Schwarzer said that, if the AfD’s leader Alice Weidel were to become chancellor, it could have a positive effect for women. “It would probably also encourage women, despite everything” she told the Spiegel’s video format “Spitzengespräch”, but added worries that the AfD might gain further strength.
She was also highly critical of Annalena Baerbock, president of the UN General Assembly. Schwarzer accused the former foreign minister of launching a feminist foreign‑policy agenda that, “really didn’t work”. According to her, Baerbock failed in crucial areas, abandoning women in places like Iran and Afghanistan. “She was, in my view, more of a master of words than of deeds” Schwarzer said.
In contrast, Schwarzer praised former chancellor Angela Merkel. She called Merkel an “enormous influence” and a role model for young women, even if Merkel herself said she hadn’t intended to make such an impact. Schwarzer recalled that, in the village where she grew up, girls started building a “snow Merkel” instead of a snowman just a month after Merkel took office-an anecdote she said spoke volumes about Merkel’s symbolic significance for women.