doctor of law degree on the chancellor in announcing her visit harvard's president called now one of the most widely admired and broadly influential states people of our time. and as you can see we're going to bring up a window here we're waiting for the chancellor to bring begin her address to harvard university graduating class of 200-1000 you see the pictures there the storm ceremonies begun as soon as the chancellor gets up to speak we're going to listen and live it to that. all right and to talk more about this we have our chief political editor with us here in our studio and over at harvard yard we have. phenomenal both of you with us thank you both i looked at her let's start with you what can we expect from the chancer speech today. so what will be very interesting to hear whether she's going to hold a rubber political speech german diplomats here told me not to expect too much of the political speech that she would rather talk about her personal life and i

talked to many students here who told me that they respect her that they admire her that they are very impressed by her life her career the fact that she grew up in east europe and that she became chancellor of the united germany so they're looking forward to this speech expecting to be given some advise guidance how to become a great leader how to cope with the problem so how to cope with difficult times that are certainly that they are certainly going to face so they are looking forward to this speech and we will see if she really going to be nuts political at all we certainly can expect her to address some issues with regards to the transatlantic relationship that seems to be in the deep crisis in very critical condition right now with donald trump in the white house you ask president who is

constantly attacking germany and chancellor merkel and accusing germany of taking advantage of the united states and calling a so and so planning relations i do want to ask you about the background of harvard asking or inviting the chance or to give this address she was invited 5 months ago could this have been a political gesture by the university. well we have to say that the harvard university has a very deep ties with germany and they are reaching back to the 19th 100 were german university universities were seen as a sort of role models for other universities and merkel is not the 1st chancellor to hold the commencement speech here at harvard he is she's actually the force chance or so it was called right out in our home with schmidt and helmut kohl who

were speaking here to the harvard graduates so it is sort of a tradition but of course we also have to have that the faculty at harvard is considered a rubber of liberal leaning and there are many here who really respect and admire merkel and who don't like donald trump. all right of course that's important to get to today to take note of alexander coming to you we heard alexander touched on the fact that the speech from markel this commencement address comes at a time where u.s. german relations certainly aren't at their highest point to tell us about the context of this. yes well certainly i mean there's a lot of contentious issues how to deal with china the u.s. being actually in what many already perceived to be the beginnings of a trade war in particular the issue of iran where the u.s. and sticky donald trump taking the united states out of the way that the deal that

was struck after years of negotiation with iran to stop it from continuing to enrich uranium to basically stop iran from actually pursuing an atomic bomb that is something where the europeans are very united and surprisingly so for the u.s. president so a lot of contentious issues we have mike pompei who the u.s. secretary of state arriving here tomorrow and those students there will of course be hoping that i'm going to makkah will give them a highly political speech and i totally agree with alexander that i mean this is simply not going to happen this is not going to be the forum where she comes up with comes out with something very contentious it's a it's a democrat stronghold where she's speaking and i think it's also an interesting factoid that the couple of minutes before she's due to speak here u.s. president donald trump actually held a commencement speech but the u.s. air force academy in colorado and i think that's pretty much set the scene of the 2 different very different approaches in 2 different outlooks the 2 have on the wall

but what i would expect though is hard to stress once again as she has over the past couple of months wherever she spoke how important a rules based international order is how important compromises and gets the odd an extent out of her personal life but she doesn't really enjoy talking about that either very interesting interesting to see her in the spotlight in this way michelle you mentioned the students what they might be hoping for or x. . acting and actually alexander got a chance to speak to some students to talk just about that let's hear what they have to say. everything about. us we want to know how to lead what the tablets in the world is what the issues that she's confronted with daily and this is what we're looking forward to be inspired by i think not only germany but europe as a whole new city define its relationship with the united states going forward and i hope that i know america can pass the way forward for that she's a true leader that we really want to hear what she has to say about the unity with europe and such a pressing moment we need some leadership and we can wait to hear from hear what

she has to say. so michelle a lot of tones of admiration there what is the image abroad especially in the u.s. well she's certainly seen as mrs europe she's seen as the europe strongest leader i mean she is the longest serving political leader in europe that's for sure and also time magazine put her on the cover as woman of the year just in the midst of what became known as the migration crisis here so she stands for a liberal worldview and that particular of course resonates with those students and she also had the odd steps against her i mean it was by no means a given that she would get any when they have political power in a west dominated for united germany and this is a very unique. course of history that actually brought her to the top but that she managed to weather so many crisis crises here in your particular financial crisis the issue with greece potentially leaving the eurozone basic keeping europe

together is something that many abroad see as over arching european leadership at the same time here in germany there's a much more critical view of and with people of course knowing that she is in her last time in office which is due to end in 2021 and i mentioned that due to end because we simply do not know whether she will actually make it to the very end of that term in office now we should say that she's being celebrated abroad here at home her position is being seen as somewhat tenuous we don't know if she's going to be able to make it to 2021 as she has said that she would like to and it looks like her government also is again facing fresh worries isn't it yes absolutely i mean the european elections that we saw last weekend have confirmed once again that her coalition partner and social democrats might facing a very very tough time indeed reduced into a well below 20 percent which is seen as a magic figure and that threatens her coalition so that that last government of

hers could come to a grinding. so i think it's no coincidence that we see her advices left right and center as well 2 special events like this one is and we still have very much enjoying receiving her on read doctorate here as you've been talking we're looking there at the right hand side of our screen the images are from the commencement ceremony that's taking place at harvard right now if you're just joining us the chancellor angela merkel is due to speak shortly will be listening in life to her speech you were just talking talking about some of the issues and struggles that she's faced here at home do you think it's safe to say that she might have a more positive image abroad than she really does here at home that she's more revered her commitment as we've seen from the harvard president saying to to democracy and to upholding values is more respected abroad than it does at home well basically the 1st thing she did in this deafening resonates with many democrats the united states is when donald trump came into power she basically told

him that she would support him as far as international rule of law and human rights go and she basically read him the regulation international regulations of international corporation which she sees as the very basis for corporation and the 2 both stress that they actually see eye to eye that they can work everything out but they also recognize that they have different viewpoints on things and this is a very difficult time to navigate a macro to broaden out those transatlantic relations beyond the relationship between the 2 governments and this is also what we're seeing taking place here i mean the cultural and scientific sphere has become much more important lines of communication and diplomacy so to say and corporation as those relations between by lynn and washington are so under strain and could hardly actually be us at this very moment in time as we're waiting for her to get to the podium and start speaking what do you think the significance is for chancellor merkel you're someone

who has covered her very often what would you think this would mean for her to receive this. honorary degree also be delivering this very significant comments that speech but i think she enjoys that kind of recognition she enjoys being around scientists for a start and this would mean a lot more to her than being on the cover of time magazine once again as forbes magazine has done since 2011 as the most powerful woman in the world she really really doesn't like those labels and she always stresses that you can't lead alone that you always need part is that you need compromise and that you need to work together so that's something she feels very uncomfortable with she does feel very comfortable though with receiving on re dr as a 16 and she has her own as well so quite a lot of honors heaped on the german chancellor that who's in a full term in office so it's a long time talking about what to expect in the speech the marshall plan speech by the secretary of state george marshall 947 was also at the harvard commencement address do you think that we can expect chancellor merkel to mention that to refer

to that well i mean this is one thing that she stressed time and time again even the most difficult times between the united states and many. many has every reason to be thankful to the united states for ticket because of the marshall plan which allowed germany to rise from the ruins of the 2nd world war which it started where brought so much suffering across the european continent and beyond and that it got a 2nd chance and it has been able to buy to an economic power but also and this is what she feels as a very very strong duty when you talk to her also off camera 5 that germany should be a country that stands in for these values which she sees as a non-negotiable benchmark and certainly these values are under strain and the very idea of international corporation rules based international order is under strain both from the united states but also from china and from russia and these

a very great challenges right now so we'll be surprise. she throws that reference but that's would be throwing a reference back to a binary historical time when it was an east west conflict and this is become so much more multi-dimensional now which she also stresses so very complex time let's see whether she gives us an insight in thinking potentially also a big on top political career because she has stressed time and time again that when she finishes this time whenever it will and she will not seek any further political office not sometimes not in europe and not internationally there's been a lot of speculation about that commitment to values that you mention that's one of the reasons that she was selected to give this address of course and in the lead up to this address harvard released this very highly produced slick and shiny trailer let's take a look at that trailer now. this

is the u.s. we have to respect a bit of hollywood to it but it's so antithetical to the way that michael carries herself and speaks i can't imagine that that's exactly how she would have formulated a trailer about herself you know i think. she would feel comfortable with it i mean

it's very netflix isn't it and. highlights. also how. it's here in. europe. with so much carol. and she doesn't come across. particularly charismatic in terms of. physicists and. so i saw that i thought oh my goodness i i don't think that. to be able to come up with something. that. coming up here of course. because that's where the far right the migration if he is very strong but with something so gripping that could

actually change the. certainly is shiny and gripping we are looking still at those images from the commencement ceremony where waiting for the chancellor to begin her speech. is it too early at this point to start talking about chancellor michael's legacy is something we started to do already as soon as she announced that she was stepping down as the head of her party but she she is still chancellor and plans to be until the end of 2021 yes but i guess as soon as you announce or that there will be an end to you for it to go career people start talking about your legacy and with 14 years in office yes she has a lot of time to look back upon also a lot of benchmark moments the financial crisis in europe where basically. open was and finance minister singlehandedly kept the stock together.