After she appeared to use her speech to reject President Trump’s worldview, social media and the international press were united in casting Merkel as a liberal hero. But all of that fawning failed to reflect the reality of Merkel’s tenure in Germany.

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There can be no doubt that Merkel believes in the basic principles of liberal democracy, supports freedom of press and expression, and understands that truth and facts are the basis of responsible government. Her tenure in power has been remarkably free of scandals, and her decision not to close off Germany’s borders during the so-called refugee crisis was nothing short of a major humanitarian act. All of these qualities make Merkel stand out in the current political climate.

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Yet describing her as a champion of liberal or progressive causes is very much at odds with her political track record in Germany and Europe. Merkel and her party, the Christian Democratic Union, have been the most significant obstacles to progressive change in Germany in the past two decades.

While liberal reforms — including the introduction of a minimum wage and same-sex marriage — were passed during her tenure as chancellor, they were achieved not because of her leadership, but in spite of it. Instead, Merkel often used policy reforms strategically to demobilize support for her more liberal opponents.

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To evaluate Merkel’s accomplishments, it is worth going back to 2000, when she became head of the CDU. Under her leadership, the CDU — which was in opposition at the time — passed a new party program at its convention in Leipzig in 2003. It included the most radical attempt at retrenching the German welfare state and reducing the generosity of Germany’s systems of social security to date. Campaigning on this platform in the federal election in 2005, the CDU nearly lost despite leading in the polls by more than 10 percentage points only a couple of weeks before the election.

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The 2005 election made Merkel chancellor of a coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Germany, but the strongly negative reaction to these policy proposals taught Merkel to slowly but steadily reverse some of her positions on economic and social policies.

This has largely been the story of her political career: When public opinion changed in favor of other parties’ positions, Merkel reconsidered policies in ways that were politically expedient. In 2011, the CDU under her leadership reversed its position and decided to support a minimum wage, which was eventually approved in 2014. And after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, she reversed her support for nuclear power, which was extremely unpopular at the time. Merkel’s responsiveness to public opinion makes her a savvy politician — not a proponent of these policies or a champion of the values they stand for.

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But it is her record on LGBT rights that most clearly shows how she and the CDU have tried to block progressive change in Germany. When Germany legalized same-sex marriage in 2017, it was one of the last Western European countries to do so. For several years in the lead-up to the decision, Merkel’s political bloc had been the only group in the German Bundestag to not support same-sex marriage. Due to its dominance in German politics, it had the means to block policies to expand LGBT rights — and did so for years.

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Merkel herself certainly was not a proponent of LGBT rights expansion. When asked about expanding adoption rights to same-sex couples in 2013, she responded that she personally doubted that this would benefit children. After rising pressure for same-sex marriage, in 2017 she agreed to a free vote — in which members of parliament do not have to vote along party lines — in the Bundestag. While the law passed with a large majority, Merkel herself voted against it.

Many citizens, activists and politicians in Germany have fought to expand the rights of the LGBT population. They have fought against massive obstacles and at large personal costs. They deserve the credit for this achievement. Merkel does not.

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Ultimately, proclaiming Merkel a champion of progressive causes misrepresents her political preferences and actions. Compared with Trump, outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May or French conservative politician Laurent Wauquiez, Merkel might look like a liberal. But this perception says more about the current state of conservative and center-right parties in Europe — and around the world — than about Merkel herself.

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In response to the increasing success of the radical right, many conservative and Christian democratic parties have become more authoritarian and nationalist. Merkel has, to her credit, resisted many of these temptations. But this should not disguise the fact that, for much of her political career, she has hindered progressive causes instead of advancing them.