It is difficult to imagine that someone will create a hit rap musical around Germany’s veteran Chancellor Angela Merkel. But her historical reputation stands now in parallel to Alexander Hamilton.
The American revolutionary war hero and the founding US treasury secretary has undergone something of a revival in recent years. The hottest stage play of the past decade has brought his legacy to Broadway and beyond. While it is delivered in rap and most of the cast members are people of colour,Hamilton: An American Musical is, in fact, a prolonged civics lesson. It is also a study in moral courage.
Which is why it is salient to the role played by Mrs Merkel last week in forging a €750 billion rescue package for the eurozone economies. It is something that puts Europe back in the top league of global economic influencers.
FILE - In this June 12, 2016 file photo, Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast of "Hamilton" perform at the Tony Awards in New York. Next year, you'll be able to see the original Broadway cast of “Hamilton†perform the musical smash from the comfort of a movie theater. The Walt Disney Company said Monday, Feb. 3, 2020, it will distribute a live capture of Lin-Manuel Miranda's show in the United States and Canada on Oct. 15, 2021. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
It also puts a stop on the clamour for a break-up of the European Union – a 27-member bloc – because the paymaster powers have been given to the executive commission in Brussels. Mrs Merkel bore the heavy burden of getting the whole edifice to this point. And nothing fits her so well than the manner in which she is positioned leave the job that she has held since 2005.
By dint of longevity and the powerful forces shaping Europe, she has, in the words of former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing, finally surpassed her mentor. Helmut Kohl, the German leader who mentored the East German scientist and pastor’s daughter amid the melee of the Communist collapse, is the man who guided reunification and built the euro from its foundations.
Mr d’Estaing said Mrs Merkel had become the historical centre of gravity of Europe by responding to the crisis with appropriate boldness. “It is rare for a personality to perform functions desired and expected by the population,” he wrote last week. “This is the case, for Germany.”
The German leader, 66, has shown courage before. There was the 2008 financial crisis when the Europeans collectively saw the weakest nations through the debt crisis. She acted alone and with foresight in 2015 to declare a "willkommen" – or welcoming – policy for more than one million Syrians and Iraqis.
Accommodation provided to refugees at the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, as Germany tried to cope with a massive influx of people fleeing the Syrian civil war. AFP
Through it all, there have been plenty of detractors who picked the resentments caused by her policies and highlighted the black marks. There have been plenty of half-measures throughout her career. Coalition politics have essentially seen her government vacillate between centre-left and centre-right policies. For much of the time, there has been not much to make an exciting musical subplot.
She is not running for re-election next year but the baggage of Germany’s militaristic past has not been tackled. For all its manufacturing prowess and enormous wealth, Germany remains a diplomatic middleweight. It makes no choices that aren't either forged by conventional wisdom or forced on it. Unwilling to cause waves, it actively seeks the path of least resistance. Its massive resources are not employed to stand up a military capable of force projection, never mind provide regional leadership.
However, the working out of the bailout fund has required Hamiltonian determination.
Investment grade bond sales could top $1.9 trillion this year, far outweighing the $1.3 trillion record set for issuance in 2017, according to investment manager Doubleline Group's Monica Erickson. Bloomberg
Hamilton was one of America's founding fathers who helped forge the union of states. But until he found a way to absorb the debt borne by the American War of Independence from 1775 to 1783, the balance was decidedly against the federal governments. Once the power of the chequebook resided in the national government, the US as a world power was born.
It took courage because the instincts of the federal fathers lay with the states' right to supremacy. But with external financial events pressing in 1790, including foreign debt, Hamilton took the necessary leap.
The ideas behind the EU deal were alien to Mrs Merkel as recently as April, when the French President Emmanuel Macron began lobbying for the rich European states to fund the recovery of the most fragile members.
Emmanuel Macron, left, will be hoping to take Angela Merkel's mantle in the European power pyramid whenever she steps down as German Chancellor. AFP
The deal itself terms it 'New Generation EU' and has been launched on a solid economic platform. Angela Merkel can take a bow
The "Frugals", a group within the EU comprising Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, bitterly opposed the idea of guaranteeing debts that would be handed over to Rome and Madrid without reform conditions. Mark Rutte, the Netherlands Prime Minister and the second-longest-serving European leader after Mrs Merkel, added more demands about the member states' compliance with European basic principles, such as the rule of law. This amounted to a position of trimming the amount on offer, adding external scrutiny and forcing concessions from countries that were on their knees.
It was the way that business was done after 2008, which stoked up much of the populist political crisis engulfing Europe since then. Mrs Merkel therefore fought doughtily against this over five days and nights in Brussels, occasionally losing her temper, but always in tandem with Mr Macron. Since he hopes to take her mantle in the European power pyramid when she goes, it is to be hoped that Mr Macron learned from the masterclass across the meeting rooms.
The deal itself terms it “New Generation EU” and has been launched on a solid economic platform. Mrs Merkel can take a bow.
Damien McElroy is the London bureau chief of The National
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
In the Restaurant: Society in Four Courses
Christoph Ribbat
Translated by Jamie Searle Romanelli
Pushkin Press
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
Florence and the Machine – High as Hope
Three stars
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Bharatanatyam
A ancient classical dance from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Intricate footwork and expressions are used to denote spiritual stories and ideas.
