Germany’s former leader Angela Merkel has been awarded the country’s highest order of merit despite criticism over her legacy, receiving praise for her discipline and passion during 16 years as chancellor.
She was presented with the honour by the president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in Berlin on Monday evening in recognition of her contribution to German political life at an event attended by her political allies, including the current chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the former national football coach Jürgen Klinsmann, Ulrich Matthes, an award-winning actor who had helped improve how she delivered speeches, as well as family and friends.
The Großkreuz, or “large cross”, is the most important order of its kind. It has been received by two previous chancellors: Konrad Adenauer in 1954 and Helmut Kohl in 1998.
Paying tribute to Merkel, Steinmeier, who served in her government as foreign minister, praised her “enormous stamina, tremendous amount of self-discipline” in steering Germany, from 2005 to 2021, including through the pandemic, and the crises over eurozone debt and refugees. He also referred to her attempts to prevent Russian aggression after the annexation of Crimea.
Steinmeier said Merkel stood out as Germany’s first female chancellor and as a citizen from the communist East Germany in a male-dominated party who had succeeded in politics. She achieved this despite having “no role model, no old boys’ network to guide” her through the “political undergrowth”, he said, adding: “Your mainly male adversaries often struggling to read you.”
Merkel looked on, often biting or pursing her lips nervously and only occasionally smiling, appearing uncomfortable at the praise being heaped on her and having to recall some of the events mentioned.
She could not have avoided the criticism surrounding the event. But some commentators and opponents said the award had come too close to the end of Merkel’s 16-year chancellorship to allow an assessment of her legacy. Others have called it problematic that her actions arguably contributed to the problems Germany – and Europe – is now facing.
Merkel’s decisions to withdraw Germany from nuclear power and to try to forge a working relationship with Moscow including encouraging energy dependency on it – now seen by most Germans as a huge mistake – are both under heavy scrutiny given Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Allies of Merkel have defended her record, pointing out her attempts to keep Germany and Europe on an even keel during a period of considerable upheaval.
Accepting the award, Merkel, fighting the effects of a cold to which she briefly referred, thanked those she said had supported her during her time in office, individually naming those she had personally invited, including Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, Neil MacGregor, the British art historian and former museum director who she said had helped broaden her cultural horizons at a time when she was forced to be tunnel visioned about life.
Merkel also thanked Klinsmann, who had unexpectedly ignited her interest in football as coach of the German national team. “He doesn’t really fit into today’s concept, because I’m not particularly sporty,” she said to laughter, but added that she had “never let him out” of her sight and that he was the person who showed her what it was “possible to achieve”.
She also paid tribute to her husband, Joachim Sauer, a leading German quantum chemist whose passion for his field had “sometimes helped him I believe” to endure the daily strain of his wife’s job over 16 years.
Before the ceremony at Berlin’s Bellevue Palace, Steinmeier had come under particular criticism and faced accusations he was trying to save his reputation, which was tarnished over the close ties he sought with Russian politicians, including Sergei Lavrov, his then counterpart in Moscow, when he served as foreign minister under Merkel.
Some of the sharpest criticism in the run-up to the ceremony came from within the ranks of Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Carsten Linnemann, the deputy chair of the CDU, told German breakfast television that while it was clear Merkel had contributed greatly to Germany, “especially internationally”, she had also “made mistakes, even flagrant ones”.
In particular he cited her decision to withdraw Germany from nuclear energy after the Fukushima disaster of 2011 as “a mistake in the way it was carried out”, because he said there had been little thought as to how it could be achieved.
“There was no thought as to how exactly we wanted to reasonably become self-sufficient regarding our energy supplies,” he said, in reference to Germany’s dependence on Russian gas and lack of adequately developed alternative energy supplies.
Linnemann also called Merkel’s refugee politics a “blatant failure”, because, he said, “we did not protect the borders, which is something that needs to be discussed as openly as the positive aspects”.
Criticism also came from within the leadership ranks of the pro-business Free Democratic party and the far-left Die Linke. In contrast, the party leaders of her effective rivals the Social Democrats and the Greens, Saskia Esken and Omid Nouripour, voiced their praise for her and their support for the decision to reward her.
Esken told the news portal RND: “In particular I value her diplomatic skill and her empathic wisdom with which she repeatedly managed to forge viable coalitions and compromises on the national as well as the international stage.”
Nouripour said Merkel had shaped Germany “like only few others have done”. He said it was not necessary “to be in agreement with everything she did in order to recognise her great service”.
Merkel has rarely been seen in public since her time in office ended in December 2021. Last year she condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine but emphasised her diplomatic efforts to avert the conflict, saying “I therefore will not apologise”, when asked if she would do so.
She is writing a book about her time in office with her longstanding adviser, Beate Baumann, which is due for publication in autumn 2024 simultaneously in Germany, North America and the UK.
