Last week in the Berlin Ensemble Theatre, a place made famous by Bertolt Brecht, Angela Merkel took centre stage and gave a public interview for the first time since the curtain came down on her political career six months ago.
She did not exit pursued by a bear but was pursued by one – a Russian one - throughout the interview.
While some of the interview was given over to Merkel’s life after politics, a whole lot more of it dwelled on the war in Ukraine and what role she had had over the course of her 16 years as German chancellor in bolstering the position – economically and politically of Vladimir Putin.
She said she had done what she could to bring Russia into the international fold and said that while her endeavours ultimately failed, she insisted she had done her best and could not be held responsible for the Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the destabilising impact it has had on the entire world.
Irish Times Berlin correspondent Derek Scally was among those watching the interview and he talks to In The News about what she said, what it meant and how it was received by the theatre audience and the wider German public.
In a busy week, he also had a briefing from Merkel’s successor Olaf Scholz and was able to assess the man occupying possible the most powerful political seat in the EU is doing and how he compares to his predecessor and how Germany is reacting to the ongoing conflict and the economic turmoil it has been causing.
