Angela Merkel has been in her position since 2005, serving as the Chancellor over a 16-year term. It has been reported by RND that people in Greece feel like Ms Merkel is a very unpopular figure during her time as German Chancellor.
This feeling towards Ms Merkel is said to originate from the austerity measures the Chancellor had introduced for Greece.
These austerity measures were deemed too harsh from the perspective of Greece, prompting Ms Merkel to be viewed as unpopular.
Ms Merkel has admitted that Greece has caused one of the most problematic times during her era as German Chancellor.
Speaking in a discussion about her hardest moments during chancellorship, the outgoing Ms Merkel noted the Greek national debt crisis.
Ms Merkel said that she had expected “expected so much” from the people of Greece during this detrimental time for Greece.
But these comments were viewed as ironic by some Greeks, with the moderator of Skai TV saying: “That is not exactly an apology.”
However, many people in Greece actually see Ms Merkel as one of the driving forces behind the “German austerity dictate” national debt crisis.
One reason for this feeling was Ms Merkel’s comments about the EU and the International Monetary Fund which was given to Greece as aid following the national crisis.
As part of this aid, there were a number of hard conditions which were to be met by Greece in order to get the money of support.
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Furthermore, Mr Tsipras has also described Ms Merkel as “the most dangerous politician in Europe”.
Demonstrators also gathered at Syntagma Square in Athens to erect a gallows, with a Ms Merkel doll dangling from this.
Ms Merkel said: “I was portrayed as the bad woman, that was difficult.”
But it has been clear that Ms Merkel had been the most unpopular politician in Greece at the time of the national debt crisis, with 85 percent of people expressing a negative opinion about the Chancellor.
Since then, Ms Merkel has done a number of things which has made the situation in Greece better than what it was during the crisis.
Keeping Greece in the euro has been seen as a positive by many of Ms Merkel as it ensured some element of stability for the country.
As well as this, Ms Merkel keeping the Greek borders open in 2015 also helped the country survive and without this decision, the country may have once again descended into chaos.
However, on a political basis, Greece continues to feel like Germany do not understand them and for this, the departure of Ms Merkel comes with open arms for many Greeks across the country.