In 2005 Angela Merkel was elected chancellor of Germany at the head of the Christian Democratic Union. She was hailed as the first female of the European country and set out on a course to fix the national problems. She was immediately bombarded with a plethora of issues many stemming from the great recession. (Feb 08-Feb 10) The great recession caused outbreak, in Europe, and many Europeans still feel the bitter touch of it in 2016. During the great recession, European industrial production fell 1.9 percent and European car sales fell by 7.8 percent.
These were not the only issues as a constant debt problems linked to the Euro. Greece struggled the most underneath this recession. In 2011 Greece economy was 16% below the economic output before the economic crisis. Many debates centralized on whether or not to allow Greece to remain a member of the Euro or not. The second topic of Greece was to the extent Greece is willing to pay back the debts that the wealthier nations have loaned to Greece. Greece was not the only state that suffered major economic causalities. The acronym which is PIIGS stands for the countries that struggled during this time. Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain all fall underneath this category. Angela Merkel during this time was known as a tough woman, sending tough messages to Greece to get their economy moving again.
Recently a more pressing matter has taken the stage, the refugee crisis. This is consistently redefining what it means to be European and has become the main topic of conversation. War has torn apart middle countries stretching from Libya, to Iraq, to Syria, and many of these people need a home to live in as. In September 2015 Angela Merkel entered a new era welcoming thousands of refugees from war torn countries. Even from the beginning the policy had immense problems. On New Year’s Day many of the migrants organized a mass rape attack. With over 2000 participants, there were over 2000 rapes or robberies that were reported to the police. Police estimate that 1,200 women were sexually assaulted by recently arrived migrants. In a recent statistic it was reported that an additional 402,741 crimes were committed by recently arrived migrants since Merkel’s open border policy. And this number is under represented. It is said that only 8 percent of rapes in Germany are prosecuted.
Merkel’s party is now suffering major losses. We now watch the rise of a newly established party, the AFD, which main platform is limiting immigration. Migration is on the mind of many Germans today as they watch their country changes day by day. In the recent Berlin election Markel’s party lost a significant amount of support. This immigration policy will have many lasting impressions on Germany. Germany that we once knew in the 2000’s is a much different place and constantly changing. As the Christian Democratic Union falls in the polls, it shows that Germans have one major issue on their mind.
