Merkel's public interview War, record and retirement

Jun 7, 2022

Phoenix carries the complete June 7, 2022 Berliner Ensemble conversation between Alexander Osang and Angela Merkel. Osang opens with his profile and memories of interviewing her; Merkel later adds that a second interview took place after their initial meeting. She discusses adjusting to retirement, reading, exercise, access to information and her constituency. She describes a five-week solo Baltic break with exercise, books and discreet local people, and a private Florence–Rome cultural visit that she defends against Melnyk's criticism. Later she recalls a Soviet-era Caucasus journey with two companions, a short transit visa, a fourteen-day stay, camping and writing a Russian essay at Sochi airport before flying home. These remain her recollections, without inferred exact travel dates. She attributes earlier trembling spells to exhaustion after her mother's death, insufficient hydration and later anxiety, saying sitting during ceremonies helped; this is her own explanation. Merkel condemns Russia's invasion as unjustified and contrary to international law while defending her diplomacy. She recounts disagreement with Putin over the Soviet collapse in Sochi and later disputes a benign reading of the dog encounter, with qualifications about advance notice. She recalls the stalled Minsk process and the failed 2021 European-dialogue initiative, labels possible influences on Putin's timing speculation, and explains her earlier re-election decision mainly through refugee-policy responsibility. On Bucharest 2008 she gives political-readiness and retaliation concerns, recounts the no-immediate-MAP/eventual-membership compromise and explicitly says it cannot justify the present invasion. She says Minsk did not satisfy all Ukrainian interests or achieve the intended calm, but had EU and UN backing and gave Ukraine seven years to develop. Osang relays Melnyk's appeasement criticism; she rejects it, declines to apologize for attempting diplomacy and says she never expected trade to transform Putin. She defends defense-budget increases and the Bundeswehr's reputation while acknowledging equipment and procurement failings, coalition obstacles and possibly excessive earlier cuts. She still supports ending compulsory service. In a distinct Afghanistan exchange she disputes abandonment of political support, questions unrealistic aims and exclusion of the Taliban, expresses guilt over those left behind and says she preferred continuing the mission but had to accept the U.S. withdrawal decision. Merkel distinguishes Russian culture from the government's aggression, condemns Netrebko's political conduct while being uncertain about the location she recalls, and opposes collective cultural exclusion. She says an independent Putin initiative would require a German-government request, doubts its usefulness then and insists on Ukraine's involvement, saying Ukraine had not requested her help. She criticizes U.S. sanctions over Nord Stream 2, praises the conditional 2021 compromise with Biden and stresses that the invasion demands a different response and support for Ukraine. She accepts Merz's CDU leadership, affirms party membership and leaves current party decisions to active leaders. A brief memoir project, the existing three-speech book and signing conditions remain in the account. Osang closes with the theater's Ukraine relief collection announcement and a Ben-Gurion quotation. Questions, competing claims, personal recollections and all later qualifications remain in this complete source account.

At the June 7 Berliner Ensemble interview, Merkel says she left office voluntarily and is adjusting well to a life with more exercise, reading and travel. She trusts the Scholz government and considers sixteen years enough, with new political ideas and leadership needed. She accepts responsibility for explaining past decisions but does not see her new role as commenting from the sidelines on every current issue. She intends to choose activities that serve the country and interest her. Responding to Osang's account of Ukrainian ambassador Andrij Melnyk's criticism of her Italian holiday, she expresses respect for Ukraine's leaders while defending her right to travel after leaving office and saying she neglected no official duty.