Former German Chancellor Merkel defends controversial decisions at book launch

(CLO) Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended her policies on refugees, Russia and the economy at the launch of her new memoir in Berlin. Critics say the 700-page book does not provide much new information.

Angela Merkel, the longest-serving Chancellor of a unified Germany, returned on the evening of November 26 to the Deutsches Theater in Berlin to promote her memoir "Freedom: Memoirs 1954 - 2021".

On stage, Merkel had the opportunity to defend her controversial decisions. When pressed to respond to criticism that she had gone soft on Russia in exchange for cheap natural gas, and that she had done too little to address climate change, she countered that many of those things were not entirely within her control.

She also rejected accusations that she had "driven Germany into ruin" as her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) focused on saving money rather than investing in areas such as aging infrastructure, notably the struggling national rail service Deutsche Bahn.

Ms Merkel has also been questioned over her 2015 decision to abandon some European Union rules requiring refugees to be processed in the first EU country they arrive in, and instead publicly welcomed asylum seekers from countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The alternative is to drive them away from the German border, possibly by force, which to me is much worse,” she said.

Photo: AP

As in her memoir, former Chancellor Angela Merkel largely avoided answering the question of whether she was too accommodating to Russia, especially after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, in order to buy cheap fuel for Germany.

Analysts say that despite the book being 740 pages long, it does not offer much in the way of deep self-reflection and reveals little new information.

The book is also light on some topics, such as religion. Despite being the daughter of a pastor, Merkel does not talk much about her Christian faith. She mentions Islam only a few times, mostly in connection with extremism and terrorism. Non-Western world leaders, such as Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping and Hu Jintao, are also barely mentioned in detail.

During the book launch, she did not answer questions from the audience. However, at the end of the event, she admitted that she left when Germany was still far from perfect in terms of climate protection and digital transformation.

The former German Chancellor will next travel to other major cities in Europe to promote the book and then to Washington, where she is expected to receive support from Mr. Obama.

Ngoc Anh (according to DW)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/former-prime-minister-duc-merkel-protects-the-disputed-decisions-at-the-speech-event-post323124.html