German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, made her first public appearance on Tuesday on crutches, after it was announced she had fractured her pelvis in a skiing accident in the Swiss Alps.
Merkel met with about 100 child carol singers in her Berlin office, joining them in a song to mark Epiphany, which celebrates the three wise men’s visit to baby Jesus on Sunday.
“I’m not so good at standing and have to lie down a lot,” Merkel said, while welcoming the children to the chancellery.
She has been forced to cancel almost all of her other appointments for three weeks after she suffered a fractured pelvis during her Christmas holiday.
The chancellor had gone cross-country skiing in the Engadin valley when she had the accident during the holiday.
The cancelled appointments included a planned visit to Poland and a meeting with the new Luxembourg Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel.
On Wednesday, she will preside over the first cabinet meeting this year.
Merkel, 59, was initially thought to have been badly bruised.
Her doctors diagnosed the full extent of her injury when she returned to Berlin.
Merkel, who was sworn in for a third term as chancellor on December 17, plans to carry out most of her work from home, her spokesman said.
dpa/NAN.
