book, you claim that you have never been naive about Putin. What would you do differently in your relationship with Putin and Russia?
– I believe that the corona pandemic unfortunately had a fatal effect on the relationship with Russia.
– If you don’t constantly discuss and deal with conflicts with the presidents of authoritarian countries, things will go their own way.
– There is speculation as to whether the attack on Ukraine would have happened without the corona, but surely it was at least a nail in the coffin for the Minsk agreement.
Poland and the Baltic countries always warned that Putin is using the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as a political tool. Weren’t they completely right?
– Putin attacked Ukraine, even though Nord Stream 2 was not ready, and not even a cubic meter of gas was ever sold in the pipeline.
– This means that the war was apparently so compelling and necessary for Putin that no economic relations would have prevented him from attacking.
– I also had financial reasons in the background. I wanted cheap gas for the German economy. My predecessors started the pipeline project. It was a project of the entire economic life of Germany, which we did not politically begin to block.
More and more citizens of Western countries vote for autocracy-leaning politicians in elections. What does it say?
– It is important to plan our democracy in such a way that the people’s power itself is not eventually voted out in a single election. That is why it is important to protect minorities and give rights to the opposition.
– We have seen, for example, in Poland and Hungary, that by democratic means, by the majority, the structure of the courts is changed so that suddenly the minorities no longer have anything to say.
– Democracy is secured when it is certain that whoever is in power today can lose it tomorrow. Free and equal elections alone do not secure democracy. Minority rights, opposition rights, independent media and independent courts are also part of democracy.
The new president of the United States, Donald Trump, will take office in January and is already threatening Europe with a trade war. What is the best way to get along with Trump?
– I have also worked with Donald Trump for four years. I think it is very, very important that the European Union now tries to find a common line and define common positions on issues.
– If each country goes to Washington separately to pursue their interests, we will be played against each other. Second, you have to go there boldly and without fear. One must not be particularly humble and think that my interests do not matter.
– The United States needs partners in Europe. It can’t do everything on its own.
The engine formed by Germany and France in the EU is scattered. What harm can it do for Europe?
– There are problems, but there were also in my time. For example, they have both been strongly involved in helping Ukraine.
– I am optimistic that unifying factors will also be found in other areas in the future.
– The most important thing in Europe now would be to pay attention to competitiveness, increase productivity and increase contributions to innovation and research. In that, we are not as strong as we should be.