Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel used the inaugural Dr Manmohan Singh Memorial Lecture to warn about rising protectionism and to urge renewed commitment to a rules-based, multilateral world order. She said democracies cannot be taken for granted and must actively defend the rule of law.
Speaking before a distinguished audience, Merkel criticized recent US tariff policies for disrupting the global economic system, condemned Russia’s aggression in Ukraine as a violation of sovereignty, and warned that social media and artificial intelligence are making it increasingly difficult to separate truth from falsehood. “The world order has been shaken,” she said.
Recalling a long association with the late prime minister, Merkel described Manmohan Singh as a committed multilateralist who believed inclusive growth was essential for peace and security. She said his cautions about protectionism are particularly relevant today and remembered him as a special person with a calm, natural authority that was never intimidating.
Those present for the lecture included Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Gursharan Kaur, historians Upinder Singh and Daman Singh (who hosted the evening), former Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra, and former ministers P. Chidambaram, Ashwani Kumar and Salman Khurshid.
Merkel praised India’s sustained annual growth above 5 percent and called the country’s economic potential “inexhaustible,” tracing that trajectory back to the 1991 liberalisation for which Manmohan Singh, as finance minister, laid the groundwork. She highlighted two landmark laws from his time as prime minister—the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and the Right to Education Act—and said his greatest contribution in government was opening India’s markets to the world.
On wider global challenges, Merkel warned that the right to territorial integrity had been ignored in Ukraine and said multilateralism is under strain as powerful states weaken international organisations and even question the United Nations and the Security Council as forums for resolving disputes. “The order of cooperation we have known so far now stands replaced with ‘might means right,’” she said.
Speaking in German with simultaneous translation, Merkel urged democracies to resist hatred and incitement and to recommit to cooperative institutions, stressing that no single country can solve major global problems alone. She also lamented the US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.
A vocal proponent of regulating technology, Merkel warned that without rules for AI and social media “multilateralism will ossify.” Noting resistance from major tech powers, she argued politicians can and should regulate online platforms as they have regulated chemicals and atomic energy, to protect citizens rather than defer to industry. In a conversation with former foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon she added that AI is the first technology humanity is struggling to regulate effectively.
Merkel concluded by recalling Manmohan Singh’s 2005 address to the US Congress, quoting his observation that the real test of democracy is how it functions in practice, not merely what is written in constitutions. She said her conversations with Singh gave her deep insights into other nations and the importance of principled, multilateral leadership.
