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Angela Merkel: "Our transatlantic friendship is irreplaceable"
Photo: Stefan Boness / IPON / imago images
Angela Merkel could never say what she thought of Donald Trump out of diplomatic reasoning.
But her facial expressions spoke volumes: a slight roll of the eyes, barely noticeable shaking of the head and raised eyebrows accompanied Merkel's meetings with the still incumbent US president.
With the election of Joe Biden, years of alienation between Berlin and Washington should end.
Because Biden is considered what Trump never was: an old-school transatlantic and a reliable negotiating partner.
For decades, Biden maintained close contacts to German politics as a foreign expert in the US Senate and as Vice President, and was a regular guest at the Munich Security Conference.
She is looking forward to "future cooperation with President Biden," wrote Merkel at the weekend.
"Our transatlantic friendship is irreplaceable."
Merkel also explicitly congratulated Kamala Harris, the "elected first female vice president of the country".
The joy about the new partners should be real.
The sober pastor's daughter Merkel and the boastful real estate agent Trump - that never went well.
Trump's presidency put German foreign policy in dire straits.
For four years her shift was missing the negotiating partner on the US side.
A story by the US investigative journalist Carl Bernstein for the CNN broadcaster illustrated how the culture of conversation was last.
Trump had called the Chancellor "stupid" and accused her of "being in the hands of the Russians".
Merkel is said to have remained objective and calm.
The federal government has never denied Bernstein's account.
Trump was the third US president during Merkel's chancellorship.
When it comes to restarting relations under President Biden, the long-term head of government can look back on a certain wealth of experience.
After her election as Chancellor in 2005, Merkel immediately set about repairing the relationship with the US government under George W. Bush, which had been damaged by the dispute over the Iraq war under her predecessor Gerhard Schröder (SPD).
"Closest friend on the world stage"
Bush, who liked to invoke the value of freedom in his speeches, invited them to his prairie ranch in Texas.
"I was fascinated by the way Angela described her growing up in communist East Germany," Bush later recalled in his autobiography.
"Angela was trustworthy, engaging, warm-hearted. She became one of my closest friends on the world stage."
Merkel quickly developed a kind of political friendship with Barack Obama.
Merkel initially viewed the hype surrounding Obama in the 2008 election campaign, the "Obamania", with mocking distance.
But she quickly found access to the new president.
Obama's top advisor Ben Rhodes describes in his memoir an emotional farewell meeting between the two of them in Berlin in 2016 - Trump had already won the election.
Merkel is now "all alone" on the world stage, Obama said with concern.
The election of the unpredictable Trump is said to have been one of the reasons why Merkel ran again in the 2017 federal election.
Trump's deselection should now confirm her plan to withdraw completely from active politics in 2021.
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cbu / dpa