From our correspondent in Berlin
The star of CNN’s Christiane Amanpour does not mince his words. This is a torrent of praise. Monday evening in Berlin, a few meters from the Brandenburg Gate and the american embassy, the journalist pays tribute to another star: Angela Merkel. It does not skimp on the superlatives to praise the leadership “remarkable” chancellor, in which she emphasizes “courage”, “compassion”, etc, “Angela Merkel is a source of inspiration for hundreds of millions of women and men,” she said. “She has demonstrated again and again its commitment to the values of tolerance, human rights and democracy”, she adds. On Monday evening, the critique of the balance sheet Angela Merkel has not its place.
The reporter came specially of the United States to utter the homage which is rendered to the chancellor before being awarded a Fulbright for the “peace” and “international understanding”. This is the first time in 25 years that this prestigious association travels abroad to fulfil his winner. Before Angela Merkel, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Vaclav Havel, Bill Clinton, or Doctors without borders received the award, in the name of senator William Fulbright, founder of a vast program of educational exchange, after the war. “Angela Merkel embodies the best leadership in times of crisis”, emphasizes Manfred Philipp, the president of the association. This is not the first time that the chancellor will be honored by this type of organization. Each year, during the awarding of the Nobel peace prize, the rumor spread his name.
Idol of NGOS
Nearly fourteen years after his arrival to power in Germany, Angela Merkel has become an icon of multilateralism. On arrival, the room handpicked rose as one man to applaud. And when she confirmed that she would stay “a little” for the reception, the organizers have thought good to prevent: “to Respect the space around it”. As if Angela Merkel is in danger of being crushed by his fans.
This will contrast with his style down-to-earth and his tone without shine. In arguing for the “multilateralism” and the need to find “compromise”, while preaching modesty, and advising “do not forget the lessons of the past,” Angela Merkel is not overvalued in the vocabulary. But it defends a vision of the world that the emergence of populism defy. His words sound like criticisms of the american president Donald Trump. But she also takes care to underline its commitment to the transatlantic relationship when it is based on “trust”.
“Angela Merkel is a prominent leader in the defence of the rights of Man in the world”
In a world crushed by Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel is the idol of NGOS and institutions that promote the defence of human rights. After the election of the american president, she had been inducted as a new “leader of the free world” by the New York Times. She then refused to take the title. But in the last Human Rights Watch report, released last week, the chancellor is still one of the few international leaders to find grace in the eyes of the organization. “Angela Merkel is a prominent leader in the defence of the rights of Man in the world”, said Kenneth Roth, the president of HRW, which is admitted to the reverse “disappointed” by Emmanuel Macron.
Open borders
Dean of experience of the leading western, backed by the economic power of his country of which she never forgets the economic interests, chancellor Angela Merkel has acquired a political weight that have no equivalent on the international scene. Human rights watch has emphasized her ability to criticize the United States or Russia if necessary. The NGO has also praised the way she has reacted to Saudi Arabia after the assassination of the journalist Jamel Khashoggi: Berlin has stopped its arms exports to the kingdom. Last year, Germany has also hosted Liu Xia, the widow of the dissident Liu Xiaobo, who died in July 2017, a few days after a trip of Angela Merkel to China. The visit of the chancellor was decisive to allow his trip.
In defending the rights of man as the chancellor, Angela Merkel has finally made it forget its support for the war in Iraq in 2003 when it was in opposition. His attachment to values does not support a practical approach to the economic interests of his country, as when it supports the gas pipeline project, Russian North Stream 2, in which the Us opposes.
In the homage which was rendered to him on Monday evening by the Association, a Fulbright scholar, he is obviously a question of his historic decision not to close the borders of his country in 2015 and to welcome hundreds of thousands of refugees to avoid a humanitarian disaster. It is at this time that Angela Merkel has gained its title of nobility on the international scene. The Times had then made her the “person of the year”. “History will give him reason,” said the president of the european commission Jean-Claude Juncker. Today, she avoids mentioning the episode of the refugees, which has contributed to the emergence of the radical right in Germany. It accuses him of having opened the country to immigration. More than three years later, the country is still divided on the subject. This divide will also remain on the balance sheet of the “Overall Mutti”.
