Three years after leaving power, Angela Merkel unveils “Freedom”, her memoir

In this book, the 70-year-old former chancellor reviews the 16 years and four mandates spent at the head of Germany.

She has remained silent since 2021, the year she left power after 16 years at the head of Europe's largest economy. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel publishes her memoirs on Tuesday, November 26, entitled Freedomin around thirty countries.

From her childhood, spent in the East, Angela Merkel remembers that she was happy even if, under the communist dictatorship, “Everything could change in a matter of seconds.” As soon as she was elected chancellor in 2005, Merkel met Jacques Chirac who welcomed her with a kiss. But it is Vladimir Putin, cited 136 times in the work, who makes the biggest impression. She describes it as “perpetually on the lookout, always ready to strike.”

The Russian president imposes the presence of his labrador on the chancellor who nevertheless has a phobia of dogs. In 2017, it was the first meeting with Donald Trump. He refuses to shake her hand. Merkel is marked by the American president's fascination with leaders “autocratic and dictatorial”.

The 70-year-old ex-chancellor is today accused of having left Germany dangerously dependent on cheap Russian gas and of having contributed to the rise of the far right with her policy of open borders in 2015.

Throughout the 688 pages, Angela Merkel justifies her policy, in particular the refusal of rapid accession of Ukraine to NATO. She considers it illusory to think that the status of candidate would have protected her from Putin's aggression.

After 16 years in power, the ex-chancellor admits that she was relieved to have it over with: “Enough was enough, I really waited for this moment”, she writes.