Europe’s Problem With Vision

Europe’s Problem With Vision

Posted by: Judy Dempsey Monday, November 9, 2015 |  http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=61911&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonvKXNZKXonjHpfsX57uQsW6Sg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIGRcR0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEIQ7XYTLB2t60MWA%3D%3D
The world cannot get enough of her leadership.
On November 22, Angela Merkel will celebrate her tenth anniversary as chancellor of Germany. No mean feat for a leader who grew up in Communist East Germany and made her way up through a male-dominated Christian Democratic Union party. Aware of the resentment toward her ascent to power, Merkel has so far managed to see off many potential challengers.
As if that were not enough, Merkel, as Europe’s most important leader, has had to cope with the global financial crisis, rescue the eurozone and Greece from collapse, and deal with Russia’s proxy war in eastern Ukraine.

She now has a gargantuan task in her in-tray: coping with the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have come to Germany over the past few months. This is going to test her leadership and her ability to silence the growing opposition to her refugee policy that is building inside her conservative bloc. From the outside, Merkel cannot be praised enough by Forbes, the Economist, and many other influential publications. Forbes recently listed her as the world’s second most powerful person, ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama. First place went to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Economist put her on its November 6 cover with the title “The indispensable European.”http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=61911&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonvKXNZKXonjHpfsX57uQsW6Sg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIGRcR0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEIQ7XYTLB2t60MWA%3D%3D