Merkel’s mixed results in region
After more than a decade and a half at the helm of Europe’s largest and most potent state, Chancellor Angela Merkel is in the last few months of office. She may have shepherded Europe through multiple crises, the pandemic being the latest, but how does Merkel’s record stack up on the Middle East? It is perhaps a less stellar record.
Merkel is widely criticized for her overcautious approach. Rash decisions are alien to her. This explains why Germany abstained at the UN Security Council on the Libya no-fly-zone vote in 2011 and decided not to participate in the NATO operations.
Against this, Merkel was persuaded to step up to host the current Berlin process on Libya. It met with initial success, even if it has stalled of late.
Her caution showed again in Afghanistan, where German troops were deployed in the relatively more secure north and Merkel made it clear she had no intention of expanding their operations.
Aside from a hatred of dictators, Merkel also dislikes showy, flamboyant and populist leaders, with a clear aversion to the likes of Donald Trump, Silvio Berlusconi, Nicolas Sarkozy and Boris Johnson. She always found it harder to collaborate with them on the Middle East. Her pragmatic streak usually triumphed, preferring compromise and mediation over confrontation. In the Middle
East, this first came to the fore in Lebanon in 2006, when Germany played a key role in brokering an Israel-Hezbollah deal to end the war, and later in efforts to release the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from Hamas.
Merkel had an emotional attachment to Israel borne out of a deep sense of historic German responsibility for the Holocaust. Yet, occasionally, Merkel would take Israel to task. She was not a fan of Israel’s settlement expansion or home demolitions. Back in 2011, she had a row with Benjamin Netanyahu over settlement activity and his failure to take a single step toward peace. Their relations never warmed.
This also showed on Iran. Merkel never sided with the hawks like Netanyahu and she criticized Trump when he withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear deal. It was one of many issues on which she and Trump did not see eye to eye — but it also showed she could stand her ground. However, doubts persist as to whether she has been too soft on Iran.
Her most courageous decision was opening Germany’s doors to refugees, largely from Syria, in the summer of 2015. It was an extraordinary effort, with nearly a million people applying for asylum in Germany in 2015 and 750,000 the following year. Almost six years on, however, the gamble has largely paid off.
With so many domestic and European challenges, her Germany refused a major role in the Middle East, opting instead for a risk-averse approach. The pity is that Merkel was never truly able to cash in her international standing to push for bolder approaches. She will be remembered as a safe pair of hands at a time of international disorder, yet also for opportunities missed.