Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and expressed her support for the current German government, the EU and the US in their efforts to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin in his first public intervention this year after leaving office.
“I cannot omit from this speech a reference to Russia’s clear violation of international law,” Merkel said at a rally by the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) to fire outgoing president Rainer Hoffmann.
“The war in Yugoslavia had already shown us in the 1990s how fragile the world order is,” he added at the event, held last night in a restricted manner and reported by local media on Thursday.
Merkel pointed out that as a former chancellor, she intends not to assess the work of the current government, which, however, did not prevent her from expressing her support for the position it has taken in the Russian invasion war.
“I support the efforts of the German government, the EU and the US to stand up to Putin in this barbaric war,” he said.
Merkel said her solidarity is with Ukraine and the displaced, noting that the willingness to help shown by neighboring countries is “a light in the midst of this sadness.”
Regarding the repercussions that the war will have, he affirmed that they cannot be predicted with precision but that in any case they will be profound and he referred to the danger of famines in Africa.
Merkel stressed that it is necessary to support unity within the EU, before an audience in which there were several ministers and regional heads of government.
“Right now unity in the EU is a matter of survival,” Merkel said.
“The wonderful idea of Europe as a community of values is a solid thing but it has taken some hits,” he said.
Merkel referred to the outgoing DGB president, Hoffmann, whom she said had always been interested in seeking compromises in difficult times such as the financial crisis or in the midst of the pandemic.
That willingness to commit and cooperate with politics, employers and unions, according to Merkel, has been key to reducing unemployment and overcoming the crisis in the country.
Merkel, on the other hand, assured that she was not surprised by the position and said that she was aware of the celebration of a new meeting of the heads of the German regional governments with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“I don’t need to, I can spend the day without meetings with the heads of government,” joked the former chancellor about the meeting, a regular appointment that in recent years has focused all the media attention on the decisions that were made there in relation to the pandemic.