Enjoying a coffee on one of Berlin's many rooftop terraces, a helicopter
suddenly rises from the Chancellery, the center of German power. These
days, that's nothing unusual. With weeks to go until the national election, Angela Merkel is on the move throughout the country. As the leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU),
she will have made more than 50 campaign appearances before Germans go
to the polls on September 24. She regularly draws crowds of several
thousand people. And during this campaign, her rallies are also regularly interrupted by groups of protesters from the right-wing populist or far-right scene.
The 63-year-old is at the center of every CDU event, and at the heart of its entire election platform. When the ruling party campaigns, it essentially comes down to who is sitting in the Chancellery. People would be forgiven for thinking that Merkel is the president of Germany. After all, she is responsible for issues of national importance: security, Germany's role in the world, the integration of immigrants. She largely determines how comfortable Germans feel in their own country. With her numerous demanding trips abroad, Merkel is also Germany's chief diplomat, someone who could one day be named UN secretary general.
She doesn't always bring up the topic of refugees in her remarks these days, and when she does, she speaks about the issue from a European perspective. But it was only two years ago when she put her political future on the line by opening the doors to hundreds of thousands of refugees. In 2015, the word "merkeln" was a trendy new verb among young people. It means to do nothing, to not make a decision. Up to that point, she was known for being cautious, sitting on the fence. But then came her mighty and moral decision to accept huge numbers of refugees, and suddenly "merkeln" was a thing of the past.
Read more: Steady wins the race as Germany′s Angela Merkel seeks re-election | Germany | DW | 02.09.2017
The 63-year-old is at the center of every CDU event, and at the heart of its entire election platform. When the ruling party campaigns, it essentially comes down to who is sitting in the Chancellery. People would be forgiven for thinking that Merkel is the president of Germany. After all, she is responsible for issues of national importance: security, Germany's role in the world, the integration of immigrants. She largely determines how comfortable Germans feel in their own country. With her numerous demanding trips abroad, Merkel is also Germany's chief diplomat, someone who could one day be named UN secretary general.
She doesn't always bring up the topic of refugees in her remarks these days, and when she does, she speaks about the issue from a European perspective. But it was only two years ago when she put her political future on the line by opening the doors to hundreds of thousands of refugees. In 2015, the word "merkeln" was a trendy new verb among young people. It means to do nothing, to not make a decision. Up to that point, she was known for being cautious, sitting on the fence. But then came her mighty and moral decision to accept huge numbers of refugees, and suddenly "merkeln" was a thing of the past.
Read more: Steady wins the race as Germany′s Angela Merkel seeks re-election | Germany | DW | 02.09.2017
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