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“White sausage massacre” and “poison of casualness”: Merkel's moments with the powerful men

2021-07-15T13:42:55.170Z


Angela Merkel has seen four US presidents as Chancellor. One praised her "big, blue eyes", another invited them to the ranch. The most defining transatlantic moments.


Angela Merkel has seen four US presidents as Chancellor.

One praised her "big, blue eyes", another invited them to the ranch.

The most defining transatlantic moments.

Washington, DC / Berlin - A touch of history should waft Angela Merkel's (CDU) visit to Washington on Thursday: for the last time, the Chancellor went on a work trip to the USA.

With Joe Biden, she meets the fourth US President of her 16-year tenure as head of government.

A slightly bizarre side note: The "old" Chancellor is 66 years old.

The "new one" in the White House of 78.

In any case, it is a date where some memories will come up: When Merkel took over the Chancellery from Gerhard Schröder in 2005, George W. Bush was in office in Washington - at the time a stimulating figure in Germany.

From today's perspective, a Republican of old, serious school.

The era of his successor, Barack Obama, initially delivered rather harmonious transatlantic years from 2009 onwards.

But also apparently photographically documented dissent - and the scandal surrounding a cell phone tapped by the Chancellor's cell phone from the United States.

Nevertheless, it always seemed a given that the Federal Republic and the United States are trying to establish close ties.

Until Donald Trump's brief term in office broke relations between Berlin and Washington on a very serious level.

At the same time, she provided the world with weird documents from a very unequal working relationship.

The most striking moments of Merkel's US travels and the judgments of the men in the White House about their collaboration with the Chancellor at a glance:

George W. Bush and Angela Merkel: cement for US relations - and an East-fascinated president

After her election as Chancellor in 2005, Merkel immediately set about repairing the relationship with the US government - the link across the Atlantic had been damaged in the dispute over the Iraq war under her predecessor Gerhard Schröder (SPD).

Republican Bush, who liked to invoke the value of freedom in his speeches, was particularly impressed by the Chancellor's Eastern biography and invited her to his ranch in Texas.

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Get into my car: George W. Bush chauffeurs Angela Merkel around his ranch in 2007.

© imago stock & people / UPI Photo

"I was fascinated by the way Angela described her growing up in communist East Germany," Bush later recalled in his autobiography.

“Angela was trustworthy, dedicated, warm-hearted.

She became one of my closest friends on the world stage. ”These days, Bush raved about the outgoing Chancellor in Deutsche Welle:“ Angela Merkel has filled her very important position with class and dignity.

She did what was best for Germany and she did it based on principles. "

The issues from then are still topical - in other words, by no means solved: the long-lasting US engagement in the fight against climate change, the - now almost ended - military operation in Afghanistan as a reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on the USA, the nuclear dispute with Iran.

Barack Obama and Angela Merkel: A stable relationship - friends probably not

Merkel and Obama were never very close.

Merkel initially viewed the hype surrounding the Democrats in the 2008 election campaign, the “Obamania”, with mocking distance.

The mutual relationship began when Obama, as an election campaigner, was not allowed to speak at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin as he wanted in 2008, he had to go to the nearby Victory Column.

Merkel then nevertheless found access to the intellectual new president, whom she valued for his “fixed mind”.

Obama returned the appreciation, even if both politically were not always in line.

For example, the US President found the Chancellor to be too hesitant in the face of the European sovereign debt crisis.

“The better I got to know Angela Merkel, the more likeable she became to me,” Obama wrote later in his autobiography.

“I found her reliable, honest, intellectually precise and naturally friendly.” In the book, Obama also praises Merkel's “mixture of organizational skill, strategic acumen and unshakable patience” - and her “big and bright blue” eyes.

In these eyes, Obama's top advisor at the time, Ben Rhodes, claims to have discovered “a single tear” when the US President made an emotional farewell visit to Berlin in 2016.

Merkel reacted angrily, however, when a spying operation by the US secret service NSA against her cell phone was discovered in 2013.

"Listening to friends - that is not possible," said the Chancellor.

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Angela Merkel and Barack Obama at the G7 summit in Upper Bavaria in 2015.

© imago stock & people / zuma wire

The 2015 G7 summit in Elmau, Upper Bavaria, also provided a remarkable photo: the US President with arms outstretched on a bench in front of the imposing Alpine panorama - and a Chancellor apparently gesticulating angrily.

What was discussed there remains a mystery to this day.

In any case, the seating furniture became world famous.

Probably the most amusing anecdote of this encounter: At an appointment on the market square in Krün, Obama was about to eat a white sausage - including the skin.

Tradition has it that Merkel stepped in to save the most powerful man in the world from a sausage faux pas.

Other sources let her husband Joachim Sauer give the decisive tip.

In any case, Obama subsequently carefully avoided the skin.

And, it is said, organized a "white sausage massacre" during this attempt.

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What a drink!

Barack Obama tries a wheat beer in Upper Bavaria - allegedly non-alcoholic.

© imago stock & people / Wiegand Wagner

Donald Trump: a "charming" US President?

Ice Age between Germany and the States

When Donald Trump took office in early 2017, the relationship between Washington and Berlin deteriorated rapidly.

The right-wing populist in the White House whistled about international agreements, regularly snubbed the federal government and attacked Berlin on trade issues and because of German defense spending.

Last summer, US investigative journalist Carl Bernstein reported that Trump once called the Chancellor “stupid” in a phone call and accused her of being in the hands of the Russians.

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An iconic photo from the Trump era: Angela Merkel seems to be giving her opinion at the G7 summit in Canada.

© Jesco Denzel / dpa

Merkel, on the other hand, hardly concealed her disdain for Trump and resorted to her well-known facial expression.

During Merkel's visit to the White House in March 2017, the hypothermic relationship was clearly noticeable.

It will not be forgotten how the Chancellor rummaged through her files in April 2018 when Trump publicly listed his points of criticism - such as the far too small contribution Berlin made to NATO.

A snapshot in which Trump stared straight ahead like a defiant boy - while Merkel seemed to shrug her shoulders in amusement, became well known.

Two months later, Merkel clearly distanced herself from Trump in a famous beer hall speech in Bavaria: “The times when we could completely rely on others are a bit over.” A turning point that will probably be felt for years to come .

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This moment between Angela Merkel and Donald Trump also seemed icy - probably not just because of the temperatures in Paris.

© Kremlin Pool / dpa

The Chancellor's 2020 summer press conference provided another quite amusing epilogue to an encounter between Merkel and Trump. A journalist wanted to know from Merkel whether Trump had "charmed" her - as the now recalled Ambassador Richard Grenell said. Apparently, she couldn't believe her ears: “Did he have what?” Was her request. The Chancellor's cool answer finally: “Oh.” It was, in English, “Merkel in a nutshell”. The

Zeit-Magazin

attested Merkel that she had used the “poison of casualness” very effectively. In any case, the scene was a laugh. Incidentally, the Chancellor did not comment on Trump's ability as a charmer. As a matter of principle, she does not report from internal discussions, she said.

Joe Biden and Angela Merkel: old acquaintances, old friendship?

Some questions remain

With Biden, an old-school transatlantic and reliable negotiating partner moved into the White House in January - and Merkel's relief was clearly palpable.

Of course, the two top politicians have known each other since Biden's tenure as Obama's Vice President.

At the G7 summit in Great Britain, where she met the 78-year-old in person in June, Merkel said it was not that the world would no longer have problems simply because of Biden's election victory.

"But we can work with renewed vigor to solve these problems."

Recently, several federal ministers traveled to Washington and reported profusely about a new spirit of cooperation.

Conflict issues remain, however, including the dispute over the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline. Nevertheless, this time too, it is less the long lines of international politics that will be remembered - but the images of another farewell to the permanent Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Such a moment of saying good-bye was recently observed in the Bundestag.

(

fn / AFP / dpa

)

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On the sidelines of the G7 summit in Cornwall: Angela Merkel and Joe Biden in conversation.

© Guido Bergmann / Federal Government / dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-07-15

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