After 16 years in the Chancellery, Angela Merkel is saying goodbye to politics bit by bit.
This Thursday there will be another last-time appointment.
Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) comes to the federal press conference today and answers questions from the capital's journalists.
It will probably be her last appearance of this kind.
As usual, she will take this opportunity to answer questions on all areas of domestic and foreign policy.
This year, the situation in the flood areas, the corona pandemic and the agreement that has just been reached with the USA on the controversial Baltic Sea gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 are likely to become central issues.
The Chancellor traditionally goes to the Federal Press Conference at the beginning or at the end of the summer break, where she answers questions in detail.
Last year she came after her vacation at the end of August.
The central topic at the time was the further course in the corona crisis.
This time it is likely to be replaced by the flood disaster, especially in western Germany.
However, some of the answers Merkel gave to the pandemic a year ago still sound very topical.
Merkel will no longer run in the federal election in September and will then withdraw from politics.
FLOOD: After the devastating flood, Merkel visited particularly affected regions in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, got her own impression of the damage and promised rapid help.
"Together we will do everything we can to ensure that the money comes quickly to the people who often have nothing more than what they are wearing," said the CDU politician on Tuesday in Bad Münstereifel.
On Wednesday, the federal cabinet decided on emergency aid of initially 200 million euros, which can also be topped up if necessary.
Because the federal government wants to co-finance every sum that the states pay as emergency aid in the same amount.
In addition, there is to be a reconstruction program, for which billions of dollars are estimated.
CORONA: The flood disaster has pushed the corona pandemic somewhat into the background in the past few days, although the development is worrying.
The seven-day incidence has been rising continuously for more than two weeks.
Most recently, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Wednesday, it was 11.4 - at the latest low on July 6, it was 4.9.
"You have to expect that some things will be even more difficult in the next few months than in summer," said Merkel in August last year. Health experts fear that again. And even this almost a year old sentence by the Chancellor sounds as if it were from today: "It remains the same: It is serious, still serious - and continue to take it seriously."
NORD STREAM 2: Gas is to flow from Russia directly to Germany through the almost completed pipeline - past Ukraine, through which the existing pipeline runs. The US sees the project as a “bad deal” because it increases Europe's dependence on Russian energy. They also fear that Russia will use the pipeline as leverage against Ukraine. When the Chancellor met US President Joe Biden in Washington last week, the controversy was not yet resolved.
A breakthrough was achieved on Tuesday, when Germany and the USA published a joint statement. The two countries want to support Ukraine in building a “green energy sector” and work to secure gas transit through Ukraine in the next decade. It also says: Should Russia try to use “energy as a weapon” or commit further aggressive acts against Ukraine, Germany will act at the national level and press for effective measures including sanctions in the European Union. Merkel had emphasized in Washington: "Our understanding was and is and will remain that Ukraine remains a transit country for natural gas." Dpa