There might be a misunderstanding about the word "populist". Looking at Wikipedia: Populism is a mode of political communication that is centred around contras

There might be a misunderstanding about the word "populist". Looking at Wikipedia: Populism is a mode of political communication that is centred around contrasts between the "common man" or "the people" and a real or imagined group of "privileged elites", traditionally scapegoating or making a folk devil of the latter. Merkel does not scapegoat elites.