Angela Merkel has been German chancellor for a decade and a half, but 2020 was her hardest year yet, she said in her New Year’s eve address.
“Never in the last 15 years have we found the old year so heavy and never have we, despite all the worries and some scepticism, looked forward to the new one with so much hope,” Merkel said.
The chancellor, who will not run in September’s federal election, criticized COVID-19 conspiracy theorists but said the year was ending on a hopeful note, with the rollout of the vaccine.
Some 1.7 million Germans have been infected by the virus, and more than 32,000 have died from it.
Merkel praised medical staff and other key workers but criticized “hopeless individuals” spreading COVID conspiracy theories.
“I can only imagine how bitter it must feel for those mourning loved ones lost to corona or who are having to fight against the repercussions of an illness when the virus is disputed and denied by some hopeless individuals,” said Merkel.
“Conspiracy theories are not just untrue and dangerous but also cynical and cruel,” she added.
Merkel ended her speech on a positive note, pointing to the rollout of the vaccine, and name-checking the German couple behind the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine.
“The founders Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci in Mainz told me that there are people working from 60 different countries in their company. Nothing can show better that it is European and international cooperation and the power of diversity that brings progress.”
Merkel added that she would receive a vaccine “when it’s [her] turn.”
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