Merkel embarks on fourth term
Germany’s leader faces tough times amid fractious EU
BERLIN — Angela Merkel is embarking on her fourth term as German chancellor in stormy times, facing pressure to bolster a fractious European Union and prove that liberal democracy can succeed as she faces a trade standoff with an increasingly protectionist U.S. as well as a confident China and Russia.
Merkel, chancellor since 2005 and the EU’S longest-serving leader, was sworn in Wednesday with a “grand coalition” of Germany’s biggest parties. That ended nearly six months of drift after September’s election, during which Germany’s voice in the world has been weakened by the domestic political impasse.
Merkel can turn her attention fully to matters such as French
President Emmanuel
Macron’s months-old proposals for ambitious reforms of the
EU and its currency union, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of trade tariffs against the EU and even taxes on German automakers.
Merkel, 63, has long dismissed the notion that she should be regarded as the “leader of the free world” following the election of Trump, who is unpopular in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. She says no one person or country can solve every problem.
However, German President Frank-walter Steinmeier underlined expectations that Germany should serve as an example as he formally appointed her government.
He said “these are testing years for democracy,” with authoritarian alternatives gaining in confidence. He added that an “everyone against everyone else” mentality is spreading in world politics, including trade policy.
“The expectations of our friends and partners are huge, particularly in Europe,” Steinmeier said. “Many hope we in Germany will show that liberal democracies are capable of acting and facing the future.”
Merkel’s first trip abroad will take her to Paris Friday to meet Macron. In comments published Wednesday by Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the French leader was quoted as saying that “if Germany doesn’t move, part of my project is condemned to failure.”
“I don’t think for a second that a European project can succeed without or against Germany,” he added.