Jean-Claude Juncker said Angela Merkel was the first German politician to institute a sense of “European feeling” within her policies throughout her 16-year leadership of Germany. Former European Commission President Juncker suggested the changes Chancellor Merkel introduced with her tenure will affect Berlin’s relationship with the European Union long after Sunday’s German election. Speaking to BBC’s Outside Source, Mr Juncker said: “She developed a kind of European feeling.
“After Angela Merkel, there will be no German Chancellor not being pro-European.”
Mr Juncker reiterated his assessment of the future of German politics earlier this week, when he conceded the German election “from a European point of view, it’s not such an exciting question”.
The former Commission President said both top candidates to succeed Mrs Merkel, Armin Laschet from the CDU and Olaf Scholz from the SPD, “are grounded Europeans,” — Mr Laschet because of his “background and career,” and Mr Scholz as per convictions “which he made his own” during his time in high office.
German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger said Mrs Merkel’s work over nearly two decades made Germany one of the most stable members of the European Union as he dismissed suggestions that her departure will change Berlin’s levels of influence across the bloc.
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Mr Ischinger said: “Germany, most likely, will continue to be the single most politically stable element in the European Union.
“And the single biggest economic power in the European Union.
“That’s why Germany is going to remain important and probably grow in importance.”
Mrs Merkel, in power since 2005, is planning to stand down as leader of Europe’s biggest economy after Sunday’s election, although she will remain chancellor during coalition talks.
Germany faces months of tough negotiations to form a coalition government, with three parties set to need to team up to clear the threshold of 50 percent of all seats in the Bundestag after the vote.
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Typically, the chancellor candidate of the party with the most seats begins talks with the leaders of the parties he or she wants to work with. There is no requirement that the largest party provide the Chancellor, however.
The German President is ordinarily confined to cutting ribbons and giving moralising speeches.
But Frank-Walter Steinmeier comes into his own after the elections, especially if coalition talks are difficult.
In 2017, the Free Democrats pulled out of three-way talks with the conservatives and the Greens after two months of talks.
Steinmeier then stepped in, all but ordering a reluctant SPD to step up.
A “grand coalition” of the conservatives with the SPD took office in March 2018 after the longest government formation process in modern German history.