New biography of hard-pressed Merkel – Sydsvenskan

Despite this, she has since last fall been on thin ice. Germany has quickly received over one million refugees and opinion polls show that a large majority of Germans are dissatisfied with refugee policy.

– Germany can not receive another one million refugees. I do not think this will be her case, but she burns the moment its political capital as never before, says Cornelius.

– Yet her political line clear. It is to get the refugees to stay in Turkey, through an agreement with the Turks. The problem is that she managed to communicate this out.

He describes Merkel as an extremely rational man. She is curious, always learning new things, but she is not driven by any particular ideology.

– Germany is now a non-ideological society. We do not like preachers. We want problem solvers, said Stefan Kornelius.

This is not that Merkel lacks principles. On the contrary. She grew up in the dictatorship of East Germany, and in her worldview is freedom and democracy more important than anything else.

But interestingly enough, she is not convinced that the libertarian system in the Western world will not survive. On the contrary, she fears that democracy and the market economy will ultimately prove too weak.

– She thinks it will be a fight where the big challenge comes from authoritarian states like Russia and China, says Cornelius.

Therefore, she also concerned that the United States will maintain a leading role in the world, and is concerned that the Americans no longer seem to know where they are going.

– She is convinced that Europe needs the United States, he said.

She is the Similarly convinced that Europe must stick together and not divide up the numerous small countries or regions. That’s why she worked so hard to bring about a solution to the euro crisis.

But interestingly enough, she was forced to take the help of financial experts to get a grip on what actually happened. One evening, the then head of Deutsche Bank, Josef Ackermann, a number of expensive wine bottles helpful to describe some economic principles for the Chancellor.

– She learned and now she understands the underlying mechanisms, says Cornelius.