For Merkel, 2015 was a year of pushing Germans out of their comfort zone
| Berlin
"Mutti," or Mummy in English, explains in large part the hold Chancellor Angela Merkel has had on the German nation for a decade.
When Juli Zeh wrote a play last year whose title was Germans' pet name for their leader,聽she told broadcaster NDR that she wanted to reflect the psychology of a woman 鈥渨ho does little and says little, but exerts tremendous power."
But if "Mutti Merkel" has had a political knack for making Germans feel she has their interests first, she has pushed them well out of their comfort zone this year with her policy on the refugee crisis.
鈥�Wir schaffen das鈥� 鈥� "we can manage this" 鈥� she told the nation as hundreds of thousands of migrants poured over the border by this fall.聽
The phrase, modest though it was, shifted perceptions of "Mutti" abroad. Suddenly the woman noted and sometimes reviled for her caution, even earning a new synonym for indecision 鈥撀�尘别谤办别濒苍听鈥撀爄n the German lexicon, was feted for her boldness. She picked up Time鈥檚 person of the year award.
Yet it's at home where those three words could signal a shift in thought. Her commitment to tackling the refugee crisis has cost her political support and further fanned flames of racism, with arson attacks at refugee centers and a xenophobic wave of protest on the streets.
But as she works to convince Germany that the situation can indeed be managed 鈥� crucially with support from European partners 鈥� she is helping to reshape the nation's perception of itself as one that must be protected by 鈥淢utti鈥� to one that accepts itself as a leader, says Tony Czuczka, co-author of聽聽鈥淎ngela Merkel: A Chancellorship Forged in Crisis.鈥�
鈥淪he鈥檚 faced with the refugee crisis that she wants to manage in a way that doesn鈥檛 involve closing borders and walling off Germany,鈥� Mr. Czuczka says聽聽鈥淪he is trying to put Germany and the Germans more into a global context.鈥�
She does not accomplish this by being rash or dropping her signature pragmatism, he adds. In fact, many argue that "wir schaffen das" does not diverge at all from Merkel's pattern of leadership.
The more than 1 million asylum seekers who have rushed to Germany this year have threatened to undo a once-unflappable chancellorship. Amid divisions within her own party, especially her Bavarian allies who have dealt with the biggest influx of refugees on the country鈥檚 southern borders,聽Die Zeit newspaper dubbed the crisis 鈥渢he beginning of the end of the Merkel era.鈥� At the same time, support for聽the populist right-wing party Alternative聽for Deutschland saw a jump in popularity from 3 to 10 percent, according to a聽poll聽last month.聽
Some of the initial political fallout has eased. At a party meeting this month, Merkel got an unprecedented, 10-minute standing ovation for her steady hand in dealing with the crisis.
In her New Year鈥檚 speech she reiterated her confidence in Germany's approach. "I am convinced that, when tackled properly, the great influx and integration of so many human beings today is an opportunity for us聽tomorrow,"聽Merkel said.
"It鈥檚 true: we live in particularly challenging times," she said. "But it鈥檚 also true: We will manage it [wir schaffen das], because Germany is a strong country."
Merkel has earned new supporters among those who celebrate the humanitarian position she has staked out 鈥� just months after she was vilified for her insistence on taking a hard line on Greece in the euro crisis. 鈥淚 used to think that she was a bit uptight and disconnected from regular people,鈥� says Kahn 脰zdemir, sitting in a cafe in Berlin on a recent day. 鈥淪he won me over with the way she is handling the refugee crisis. It鈥檚 right to welcome them in.鈥�
Germans are debating whether Merkel鈥檚 words of welcome were part of a broader strategy 鈥� the view of many foreign observers who praise her action 鈥� or an accidental word choice, says聽historian Paul Nolte. 鈥淚 think there will be聽speculations with historians for decades to come about what Merkel herself thought when she said 鈥�Wir schaffen das.鈥� 鈥�
Regardless, the stance elevated her leadership, he says, from someone who soothed mainstream Germans amid crises over the past decade to one who has also 鈥渟et an example,鈥� he says.
And he and others say that the policy isn鈥檛 an anomaly. Merkel's political career started with risk: publicly criticizing her one-time mentor Helmut Kohl after the former chancellor聽was implicated in a funding scandal. There was also her controversial abrupt shift to end nuclear energy after the聽Fukushima accident.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a bit of misunderstanding when it comes to Merkel. I think she was always pretty clear about what is non-negotiable for her,鈥� says聽Sylke聽Tempel, editor-in chief of Internationale Politik, which is published by the German Council on Foreign Relations.
Ms. Tempel says that the refugee crisis 鈥� which shifted policy in Germany when Merkel announced that refugees trapped in Hungary by Prime Minister Viktor Orb谩n were welcome in her country 鈥� thrust her into one of the globe鈥檚 biggest stories and into non-negotiable territory for her. Tempel says that Merkel was essentially forced to ask: 鈥淒o we聽want to have a Europe where Viktor Orb谩n decides what our refugee policy looks like, or do we want to have a Europe that tries its best to live up to its ideals?鈥�
Now the government must convince Germans that they really can manage. It is a risky strategy, where geopolitics take the ultimate control seat.聽Hans Kundnani, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the US in Berlin and author of the 2014 book 鈥�,鈥� says that if Europe doesn鈥檛 step in to help relieve Germany鈥檚 burden, a resentful narrative could grow about Germany helping others, especially those needing to be bailed out, but not being helped in its own time of need.
If she is successful, though, a better Germany could emerge 鈥� an aging one that needs immigration and an agile one that responds pragmatically to the realities of globalization, and ultimately a more functional Europe. Mr. Kundnani calls it a 鈥渂est case scenario.鈥�
鈥淭here is a debate around refugees in which for the first time since the eurocrisis the dynamic has been reversed. It is Germans asking other EU states for solidarity,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he best case scenario is one where you now can actually have a discussion linking all these issues together, a grand bargain where Germany receives solidarity in terms of refugees and shows more solidarity on other issues.鈥�
鈥� Sara Miller Llana reported from Paris.
