It’s a best-seller before it’s even released. The reason for her long-awaited Memoirs Angela Merkel entitled “Freedom: Memories 1954-2021” (Freiheit: Erinnerungen 1954-2021). She wrote them without consultants, historians or ghost-writers, just with the input of her close collaborator, Mpeate Bauman. They alone chose the quality and traditional publishing house Kiepenheuer & Witsch in Cologne.

“Angela Merkel has taken on the responsibility of governing Germany for 16 years, she steered the country through numerous crises and shaped German and international politics and society with her actions and attitude. But of course Angela Merkel was not born chancellor” we read in the introductory note of the long-awaited book, which will be released on November 26 in thirty languages, of course also in Greek. Until then its full contents remain a top secret. This is a book, we read in the introductory note, “that sheds light on the way decisions are made in our time and offers a unique glimpse into the inner workings of power. And it is a decisive appeal in favor of Freedom”.

Political handbook of crisis management

The first leaks in the German press are revealing. Persons, prime ministers, decision makers, crises, defining moments of modern international, European and German history. Everything and everyone comes, goes and is analyzed in the book of about 700 pages under the “Merkel doctrine”, with realism and diplomacy. As chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021 he experienced almost everyone up close: Putin, Trump, Obama, Erdogan, but also all the Greek prime ministers during the hard years of the crisis. There are also many references to the crucial 2015 under the rule of Alexis Tsipras and the final decision on Greece’s stay in the eurozone. Waiting for November 26th for the pages concerning Greece.

The points on which the German media are focusing these days, firstly the newspaper Zeit which pre-published excerpts, have to do mainly with the relations between Germany and Russia, the frequent contacts he had with Vladimir Putin (and which could be a separate book) but also with Donald Trump. It also comprehensively refers to the management of successive crises: from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, to the international financial crisis, the euro crisis to the refugee crisis and the pandemic.

About Putin, he writes that “he was constantly on the lookout, lest someone treat him badly. He was always ready to enjoy power plays with his dog and make others wait for him.” A reference to the famous photo of Putin’s black labrador in the Kremlin during an official meeting, while Putin knew about Merkel’s fear of dogs. As for Trump, she remembers him admiring Putin and seeing everything as a “deal.” For Elon Musk, who is now jumping into politics alongside Donald Trump, she expresses concern that a businessman who has the most satellites around the earth will make political decisions.

He insists on Ukraine and Nord Stream

In her book, Merkel defends her 2008 “no” to a quick NATO membership of Ukraine and Georgia because, she claims, she knew what that would mean for Russia and Putin. He justifies its refusal as a means of protection against “Putin’s aggressiveness as he says.” She even reveals that Putin had told her: “You won’t be chancellor forever. And then, they will become members of NATO. And that’s exactly what I want to prevent.”

For what her political opponents accuse her of a pro-Russian stance regarding the Nord Stream pipeline network, she believes that the support for this particular project was right given that German industry desperately needed cheap Russian gas.

However, what is coming to light regarding Ukraine and Russia is already causing reactions. Former Ukrainian ambassador to Berlin Andrii Melnyk, speaking to Spiegel, calls Merkel’s foreign policy “failed”, especially with regard to Ukraine and Russia. “It would be a sign of strength and not weakness if she at least admitted in her memoirs the fiasco, so that similar disasters can be avoided in the future.”

Criticism of current German politics

As for Angela Merkel herself, she seems to have been planning this moment of memoir for a long time, thoughtfully and quietly. And he seems to be enjoying it. Of course, he had not calculated that it would coincide with a period of early elections in the middle of winter. In the only interview he gave to Spiegel before the publication of the book, he comments on the failure of the Social Democrat-Green-Liberal government and accuses Soltz and Lindner of male immaturity.

“Men!” (Men!), he exclaims after a related question about the two men’s dispute. He also sees his on-camera fury against Lindner, the chancellor, as incompatible with the chancellor’s role as head of a “constitutional body”, as he says. Finance dismissed after a rift over the budget, leading the co-government to dissolve. For Merkel herself, “typical male behavior” is to “take things personally. In politics this should be avoided as much as possible”. As he observes: “As chancellor you have to face difficult circumstances. You feel a lot of emotions, but it’s better to shout with the wall in front of you than in front of the German public.”

However, she also indirectly throws shots at her party, the Christian Democrats of Friedrich Merz (her fierce internal party opponent in the past) regarding the strict line they follow on immigration. Reading her words again, one comes to a conclusion: that she has no regrets about that historic “Wir schaffen das” (We will make it), which opened the German borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees.