Merkel’s political and scientific side lashed out at Angela Merkel in the Swan Song press

A kindDuring her 16-year term as prime minister, for the last time she faced an auditorium the size of a lecture hall crowded with domestic and foreign media, she had the feeling that the voices of two completely different people were heard in the room at the same time. Angela Merkel.

One is Merkel, a politician. She is not afraid to talk about her achievements. She patted herself on the back for diplomatic victory and cleverly fabricated the answer to the difficult problem. The other is the scientist Merkel, who found it difficult to avoid disturbing facts, and instinctively wanted to double-check the record of her clone.

Merkel’s training as a quantum chemist It has always distinguished her from the male lawyers, economists, and journalists who held the highest positions in German politics before her-because at the last annual summer press conference before her resignation, she did not fail to remind the audience for two months. time.

At best, the scientific background makes Merkel a politician. He has an unusually high awareness of objective reality. At best, political language can only be imitated but rarely touched.

She said that one of the trends that worries her the most in Western democracies recently is the “mixing of emotions and facts” promoted by social media, which she believes may expand the achievements of the Enlightenment. “These are two different categories: feeling is feeling, and fact is fact.”

Compared with some British prime ministers, her inability to reduce politics to a slogan is shocking.

When asked if her leader has obvious femininity, the politician Merkel briefly sniffed a catchy line. “In general, women have a certain yearning for efficiency.”

But even if her witticism sparked a snicker in the room, scientist Merkel began rowing backwards, imagining the headlines in horror: You can’t generalize the behavior of men and women. She clarified that women are more similar than they are.

At her worst, when she turned to this topic Controversial North Stream 2 Pipeline Between Germany and Russia, Merkel talked about political decisions like a scientist, treating choice as an inevitable procedure.

Deal with the U.S., promise Germany Merkel said that if Russia tries to use energy supply as a geopolitical lever but can complete the construction of natural gas pipelines, then sanctions against Russia are “a good step but cannot overcome all differences.” This sounds like a discussion on conflict resolution. Yes, rather than a specific project, this puts Germany’s industrial interests above the concerns of its Eastern European and Baltic neighbors.

However, when the topic of climate change can be said to have dominated her last two months in power, the scientist Merkel opposed the politician Merkel more loudly than usual.

“Germany has done a lot,” she said, supporting the expansion of renewable energy and the reduction of carbon emissions under her leadership.

But scientists will not let her finish.Measure against the target Limit global warming It is much lower than 2C, preferably 1.5C, which is higher than the pre-industrial level, she said: “The achievements we have already achieved are not enough.”