Angela Merkel is completing her fourth and final term as Chancellor. She will have spent sixteen years leading Germany and shaping her country’s relations with the world, especially with the African continent. What legacy does she leave to her successor? Will it keep the same orientations? Franceinfo Afrique asked these questions to specialists. Their answers show that Angela Merkel’s approach has specificities that can be further exploited by the next German Chancellor.
The Senegalese researcher Maguèye Kassé, professor at the department of Germanic languages and civilizations of the faculty of letters and human sciences at the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar (Senegal), believes that the former chancellor conferred on this German-African relationship “a much more reassuring image”. “The CDU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany) and CSU (Christian Social Union in Bavaria) are right-wing parties. Africans could be skeptical when Angela Merkel arrived (from the CDU and who governed as part of the CDU-CSU union) in power”, he confides. The latter cannot escape comparison with the SPD (the Social Democratic Party of Germany) which has “leading figures such as Willy Brandt who was the chairman of a commission which examined in a very exhaustive way the situation of Africa (the former chancellor chaired the commission which produced in 1980 the North-South report commissioned by the World Bank on underdevelopment and poverty in the world, Editor’s note)“.
Nevertheless,“the personality of Angela Merkel who comes from the East, who has a Protestant education made up of humanist values ” will have changed the situation somewhat. “One could think at the outset that Merkel’s policy was not going to be fundamentally different from the guidelines that had been drawn with regard to the economic, social and cultural realities of Africa, especially south of the Sahara which is the Gordian knot of the development in Africa. ” Mostly French-speaking, “France preserves its interests there despite its (good) relations with Germany within the European Union. “
If it is up to historians to determine the nature of the Merkel approach in Germany’s African policy, immediately warn Thomas Schiller, director of the Sahel program of the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in Bamako (Mali), close to the CDU, he nevertheless notes that “under the aegis of Angela Merkel”, Germany “realized that Africa is the neighboring continent of Europe “. Today, “in the political class, the media and intellectual circles, I believe that everyone has understood that a partnership with Africa is needed in all fields. We cannot leave that to the policy of cooperation alone, we must also have strong economic relations, a partnership in the field of security. “ With Angela Merkel, analyzes Thomas Schiller, Germany’s African policy will “(encompass) all strands” while she was “more fragmented” previously. There are “the desire to develop economic links beyond South Africa and North Africa, for example with countries such as Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire or with the Democratic Republic of the Congo”. In another area, security for example, this multidimensional policy is illustrated by the presence in Mali. “Being with our French allies embodies this global approach. As part of Germany’s European policy, there are agreements between the European Union and the African Union, such as the African Peace Facility. If a region like the Sahel continues to deteriorate, we cannot be the same. “ Therefore, he continues, “Germany’s stabilization and security policy has increased significantly” to this terrorist-ridden area.
In general, relations between Germany and the African continent “are dominated by the question of development rather than by global geopolitics”, notes Matthias Basedau, director of the GIGA (German Institute for Global and Area Studies) Institute of African Affairs. “Apart from Namibia with which Germany shares a particular history, the African countries with which it exchanges the most are South Africa and the countries of North Africa. What is interesting, at least new, is that ‘is the attention paid to the Sahel, an essential stage of the migratory route to Europe. This is why Angela Merkel has visited countries like Niger “.
All the specialists are unanimous: the African policy of the former chancellor takes shape from 2015 with the migratory crisis in Europe. Henrik Maihack, director of the Africa section of the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), close to the SPD, explains that this crisis linked to mass immigration then becomes “a domestic problem” in Germany. “Until 2015, increases Matthias Basedau from GIGA, Africa was not so important to (Angela Merkel) and for Germany in general. It was only with the refugee crisis that things changed in terms of containing this immigration. Africa has therefore taken a more important place in German politics “. Starting with Niger in 2016, she will travel several times to West Africa in Central Africa, details Henrik Maihack. The object of these displacements is to try to convince its African partners to contain this migration towards Europe. She wanted to make sure, he adds, “that the situation in the Sahel does not worsen and does not lead to more migratory movements towards Europe”.
“Under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Minister of Development Gerd Müller, German development policy and Africa as a whole have received increased attention., with initiatives such as ‘Compact with Africa’ (initiated while Germany chaired the G20 in 2017), the German government has been keen to promote the strengthening of the economy and the own reform efforts of African partner countries “, summarized the GIGA in a recent document published in early October 2021.
“The new strategy, with Compact with Africa, focuses more on private investment rather than public aid “, specifies Matthias Basedau from GIGA. “Development cooperation works best when both sides have an interest and benefit from it. Germany wanted to innovate and move away from ‘classic forms’ cooperation, on the initiative of Gerd Müller, former Federal Minister for Cooperation, who wanted to engage in economic cooperation. But it hasn’t been a huge success to date. “ According to Henri Maihack, combating the origins of emigration and mobilizing the private sector in order to promote direct investments with Compact with Africa were the priority of the former chancellor, but investors did not follow on the last part. These investments “did not create the jobs hoped for”. Angela Merkel, he recalls, governed in the framework of a coalition with the Social Democrats who are very attentive to the fact that if there is job creation within the framework of economic cooperation, the latter must be able to improve the living conditions of beneficiaries.
As evidenced by its consultations with France and the German initiative Compact Africa, “Even if these are bilateral initiatives, given the tradition of Germany’s foreign policy, there is always this desire to place its approach within a multilateral framework. The presence of the German army in Mali is part of the within the framework of the United Nations or the European Union “, says Thomas Schiller of the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation. “German cooperation is deeply rooted in a multilateral framework. If Olaf Scholz (leader of the SPD who won the last federal elections, Editor’s note) becomes chancellor, “our cooperation with Africa will continue to be part of a multilateral framework”, predicts Henrik Maihack.
The fallout from German initiatives under Merkel is not always convincing, but it took place in a cordial setting. According to Thomas Schiller, Angela Merkel had “good relations” with African heads of state just as it has had good press among Africans. “All the discussions I have with my African friends show enormous respect for Angela Merkel. The media report that she is respected worldwide. I see it here on the ground.”. Angela Merkel, he adds, “has a reputation for being calm. This is perhaps one of his peculiarities in his discussions with African heads of state. This is also something that can be said about Angela Merkel in all political fields. “ The former chancellor was appreciated by her counterparts on the continent. At the last peak on Compact Africa which she hosted in Berlin in August 2021, they “came many”.
In its October 2021 analysis, the GIGA regrets that “development policy (did) not been the subject of debate during the recent German electoral campaign, even though it is essential to the achievement of the country’s political objectives, both globally and for Africa ”. However, says Henrik Maihack, “the SPD has indicated that its cooperation policy will be based on the African Union’s agenda 2063”, which is “a welcome initiative” since this agenda “concentrated” the aspirations of Africans.
The Africa director of the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation believes that there will be no “fundamental change” Germany’s African policy. “I will expect a lot of continuity in (this) Politics”, confirms Matthias Basedau from GIGA. “The new German government must therefore change course in terms of development cooperation and considerably strengthen the joint action of the various ministries concerned”, urges the GIGA. “Germany’s African policy is not only dictated by the Chancellor, recalls Matthias Basedau, it is also the work of several ministers. “