Angela Merkel

The elections for the European Union take place on the 25th of May, at least in Germany. As a result, political ads for all sorts of different parties have cropped up around Aachen. I've seen signs for CDU, SPD, The Left, the Greens, and even the Pirates. Seriously, that is a fantastic political party name.

The CDU (Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands) is currently "in charge" so to speak, making Dr. Angela Merkel, the leader of the CDU also the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzlerin.) I mention her specifically because on April 30th, she and the CDU candidates for the EU came to speak in Aachen.

The event was held in the courtyard between the cathedral and the town hall. Police and medical professionals dotted the perimeter. I arrived in time to hear the tail end of the pre-show, some band singing quasi-jazzy songs. Once they finished, drum core blared over the speakers. The same sort of music you expect for a basketball team entering the court played as the candidates and Merkel made their way to the stage.

As they approached, the crowd applauded, but not everyone. A group of mostly men as far as I could tell on the other side of the courtyard started booing and shouting incomprehensible insults. I suppose I had expected something like that. The more important the politician, the louder the inevitable haters. Looking around, I saw signs reading "TTIP No!", "Only with, not against Russia!", and "Angie fürchte dich" (Angie, fear for yourself). I learned later that TTIP has something to do with European free trade. AFD is a semi-radical party (Alternative for Deutschland) also known as the Anti-Euro Party. It's therefore doubly unsurprising that they showed up at a campaign for EU elections.

I tried to ignore the hecklers and isolationist radicals and instead focus on the speakers. The host, so to speak, asked everyone a question before the speeches proper began. One of the stranger questions was "I've heard you, Mr. So-and-so, are a big fan of Darth Vader. How does he inform your politics." The answer went something like, "I try...not...to be like him."

When Angela Merkel's turn to speak came, the hecklers grew a bit louder. It impressed me how completely she managed to ignore them. She spoke of how this year marked two significant milestones, 100 years after the start of WWI and 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. She seemed to center her speech on unity and difference. A united Europe whose countries still manage internal affairs and debts separately supposedly lets the continent rise together and fall individually. The economics of it all goes way over my head, but she sounded convincing.

She also addressed, you know, the whole Ukraine-Russia situation. She stated very clearly that military action was not an option, but neither was denying Ukraine its right to self rule. It looks like talks will be had. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in talks where military and economic threats are off the table. I highly doubt that pointing out the ethics works.

Overall, I thought she spoke well, handled the jerks, and had a pretty good message as far as I could judge. I'm glad that I can say I have seen the leader of Germany with my own two eyes.