TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Farewell Facebook: Germany's Merkel closes account

In a short video, Merkel thanked her more than 2.5 million followers on the social media site and asked them to keep watching her work on her official government site and on Instagram.

News Desk (Agence France-Presse)
Berlin, Germany
Sat, February 2, 2019

Share This Article

Change Size

Farewell Facebook: Germany's Merkel closes account German Chancellor Angela Merkel (2ndL) sits with the CEO of German car maker Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz cars Dieter Zetsche (L), the president of the German Automobile Industry Association (VdA) Matthias Wissmann (2ndR) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg (R) before giving a speech to inaugurate the Frankfurt Motor Show IAA in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on September 14, 2017. Chancellor Angela Merkel will formally open the Frankfurt car show on Thursday, where she will face a delicate balancing act between defending millions of duped diesel owners without alienating Germany's most powerful industry. (AFP/Frank Rumpenhorst / dpa )

G

erman Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Friday she would close her Facebook account, taking another step in a long farewell from politics in her final term in office.

In a short video, Merkel thanked her more than 2.5 million followers on the social media site and asked them to keep watching her work on her official government site and on Instagram.

Having run the biggest EU economy since 2005, Merkel last year stood down as party leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a post now held by her preferred successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

"Today is the day I would like to thank you for supporting my Facebook page in great numbers," Merkel said. "You know I am no longer CDU leader, so I will now close my Facebook page."

Although some observers have speculated Merkel may in future seek a senior UN or EU post, the 64-year-old has signalled she will not go for a new political job after her term ends in 2021.

Merkel has served a marathon stretch as chancellor but faced major domestic headwinds after her 2015 decision to keep open German borders to a mass influx of mostly Muslim refugees, many from war-torn Syria.

While many wished her well in the Facebook comments section Friday, others vented their anger by demanding she quickly bow out of the chancellery as well.

Merkel, who is not on Twitter, had only occasionally used the Facebook page.

In its "about" section, the site said Merkel enjoys the writings of Fyodor Dostoevsky, the music of Richard Wagner and the Beatles, the German crime TV show "Tatort" and the movie "Out Of Africa".

While her listed hobbies are gardening, hiking and cooking, her personal "dream" may offer a clue to her retirement plans: "a trip with the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok".

As her favourite quotation, Facebook lists a sentence from post-war CDU chancellor Konrad Adenauer: "Politics is not about just being right, but about being proven right in the end."

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.