Merkel’s party is the Christian Democratic party and is part of the Christian Democratic movement (not to be confused with the American party of the Democrats).
The Christian Democrats are responsible for creating the German economic miracle of the post WW2 era.
Yes, in America people like you would call them “socialists” but they are really not socialists but rather “harmonists” as in harmony or “Sphynocists” as in symphony.
They follow the Catholic philosophy that all classes in a society should work together to avoid conflict so there is for example trade unions and private enterprise and the govt making sure the Union demands are not destructive and the company not unfair in treating the working.
It is not the American way - but I have to ask - the USA has been gutted of its industrial base these last decades or the crazy trading on Wall Street, so whose model is better from an economic standpoint? The German Christian Democratic Social Market one or the American one (known in economic circles as the Anglo-American model)?
BMW, Porsche, Mercedes, Audi and other auto workers are proud of their work and cars. They are union but not filthy gangster blood suckers like the UAW.