Chancellor Angela Merkel has admitted that the deterioration in Europe’s relationship with the US can no longer be “papered over”.
In her first chancellor’s questions in the Bundestag, MPs from all parties pressed her on the risk of a trade war in the US, German-Russian relations and a building asylum scandal at home – all batted back effortlessly by the four-term chancellor.
Ahead of this week’s G7 meeting in Canada, Dr Merkel said it was clear that, with the arrival of US president Donald Trump, “we have a serious problem with multilateral agreements”.
For Europe, she said, that means “we have to take care of ourselves to an extent and learn to be consistent in defence and security policy”.
The German leader said she would meet Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte, who is heading a populist coalition, on the sidelines of the G7 meeting but didn’t see “as dramatic a problem” with European partners as the US.
Given what the EU views as US breaches of trade and environmental agreements, the Green Party wanted to know when Dr Merkel was going to stand up to Mr Trump.
“I don’t think linking everything together is the right approach in the German interest,” she said.
One-minute format
Standing before her seat, with no podium and only a few pages to hold on to, Dr Merkel was clearly nervous at the start but soon found her stride.
A far cry from Westminster’s often ructious Prime Minister’s Questions, the Bundestag format allowed one minute for a question and the same time for Dr Merkel’s answers.
The far-right AfD failed to land a blow on the German leader, even when accusing her of triggering a “flood of migrants” resulting in “serious damage” of attacks and rapes. MP Gottfried Curio asked: “When are you going to resign?”
The chancellor brushed off the questions, insisting she had acted responsibly in a “humanitarian emergency” and noted that the European Court of Justice had confirmed she had acted legally.
“The basic political decision was correct,” she said.
She dismissed a series of questions about a growing scandal, where at least 1,200 asylum applications were granted incorrectly. Dr Merkel insisted she only knew of these specific problems “recently”.
‘Structural problems’
She conceded she had appointed a new chief to the federal asylum board in September 2015 to deal with “grave structural problems” in an authority that, faced with a surge in asylum applications, had to quadruple its staff numbers.
The chancellor spoke to asylum chief Frank-Jürgen Weise “countless times and always encouraged him to tell us of all deficits”.
In a rare moment of spontaneity, a far-right AfD parliamentarian complained that Dr Merkel had spoken longer than the allotted one minute. Bundestag president Wolfgang Schäuble replied that the first AfD question had been too long too.
“Mind your own business,” added Dr Schäuble, “before you give me advice.”
After an hour, a confident Dr Merkel strolled out of the Bundestag chamber saying “as much of a shame as it is, it’s over”. With a smile, she added: “But I’ll come again.”
