| Berlin Wall: Angela Merkel challenges US power Chancellor Angela Merkel put Berlin's emboldened role in the international arena on display by calling on America to accept it must channel its interests through global institutions. The
Telegraph | November 10, 2009
The sharp comments underpinned her country's rising standing on a day the German leader was marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the city's divisions. While remaining a Western ally, Mrs Merkel's Germany has sought to extend the consensual approach it takes to its near neighbours to the international political system. "We Europeans are used to this," she said. "We have voluntarily given up many of our powers to Brussels and to the European Union. But our American partners find it much more difficult to hand over powers to the International Monetary Fund or to any other international organisation." "This world will only be a peaceful and good world if we have more of a world order and more multilateral co-operation," she said. The fall of the Berlin Wall allowed the country to surmount the legacy of defeat in Second World War and unite its divided territory. Berlin was able to dissolve the four sectors run by the victorous powers and had emerged as the capital of a united Germany within a year of the wall being breached. |