Sigmar Gabriel accuses Angela Merkel of a crucial omission in her chancellorship.
For the time after the federal election and for Merkel's successor, the SPD man sees black.
Berlin - The hot autumn is followed by a rough winter - at least that is what the former Federal Minister Sigmar Gabriel predicts for the time after the federal election.
He sees Germany poorly prepared for the new challenges of world politics - the former SPD leader blames “Mutti”, as he calls the outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), alone.
In an interview with the
Augsburger Allgemeine
, Gabriel criticized Merkel's diplomatic course while she was chancellor: “I don't know whether she likes her nickname 'Mutti' or not.
But she has acted like a mother who wants to save her children from the evildoers of the world.
After 16 years of Angela Merkel, Germany is not prepared for the return of tough interest politics - and is now paying a “high price” for it.
Sigmar Gabriel shoots Angela Merkel: "Not done" or "not wanted"?
Gabriel's reasoning: There was one thing Merkel had failed to achieve in her "so long and successful chancellorship" - and perhaps also did not want to: "To prepare the Germans mentally and politically for a completely changed world".
The end of the Merkel era coincides with the end of a world order in which Europe and the USA have dominated for over 600 years, the SPD politician said.
"We will be confronted with the resulting challenges much harder than in recent years."
The former Foreign Minister described the Germans as “contemporary witnesses of a truly tectonic shift in the political, economic and military axes of power in the world”.
He accuses Merkel of a decisive misconduct: "The Chancellor has not explained to the Germans what that means for Europe and then for Germany."
Sigmar Gabriel is committed: Nobody rules as long as Angela Merkel
Merkel's way of governing now also has consequences for the politicians who follow her.
"The consequence will be that future chancellors will not rule as long as Angela Merkel," said Gabriel of the
Augsburger Allgemeine
.
"Because the contradictions in this harsher world will also be felt much more strongly in Germany and governments will expose considerably more frictional losses than was the case in the last 16 years."
(Afp / jo)
