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'Eternal' chancellor: Germany's Merkel prepares to leave the stage
Angela Merkel is wrapping up a historic 16 years in power with an uncertain legacy at home and abroad.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel applauds during a campaign rally for Christian Democratic Union CDU leader and chancellor candidate Armin Laschet (not pictured) in Aachen, western Germany, on September 25, 2021, one day ahead of the German federal elections. (AFP/Ina Fassbender)
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he was called "the leader of the free world" as authoritarian populists were on the march in Europe and the United States, but Angela Merkel is wrapping up a historic 16 years in power with an uncertain legacy at home and abroad.
In office so long she was dubbed Germany's "eternal chancellor", Merkel, 67, leaves with her popularity so resilient she would likely have won a record fifth term had she sought it.
Instead, Merkel will pass the baton as the first German chancellor to step down entirely by choice, with a whole generation of voters never knowing another person at the top.
Her supporters say she provided steady, pragmatic leadership through countless global crises as a moderate and unifying figure.
Yet critics argue a muddle-through style of leadership, pegged to the broadest possible consensus, lacked the bold vision to prepare Europe and its top economy for the coming decades.
What is certain is that she leaves behind a fractured political landscape. It is also because of the long shadow she casts that her party's candidate, Armin Laschet, has struggled to sharpen his own profile.
His Social Democratic opponent, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, has actively -- and perhaps successfully -- sold himself as the real continuity candidate.
