Margaret Thatcher, 1925-2013

Ways of the World must comment on the passing of Margaret Thatcher.  We could try to fashion our own statement here, and actually started to do that.  But perhaps some words from someone of the next generation of European leaders will do better.  Among Mrs. Thatcher's accomplishments, much of whatever Europe has today that is good and positive and secure is a result of work she did and inspiration she engendered before and during her years as British Prime Minister.  So here is the official statement issued by Angela Merkel, the first woman Prime Minister of Germany – a unified Germany that no one would have dreamed was possible in 1979, when Mrs. Thatcher's official tenure began.

"It is with great sorrow that I have learned of the death of Margaret Thatcher. As a long-serving Prime Minister she has left her mark on modern Britain as few have done before or since. She was one of the greatest leaders of her time in global politics.

One of her deeply cherished convictions was the liberty of the individual. Margaret Thatcher was quick to recognize the strength of the protest movements in Eastern Europe demanding more freedom, and she gave them her full support. I will never forget the part she played in reuniting Europe and ending the Cold War.

Margaret Thatcher was not a champion of women's rights - but as a woman who had made it to the highest office in a democracy at a time when this was far from usual, she was an example to many women who came after her. I would like to express my condolences and my every sympathy to her family."

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http://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/EN/Artikel/2013/04/2013-04-08-tod-magaret-thatcher.html First cited by the Wall Street Journal and accessed directly by us on April 9, 2013.