{"id":962136,"date":"2026-05-15T18:55:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T18:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/962136\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T18:55:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T18:55:22","slug":"is-angela-merkel-set-to-return-as-eu-envoy-on-ukraine-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/962136\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Angela Merkel set to return as EU envoy on Ukraine? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angela Merkel<\/a> sounds like she is enjoying retirement.<\/p>\n

She has pared back her schedule to little more than \u201cfeel-good\u201d engagements and thinned out her once\u2011familiar array of coloured blazers, though gardening has proved beyond her.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome things take off, others don\u2019t. I console myself that it always depends on the nature of the soil,\u201d she told a podcast from Germany\u2019s Focus magazine. <\/p>\n

Nearly five years after leaving office, the 71-year-old may soon be asked to retire her retirement \u2013 at least temporarily \u2013 to serve as EU<\/a> envoy in any future peace talks between Russia <\/a>and Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Der Spiegel magazine was first to air the speculation, prompting a non-denial denial from Merkel\u2019s office. There had been no official requests, a spokeswoman said, without saying whether she was ready to accept such a role in the future. <\/p>\n

EU foreign ministers are set to discuss the envoy issue during an informal meeting in Cyprus from May 27th\u221228th. Not that Merkel would be Russian president Vladimir Putin<\/a>\u2019s first choice. <\/p>\n

Last weekend he floated as a potential envoy Merkel\u2019s predecessor as chancellor, Gerhard Schr\u00f6der<\/a>. Their close friendship, and Schr\u00f6der\u2019s stoic sympathy for Russian political perspectives, have proven a sticking point with EU leaders, along with his post-chancellery work as an adviser to Russian energy companies. <\/p>\n

Enter Merkel, whose ongoing popularity in many western European countries is not shared among Germany\u2019s eastern neighbours. <\/p>\n

They will never forget how, in her four terms in office, she increased German dependency on Russian energy and backed undersea Russian gas pipelines, while blocking Ukraine\u2019s Nato<\/a> membership ambitions in 2008. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Latvian government collapses over Russia-bound Ukrainian dronesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Perceived appeasement of Merkel and other German politicians \u2013 as well as co-operation of German arms firms with the Russian army \u2013 have prompted angry outbursts from Ukrainian president Volodymy<\/a>r Zelenskiy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In April 2022 in Bucha, scene of one of the early war\u2019s most infamous civilian massacres, Zelenskiy said: \u201cI invite Ms Merkel … to visit Bucha to see to what the policy of 14 years of concessions to Russia has led.\u201d <\/p>\n

Poland and the Baltic countries are also cool on Merkel, particularly after she blamed them in part for the failure of her efforts back in 2021 to establish a way to allow the European Union to speak directly with Putin. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was not supported by some, primarily the Baltic states but Poland was also against it,\u201d she said, \u201cfearing that we did not have a coherent [European] policy towards Russia.\u201d <\/p>\n

A final delicate point is a Merkel nomination from her political frenemy, chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a>. He knocked back Putin\u2019s Schr\u00f6der suggestion on Thursday, saying \u201cwe Europeans decide for ourselves who speaks for us\u201d \u2013 without naming any names.<\/p>\n

But even Merkel-phobes have to admit she ticks many boxes: an experienced, unflappable, Russian-speaking, compromise-oriented leader with east and western European perspectives who is able to get inside Putin\u2019s head. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ukraine hit by second day of large-scale Russian missile and drone strikesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

After another night of heavy Russian strikes in Ukraine, Merkel was not asked directly on Thursday about the envoy speculation. <\/p>\n

Nor did she speak at length about the Russian-Ukraine conflict except to note, tantalisingly, that she \u201cknows all the details\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was clear in an interview last year, however, that she has unfinished business on Ukraine-Russia, in particular that failed 2021 push for EU member states to \u201cwork on having a common policy\u201d on Russia. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn any case it didn\u2019t come to fruition and yes, then I left office, and Putin\u2019s aggression began,\u201d she said then. \u201cWe will no longer be able to clarify today what might have been.\u201d <\/p>\n

While she waits for the phone to ring \u2013 or not \u2013 Merkel told the Focus podcast she was a woman of few regrets and fewer bad habits. Well, perhaps just one: \u201cLiking a little too much fried potatoes at 10 in the evening.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Angela Merkel sounds like she is enjoying retirement. She has pared back her schedule to little more than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":962137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[13402,2000,299,5187,1945,1824,69751,770,333,20729],"class_list":{"0":"post-962136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-angela-merkel","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-friedrich-merz","13":"tag-germany","14":"tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organisation-nato","15":"tag-poland","16":"tag-vladimir-putin","17":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskiy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116580117808141594","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/962137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}