Also: Recession warning, Microsoft departure, and women on boards.
Good morning. David Meyer here in Berlin, filling in for Alan.
Sometimes legacies aren’t what they initially seem to be. Case in point: Angela Merkel, the former German chancellor who, after months of conspicuous silence on the issue of her Russia policy, has finally begun fighting to defend her reputation.
When Merkel retired late last year, her legacy was already somewhat mixed. On the plus side, she was a trailblazer for women in European politics (and arguably further) and her 2015 decision to take in a million Syrian refugees was a moral beacon, even if it had the downside of emboldening the far right for a while. But her general lack of decisiveness—dithering on everything from climate protection to the digitization of Germany’s economy—was also a defining characteristic.
Now, though, her legacy seems swamped by the Ukraine crisis, and what she did and didn’t try to achieve when dealing with Vladimir Putin over her 16 years in power—a period in which Russia invaded both Georgia and Ukraine, with little in the way of consequences.
Last night, in her first interview since leaving office, she told a Berlin audience that she doesn’t blame herself for Russia’s full-on Ukraine assault this year, as she “tried to work in the direction of preventing mischief. And if diplomacy doesn’t succeed, this doesn’t mean that it was therefore wrong.”
Crucially, Merkel insisted that she had not been “naïve” about the policy—broadly accepted in Germany for decades, until February—that held Russia’s behavior could be changed through continued trade links. Rather, she claimed she had always known Putin wanted to “destroy the EU” and had warned Germany’s allies as such.
“Which means she was cynical and devious,” shot back the former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves on Twitter. “She never explained this reasoning to her fellow EU leaders, at least those of us in [Central and Eastern Europe].” And, as Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak noted, Merkel’s new claim doesn’t fit comfortably with her relentless championing of Russian fossil fuels—an addiction that continues to feed Moscow’s war machine today.
If Сhancellor #Merkel always knew that 🇷🇺 was planning a war and Putin's goal is to destroy the EU, then why would build the Nord Stream 2? "I was not naive" – said the chancellor. Then why did you shoved 🇪🇺 on the 🇷🇺 oil/gas needle? And why does 🇩🇪 have to fix this mistakes now?
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) June 8, 2022 Nobody expects leaders to be able to perfectly divine the future, but when they have a strong idea about what’s coming, they should do something about it. Yes, Merkel had responsibilities to the German economy—cheap Russian gas powers much of the nation’s industry, and Russia is/was a significant market for many German companies—but it does look a lot like her balancing act contributed to the bloody consequences we now see.
It’s rare to see legacies so dramatically flipped as we see now in the case of Merkel—maybe there’s some level of analogy to be found in the reappraisal of Alan Greenspan following the 2008 crash—but I have a feeling we’ll see more of it down the line, as what was once widely-shared consensus becomes anathema.
In the corporate world, it’s easy to imagine people’s reputations being retroactively trashed over concessions made when dealing with the Chinese government, for example. And I have zero doubt that decisions to put profit above strong climate-protection measures will become indelible marks of shame for many of today’s business and political leaders. It doesn’t have to be that way, of course—but if those who know what needs to be done don’t actually go ahead and do it, it will be on them.
More news below.
David Meyer
@superglaze
david.meyer@fortune.com
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Bridging the Pay Equity Gap: Virtual Conversation, June 9 As companies talk about their diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies, how can leadership and boards be persuaded to adopt role-based compensation structures and address areas of bias in the recruiting and promotions process? Register here to learn more. |
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Recession warning
Another day, another warning of incoming bad times. World Bank president David Malpass: “Just over two years after COVID-19 caused the deepest global recession since World War II, the world economy is again in danger… For many countries, recession will be hard to avoid.” Fortune
Microsoft departure
Alex Kipman, the public face of Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented-reality initiative, has left the company after being accused of inappropriate behavior toward female employees. Fortune
Women on boards
The EU’s institutions have reached a political agreement on a new directive that will force EU companies listing on local exchanges to speed up the gender-balancing of their boards. The new law, which now requires formal approval and will then take a couple years to introduce, sets a 40% target for women among non-executive directors and 33% among all directors. Guardian
Charger standards
The EU has also decided to fully standardize chargers for small and medium-sized portable devices. That means all new phones—iPhones included—will need to have USB Type-C ports by fall 2024. Fortune
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What’s top of mind for Millennials and Gen Zs? According to Deloitte’s 11th annual Gen Z and Millennial Survey, these generations are deeply concerned about the state of the world and their own futures. There is a need and an opportunity for business leaders to respond by shaping work models that meet their workforce’s expectations around work/life balance, learning and development, and sustainability. Learn More
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Aussie Airbnb
Airbnb faces an antitrust suit in Australia, where the competition regulation claims the platform duped users into overpaying for bookings. Between 2018 and 2021, Airbnb was showing rates in U.S. dollars without indicating what the figures would be in Australian dollars. Airbnb has promised to compensate guests who got unexpectedly large bills. Reuters
Inflation peaked?
There are a few indicators that suggest global inflation may have peaked—for an optimistic outlook, turn your eyes towards chips, shipping and fertilizer. Fortune
Space debris
Check out this great example of visual storytelling from the Financial Times, covering the rather important subject of space debris and how it threatens services we take for granted. Holger Krag of the European Space Agency: “Even if you stop launching, modelling shows that the number of space objects will still grow because collisions are happening and producing fragments at a higher rate than those that decay.” FT
Crypto criticism
Anne Boden, the founder of Goldman Sachs-backed fintech firm Starling, has described cryptocurrencies as “a threat to the safety of our payment schemes around the world,” as many wallets are “being connected directly to payment schemes.” CNBC
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
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