Angela Merkel unsure European project will work We have of course not yet organised the European project in such a way that we can be sure it will work, work well. That means we need to keep working on this. We have much to do, but I am optimistic that we will succeed," she said. Recent polls have shown that Ms Merkel remains one of Germany's most popular politicians and that the German people broadly approve of her crisis-fighting strategy. Ms Merkel said her time living under a dictatorship in the former communist East Germany continued to inspire her. The experience of freedom drives me. I lived for several years in East Germany. I know what it means when one cannot travel freely, speak one's mind freely," she said. "I think it is great that we surmounted the Cold War, that we no longer have fear of war in Europe and that we can try to convince others of our values in the European community," she said.