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When Angela Merkel's 16 years of chancellorship comes to an end, it will not only be a process of getting used to it for Germany, but also for international partners.
And no matter how difficult some relationships may have been - you are practically nowhere happy about Merkel's farewell abroad.
This is what our correspondents report.
Britta Sandberg, DER SPIEGEL, France correspondent:
"I think the French will miss them very much and they will be missed very much at the Élysée."
Roland Nelles, DER SPIEGEL, US correspondent:
"Yes, the Biden administration will of course be sad that Merkel is leaving."
Bernhard Zand, DER SPIEGEL, China correspondent:
"The Chinese will miss Merkel very, very much."
Christina Hebel, DER SPIEGEL, Russia correspondent:
"And I think Merkel will be missed very much in the Kremlin."
Today most of them appreciate Merkel's reliability, although there were a few changes right at the start of the Merkel era.
She had taken over the office from Gerhard Schröder.
Roland Nelles, DER SPIEGEL, US correspondent:
»And his relationship with George Bush and the USA was catastrophically bad.
We remember: the Schröder government refused to take part in the Iraq war.
Angela Merkel then basically restarted German-American relations.
She is a transatlantic. "
At the same time, relations with Russia deteriorated.
Christina Hebel, DER SPIEGEL, Russia correspondent:
»Simply because the tone was completely different from the start.
Yes, it wasn't this buddy, this: Hey, we're friends, the personal, but she always said clearly: This is factual, pragmatic. "
A big difference for Merkel between Russia and the USA: In Russia, when she leaves, the same man is president as when she took office.
With the USA she experienced four very different presidents.
The exchange with Obama was close and cordial.
In 2011, the US President presented the Chancellor with the Medal of Freedom.
Six years later, Trump took over.
A completely different moment was exemplary here.
Roland Nelles, DER SPIEGEL, US correspondent:
“The one visit where he didn't shake hands was a misunderstanding.
That still looked stupid, of course, and it was indicative of the relationship between the two.
Because it was just a really bad relationship.
Those were the two poles between which she basically moved in relation to the USA and to these four presidents that she got to know. "
There was also a characteristic scene for the difficult relationship with Putin.
In 2007, the Kremlin chief brought a large dog with him to the meeting with Merkel - knowing full well that Merkel was afraid of dogs after she was once bitten.
A success story from a Russian point of view: Merkel made the Baltic Sea pipeline Nordstream2 possible for Putin.
There has been a lot of criticism for this to this day, including from the USA.
You put economic over political interests here.
There is similar criticism of Merkel's course towards China, which became more and more powerful during her chancellorship.
The relationship between Beijing and Berlin has changed dramatically under Merkel.
Bernhard Zand, DER SPIEGEL, China correspondent:
»It has become more intense.
It has become so intense, especially from an economic point of view, that today many large German corporations, practically China, are dependent. "
Here, too, Merkel is accused of paying too much attention to economic interests - despite China's misconduct - for example, the cruel treatment of the Uyghurs and the suppression of the democratic forces in Hong Kong.
Bernhard Zand, DER SPIEGEL, China correspondent:
»You can see it that way.
Because objectively, that's the way it is.
But I think this accusation will be given some serious thought.
When relations between Western countries and China become as bad as they were under Trump with the US and with Biden, one may long for someone who, so to speak, managed the relationship and saw that he was not making any major mistakes , him in relation to China.
Or in any case does not allow a major conflict to arise. "
At the same time, Merkel's own biography helped a lot to gain respect in both Russia and China. Merkel grew up in the GDR, so she had a good understanding of the history of the former Soviet states. And with regard to China, her own experiences with communism helped her.
Bernhard Zand, DER SPIEGEL, China correspondent:
“Then it was so that at the beginning she looked, so to speak, at China, as we in the West, in Europe, generally looked at communist or then formerly communist regimes.
And the natural scientist she is, she noticed after four, five, six years: It's not like that.
We are dealing with something else.
And I think this is a learning step she took that - with all due respect - most other politicians just didn't have the time they were in office. "
In the end, all of her expertise hardly helped her in exchange with Putin.
For that, both were far too far apart in many content-related issues, so that the relationship got worse and worse.
Christina Hebel, DER SPIEGEL, Russia correspondent:
»From the annexation of Crimea, from the fighting in eastern Ukraine to the poisoning by the former British-Russian double agent Skripal, to the murder in the Tiergarten in the center of Berlin, to the hack at the Bundestag, for what the Russian secret service is also supposed to be responsible: you have gradually seen how it got worse and worse, although Merkel kept the channel open. "
Relations with the USA have been much more relaxed again since last winter.
It was enough to vote Donald Trump out of office.
The major challenges outside the EU also played a major role for European conditions: France and Germany have moved even closer together.
Britta Sandberg, DER SPIEGEL, France correspondent:
“So the position of Europe has become more and more important and that is also reflected in this relationship.
There are many defense-political projects.
There are also quite a number of joint, regular parliamentary meetings.
So beyond the two heads of state there are many encounters on a political level and that was not the case before.
And I also believe that there is now simply a greater understanding of Germany and a greater closeness in the French government.
And that too is certainly a development that was very important in these 16 years. "
Merkel faced a similar challenge in France as in the USA: she was faced with four different heads of state.
Britta Sandberg, DER SPIEGEL, France correspondent:
»It is certainly thanks to you that here with all four presidents - Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, François Hollande and, most recently, Emmanuel Macron - we have always found a level of discussion on which one could communicate quickly, has kept the closeness.
She certainly got along with Emmanuel Macron best of all.
She liked him and he liked her at the same time.
At the same time, however, it was also a great disappointment for Macron because he wanted a lot, very early on for Europe, and wanted to deepen European cooperation.
And there was no answer for a long time. "
The following applies to all four countries: the challenge of maintaining relationships, according to Merkel, is enormous.
Bernhard Zand, DER SPIEGEL, China correspondent:
"I did not envy Merkel, nor do I envy her successor."
Christina Hebel, DER SPIEGEL, Russia correspondent:
»So it will be really, really difficult for the successor, the successor.
So the footsteps are huge. "
Britta Sandberg, DER SPIEGEL, France correspondent:
"You are now leaving a vacuum with the end of your term of office."
Roland Nelles, DER SPIEGEL, US correspondent:
"And when you're new to office, it might even be doubly difficult."
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