Angela Merkel On How She Faced Trump, Putin, COVID & Brexit

What lessons on leadership does Angela Merkel have after 16 years served as Chancellor of Germany? Does she have any regrets from her tenure? What was it like being in East Germany when the Berlin wall fell? And what should Europe do to ensure the future security of Ukraine?

Rory and Alastair are joined by ex-Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, to discuss all this and more.

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Translator: Dorothee Kaltenbach
Assistant Producer: India Dunkley
Producer: Nicole Maslen
Social Producer: Harry Balden
Senior Producer: Dom Johnson
Head of Content: Tom Whiter
Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport

00:00 Growing up under communism
03:53 The value of freedom
06:23 The fall of the Berlin Wall
08:21 The beginning of her political career
11:05 Joining the CDU
15:45 Was her rise effortless?
17:55 Turning against Hermut Kohl
19:35 Is she risk averse?
20:55 Freidrich Merz
22:20 the value of patience
23:40 The Franco-German relationship
25:00 How to prepare for govt
26:30 Pressure
28:10 The biggest decisions she had to make
29:20 Brexit
32:22 What happened to the foreign policy ambitions of the EU
37:03 What is Putin’s plan?
39:40 Can democracy come to Russia
42:50 The rise of AfD and the issue of migration
45:15 China
47:10 Trump
50:20 What is it like to be chancellor?
52:00 Rory and Alastair’s take on Merkel