Merkel Biographer Discusses Thatcher Comparison, Views on U.S.

Bloomberg News, 2005-07-31 21:09 (New York)

     (Interview. Catherine Hickley is an editor for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

By Catherine Hickley

     Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Angela Merkel, 51, is leading Gerhard Schroeder in the race to become German chancellor in September's election. She would be the first woman and the first east German to get the job.

     Merkel's life history -- from her childhood as the daughter of a pastor in East Germany through the student years in Leipzig and her entry into politics soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequent rise to the top of the Christian Democratic Union -- is the subject of a new book by Gerd Langguth.

     Langguth, a professor of political science at Bonn University and CDU member, was a lawmaker in Germany's lower house of parliament and served on the party's executive board. He interviewed about 140 of Merkel's schoolfriends, fellow politicians and contemporaries for the biography, entitled ``Angela Merkel'' (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 399 pages, 14.50 euros).

     Langguth got what he describes as ``limited'' cooperation from Merkel, including an interview that is published in full at the end of the book.

     If elected, Merkel will inherit a Germany plagued by unemployment that's near a postwar record and a burgeoning public debt. Langguth spoke with Bloomberg's Catherine Hickley by telephone from Bonn about Merkel's economic and foreign policy, comparisons with Margaret Thatcher and the challenges she would face as chancellor.

                            Will Power

     Hickley: You write in your book that Merkel is ``convinced that the Federal Republic can only survive by reforming from head to toe.'' Do you think that she has what it takes to push through reforms -- for example of the labor market and the welfare system -

- even if it makes her unpopular?

     Langguth: She has the will to push them through. Whether she succeeds depends not only on her -- it also depends on the German political system. Germany, in part because of the decisions of the allies after World War II, is a consensus democracy, with the upper house of parliament wielding a great deal of influence, and the constitutional court having a big say on legal problems.

     That means you can't compare Germany with, for example, the U.K., where a prime minister can push through even difficult reforms much more quickly. If she becomes chancellor and has the right coalition, Merkel will try to change more than, for example, Schroeder has.

                        German Thatcher?

     Hickley: Merkel has rejected comparisons with Margaret Thatcher though many would argue that Germany needs exactly someone like Thatcher. Do you see any similarities?

     Langguth: I see some similarities: Both are scientists, both are, or were, relative newcomers to their parties, both either will, or did, take office at very difficult economic times.

     Merkel rejects these comparisons, partly because she doesn't want to be compared with anyone, which is probably sensible. But also because Thatcher was an opponent of German reunification --and because Thatcher is not very popular in Germany, although there is an increasingly widely held view that her policies allowed Britain to create today's favorable economic environment.

     Hickley: Merkel has little experience in the field of economic policy. As a minister, she was first responsible for women and youth, then for the environment. Could this be a disadvantage for her as chancellor at a time when the economy and labor market are the biggest challenges?

     Langguth: As environment minister, she had to make a number of decisions that had a huge impact on German industry --  for example environmental-protection measures that brought considerable costs to companies. She brings no less experience than Gerhard Schroeder

-- or than the historian Helmut Kohl.

                         Foreign Policy

     Of course, many Germans would prefer a business specialist like (CDU lawmaker Friedrich) Merz. Much will depend on who Merkel appoints as her economics minister and or finance minister. It is possible that Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber would become a ``super minister'' responsible for the economy and finance. Again, the question is whether Stoiber, a lawyer, is any better equipped than the physicist Merkel.

     Hickley: What would Merkel do differently from Schroeder in foreign policy? Will she try to improve relations with the U.S.?

     Langguth: She will seek an uncomplicated relationship with the U.S. She would not have argued in favor of Germany joining the coalition of the willing to go to war in Iraq, but she would have tried to avoid a rift in the European Union over the question. I am certain that this old coalition, France-Germany-Russia, would not have happened with her on the issue of Iraq.

     Hickley: What is there in Merkel's life history that shows she has a positive attitude toward the U.S.?

     Langguth: Many of those who have experienced the lack of freedom of a dictatorship seek out the opposite of paternalism when looking for an alternative. After her first journey to the U.S., she raved about this country of unlimited opportunity to colleagues on the way back.

                         Another Balance

     Hickley: Does that mean she could move Germany into the ``New Europe'' camp, as described by Donald Rumsfeld, and away from ``Old Europe''?

     Langguth: Merkel would look for another balance in European policies -- a return to Kohl's basic approach. That means a special relationship with France.

     But she would try to avoid the European Union appearing as a counterweight to NATO. She would try to steer a sensible middle course with the countries that are particularly loyal to NATO --not only the U.K. but also the Netherlands -- in the same way that Kohl did in the past.

--Editor: Ruane, Hoelterhoff, Schatz.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:

Jim Ruane in Brussels at (32) (2) 285-4309 or jruane1@bloomberg.net.