Angela Merkel

"Merkel" redirects here. For other uses, see Merkel (disambiguation).

Angela Merkel
Chancellor of Germany
In office 22 November 2005 – 08 December 2021
President	Horst Köhler Christian Wulff Joachim Gauck Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Vice Chancellor	Franz Müntefering Frank-Walter Steinmeier Guido Westerwelle Philipp Rösler Sigmar Gabriel
Preceded by	Gerhard Schröder
Succeeded by	Olaf Scholz
Leader of the Christian Democratic Union
In office 10 April 2000 – 07 December 2021
Deputy	Volker Bouffier Ursula von der Leyen Julia Klöckner Armin Laschet Thomas Strobl
General Secretary	Ruprecht Polenz Laurenz Meyer Ronald Pofalla Hermann Gröhe Peter Tauber
Preceded by	Wolfgang Schäuble
Chair of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group
In office 22 September 2002 – 18 September 2005
Deputy	Horst Seehofer Ronald Pofalla
Preceded by	Friedrich Merz
Succeeded by	Volker Kauder
General Secretary of the Christian Democratic Union
In office 7 November 1998 – 10 April 2000
Leader	Wolfgang Schäuble
Preceded by	Peter Hintze
Succeeded by	Ruprecht Polenz
Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
In office 17 November 1994 – 26 October 1998
Chancellor	Helmut Kohl
Preceded by	Klaus Töpfer
Succeeded by	Jürgen Trittin
Federal Minister for Women and Youth
In office 18 January 1991 – 17 November 1994
Chancellor	Helmut Kohl
Preceded by	Ursula Lehr
Succeeded by	Claudia Nolte
Member of the Bundestag
In office 22 September 2013 – 26 October 2021
Constituency	Vorpommern-Rügen – Vorpommern-Greifswald I
In office 18 January 1991 – 22 September 2013
Constituency	Stralsund – Nordvorpommern – Rügen
Personal details
Born	Angela Dorothea Kasner (1954-07-17) July 17, 1954 Hamburg, West Germany (now Hamburg, Germany)
Political party	Democratic Awakening (1989–1990) Christian Democratic Union (1990–present)
Spouse(s)	Ulrich Merkel (1977–1982) Joachim Sauer (1998–present)
Alma mater	Leipzig University
Signature

Angela Dorothea Merkel (/ˈæŋɡələ ˈmɜːrkəl/; German: [aŋˈɡeːla ˈmɛʶkl̩]; née Kasner; born in Hamburg on July 17, 1954) is a far-left (albeit pro-free trade), and internationalist German political figure who served as the Chancellor of Germany from November 22, 2005 until December 8, 2021. She has both been praised and condemned for spearheading the largest European population transfer since World War Two, by inviting over a million mostly Islamic migrants to move to Germany during the European migrant crisis. Merkel has acted firmly to stifle far-right criticism of the resulting changes in German demographics, and the effects of limited Islamization starting to take place in parts of Germany. Those on the left or sympathizers such as Pope Francis or Barack Obama have come to strongly support Merkel as a paragon of social virtue. Like the leader of France and British Prime Minister Theresa May, she has no biological children.

A former research scientist with a doctorate in physical chemistry, who moved from West Germany to East Germany as an infant with her family, Merkel entered East German politics in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989, and briefly served as a deputy spokesperson for the first democratically elected East German Government headed by Lothar de Maizière in 1990. Following German reunification in 1990, Merkel was elected to the Bundestag for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and has been reelected ever since. Merkel was appointed as the Minister for Women and Youth in the federal government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1991, and became the Minister for the Environment in 1994. After her party lost the federal election in 1998, Merkel was elected Secretary-General of the CDU before becoming the party's first female leader two years later in the aftermath of a donations scandal that toppled Wolfgang Schäuble.

Following the 2005 federal election, Merkel was appointed Germany's first female Chancellor at the head of a grand coalition consisting of the CDU, its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In the 2009 federal election, the CDU obtained the largest share of the vote and Merkel was able to form a coalition government with the support of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). At the 2013 federal election, Merkel's CDU won a landslide victory with 41.5% of the vote and formed a second grand coalition with the SPD, after the FDP lost all of its representation in the Bundestag. With discussion of the immigration crisis being highly restricted or considered taboo in Germany, the CDU again became the largest party in the 2017 federal election, with 33% of the vote. In November 2017, however, coalition talks with the FDP and the Greens fell apart. Meanwhile, the right-wing Alternative for Germany party made modest, but for post-war Germany unprecedented, gains against Merkel's perceived status-quo.

In 2007, Merkel was President of the European Council and played a central role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. One of Merkel's consistent priorities has been to strengthen transatlantic economic relations. Merkel played a crucial role in managing the financial crisis at the European and international level, and she has been referred to as "the decider." In domestic policy, health care reform, problems concerning future energy development and more recently her government's approach to the ongoing migrant crisis have been major issues during her Chancellorship, with many German nationalists and international white nationalists claiming that Germany was still occupied by the United States after WWII, though this is often disputed. On 26 March 2014, Merkel became the longest-serving incumbent head of government in the European Union and she is currently the senior G7 leader.

In late 2017, Merkel attempted to form a government with various left-wing allies, who were united only in their desire to keep right-wing and anti-immigration politicians out of the government. These negotiations became stalemated over economic policies, casting a shadow over her fourth term as chancellor. Merkel worked to form informal international alliances as a counterweight to the stated more nationalist goals of Donald Trump. In October 2018, Merkel let it be known she would not seek re-election in 2021.

Early life

Merkel was born Angela Dorothea Kasner in 1954, in Hamburg, West Germany, the daughter of Horst Kasner (1926–2011; né Kaźmierczak), a Lutheran pastor and a native of Berlin, and his wife Herlind (née Jentzsch), born in 1928 in Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), a teacher of English and Latin. She has two younger siblings, her brother Marcus Kasner, a physicist, and her sister Irene Kasner, an occupational therapist. In her childhood and youth, Merkel was known among her peers by the nickname "Kasi", derived from her last name Kasner.

Merkel is of Polish and German descent. Her paternal grandfather, Ludwik Kaźmierczak, was a German policeman of Polish ethnicity, who had taken part in Poland's struggle for independence in the early 20th century. He married Merkel's grandmother Margarethe, a German from Berlin, and relocated to her hometown where he worked in the police. In 1930 they Germanized the Polish name Kaźmierczak to Kasner. Merkel's maternal grandparents were the Danzig politician Willi Jentzsch, and Gertrud Alma née Drange, a daughter of the city clerk of Elbing (now Elbląg, Poland) Emil Drange. Merkel has mentioned her Polish heritage on several occasions, but her Polish roots became better known as a result of a 2013 biography.

Left-wing Christian theology played a key role in the Kasner family's migration from West Germany to East Germany. Merkel's paternal grandfather was originally Catholic but the entire family converted to Lutheranism during the childhood of her father, who later studied Lutheran theology in Heidelberg and afterwards in Hamburg. In 1954, when Angela was just three months old, her father received a pastorate at the church in Quitzow (a quarter of Perleberg in Brandenburg), which was then in East Germany. The family moved to Templin and Merkel grew up in the countryside 90 km (56 mi) north of East Berlin.

Merkel and Lothar de Maizière, 1990

Youth communism

Like most young people in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Merkel was a member of the Free German Youth (FDJ), the official youth movement sponsored by the ruling Socialist Unity Party. Membership was nominally voluntary, but those who did not join found it difficult to gain admission to higher education. She did not participate in the secular coming of age ceremony Jugendweihe, however, which was common in East Germany. Instead, she was confirmed. Later, at the Academy of Sciences, she became a member of its FDJ secretariat. Merkel has stated that she was secretary for culture, which involved activities like obtaining theatre tickets and organising talks by visiting Soviet authors.

At school, she learned to speak Russian fluently, and was awarded prizes for her proficiency in Russian and Mathematics. Merkel was educated at the University of Leipzig, where she studied physics from 1973 to 1978. While a student, she participated in the reconstruction of the ruin of the Moritzbastei, a project students initiated to create their own club and recreation facility on campus. Such an initiative was unprecedented in the GDR of that period, and initially resisted by the University of Leipzig; however, with backing of the local leadership of the SED party, the project was allowed to proceed.

Near the end of her studies at the University of Leipzig, Merkel sought an assistant professorship at an engineering school. As a condition for getting the job, Merkel was told she would need to agree to report on her colleagues to the Stasi, the GDR's secret police. Merkel is said to have declined, claiming that she could not keep secrets well enough to be an effective spy. Merkel worked and studied at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin-Adlershof from 1978 to 1990. After being awarded a doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) for her thesis on quantum chemistry in 1986, she worked as a researcher and published several papers.

Early political career

The fall of the Berlin Wall served as the catalyst for Merkel's political career. Although she did not participate in the crowd celebrations the night the wall came down, one month later Merkel became involved in the growing democracy movement, joining the new party Democratic Awakening. Following the first (and only) multi-party election of the East German state, she became the deputy spokesperson of the new pre-unification caretaker government under Lothar de Maizière. Merkel had impressed de Maiziere with her adept dealing with journalists questioning the role of a party leader, Wolfgang Schnur, as a secret informant for police. In April 1990, the Democratic Awakening merged with the East German CDU, which in turn merged with its western counterpart after reunification.

Merkel stood for election at the 1990 federal election, the first since reunification, and was elected to the Bundestag for the constituency of Stralsund – Nordvorpommern – Rügen, which is in the district of Vorpommern-Rügen. She has won re-election for this constituency at the six federal elections since. After her first election, she was almost immediately appointed to the Cabinet, serving as Minister for Women and Youth under Chancellor Helmut Kohl. In 1994, she was promoted to becoming Minister for the Environment and Nuclear Safety, which gave her greater political visibility and a platform from which to build her political career. As one of Kohl's protégées and his youngest Cabinet Minister, she was frequently referred to by Kohl as "mein Mädchen" ("my girl").

Leader of the Opposition

After the Kohl Government was defeated at the 1998 election, Merkel was appointed Secretary-General of the CDU, a key position as the party was no longer part of the federal government. Merkel oversaw a string of CDU election victories in six out of seven state elections in 1999, breaking the long-standing SPD-Green hold on the Bundesrat. Following a party funding scandal that compromised many leading figures of the CDU — including Kohl himself and his successor as CDU Leader, Wolfgang Schäuble — Merkel criticised her former mentor publicly and advocated a fresh start for the party without him. She was subsequently elected to replace Schäuble, becoming the first female leader of a German party on 10 April 2000. Her election surprised many observers, as her personality offered a contrast to the party she had been elected to lead; Merkel is a centrist Protestant originating from predominantly Protestant northern Germany, while the CDU is a male-dominated, socially conservative party with strongholds in western and southern Germany, and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, has deep Catholic roots.

Merkel with Vladimir Putin, 2002

Following Merkel's election as CDU Leader, she enjoyed considerable popularity among the German population and polls indicated that many Germans wanted to see her become Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's main challenger in the 2002 election. However, she was subsequently outmaneuvered politically by CSU Leader Edmund Stoiber, to whom she eventually ceded the privilege of challenging Schröder. He went on to squander a large lead in opinion polls to lose the election by a razor-thin margin. After Stoiber's defeat in 2002, in addition to her role as CDU Leader, Merkel became Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag; Friedrich Merz, who had held the post prior to the 2002 election, was eased out to make way for Merkel.

Merkel supported a substantial reform agenda for Germany's economic and social system, and was considered more pro-market than her own party (the CDU). She advocated German labour law changes, specifically removing barriers to laying off employees and increasing the allowed number of work hours in a week. She argued that existing laws made the country less competitive, because companies could not easily control labour costs when business is slow.

Merkel argued that Germany should phase out nuclear power less quickly than the Schröder administration had planned.

Merkel advocated a strong transatlantic partnership and German-American friendship. In the spring of 2003, defying strong public opposition, Merkel came out in favour of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, describing it as "unavoidable" and accusing Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of anti-Americanism. She criticised the government's support for the accession of Turkey to the European Union and favoured a "privileged partnership" instead. In doing so, she reflected public opinion that grew more hostile toward Turkish membership of the European Union.

2005 national election

On 30 May 2005, Merkel won the CDU/CSU nomination as challenger to Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of the SPD in the 2005 national elections. Her party began the campaign with a 21-point lead over the SPD in national opinion polls, although her personal popularity lagged behind that of the incumbent. However, the CDU/CSU campaign suffered when Merkel, having made economic competence central to the CDU's platform, confused gross and net income twice during a televised debate. She regained some momentum after she announced that she would appoint Paul Kirchhof, a former judge at the German Constitutional Court and leading fiscal policy expert, as Minister of Finance.

Merkel and the CDU lost ground after Kirchhof proposed the introduction of a flat tax in Germany, again undermining the party's broad appeal on economic affairs and convincing many voters that the CDU's platform of deregulation was designed to benefit only the rich. This was compounded by Merkel's proposal to increase VAT to reduce Germany's deficit and fill the gap in revenue from a flat tax. The SPD were able to increase their support simply by pledging not to introduce flat taxes or increase VAT. Although Merkel's standing recovered after she distanced herself from Kirchhof's proposals, she remained considerably less popular than Schröder, and the CDU's lead was down to 9% on the eve of the election.

On the eve of the election, Merkel was still favored to win a decisive victory based on opinion polls. On 18 September 2005, Merkel's CDU/CSU and Schröder's SPD went head-to-head in the national elections, with the CDU/CSU winning 35.2% (CDU 27.8%/CSU 7.5%) of the second votes to the SPD's 34.2%. The result was so close, both Schröder and Merkel claimed victory. Neither the SPD-Green coalition nor the CDU/CSU and its preferred coalition partners, the Free Democratic Party, held enough seats to form a majority in the Bundestag. A grand coalition between the CDU/CSU and SPD faced the challenge that both parties demanded the chancellorship. However, after three weeks of negotiations, the two parties reached a deal whereby Merkel would become Chancellor and the SPD would hold 8 of the 16 seats in the cabinet.

Chancellor of Germany

Merkel with President Donald Trump, 2017

On 22 November 2005, Merkel assumed the office of Chancellor of Germany following a stalemate election that resulted in a grand coalition with the SPD. The coalition deal was approved by both parties at party conferences on 14 November 2005. Merkel was elected Chancellor by the majority of delegates (397 to 217) in the newly assembled Bundestag on 22 November 2005, but 51 members of the governing coalition voted against her.

Reports at the time indicated that the grand coalition would pursue a mix of policies, some of which differed from Merkel's political platform as leader of the opposition and candidate for Chancellor. The coalition's intent was to cut public spending whilst increasing VAT (from 16 to 19%), social insurance contributions and the top rate of income tax.

When announcing the coalition agreement, Merkel stated that the main aim of her government would be to reduce unemployment, and that it was this issue on which her government would be judged.

Her party was re-elected in 2009 with an increased number of seats, and could form a governing coalition with the FDP. In the election of September 2013 the CDU/CSU parties emerged as winners, but formed another grand coalition with the SPD due to the FDP's failure to obtain the minimum of 5% of votes required to enter parliament.

Domestic policy

Immigration

Critical online meme of Merkel from 2017. A photograph of the German Chancellor was altered to depict her wearing a burka, symbolizing her strong support for Islamic migrants and refugees moving to Germany. Merkel supported copyright legislation that would indirectly make it harder but not impossible to publish such memes.

In October 2010, Merkel told younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party at Potsdam that attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany had "utterly failed", stating that: "The concept that we are now living side by side and are happy about it" does not work and "we feel attached to the Christian concept of mankind, that is what defines us. Anyone who doesn't accept that is in the wrong place here." She said that immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany's culture and values. However, she then began to take actions to allow increased immigration from the Third World into Germany. Merkel mostly praised this policy's theoretical benefits, denying that Muslim immigrants have a fundamental problem integrating into German society, though this process must be carefully monitored.

Refugee and migration policy

In the wake of the 2015 European migrant crisis, the number of people coming from African nations as well as from the Middle East, particularly Syria, rose significantly and Merkel pledged to give general refuge to Syrians in Germany fleeing from the civil war, subsequently discontinuing the enforcement of EU regulations for asylum seekers. The resulting instream of more than a million refugees and economic migrants caused a German housing shortage, and had significant social effects in the cities and to a lesser extent in smaller towns. Some right-wing critics of specific incidents, such as the New Year's Eve sexual assaults, were prosecuted for using racist and insulting language. The migrants included a surplus of young men (often fleeing lands where polygamy was legal), an example of a massive male immigration surplus that could generally not be discussed in German mainstream publications without running afoul of speech restrictions. As a result there was a large uptick in migrants dating and marrying German women, leading to the popularization of the "Refugees Welcome" meme. There were multiple Islamist terrorist attacks in Germany, some committed by migrants, leading to increased government surveillance, and proactive efforts to restrain both potential terrorists and migration opponents.

Merkel has praised Islam, saying that it belongs in Germany. However, she wants Muslims to respect German democratic traditions, and to work only within the existing political system. She continued to oppose serious immigration restrictions.

Foreign policy

Main article: Foreign policy of Angela Merkel

Merkel meets with Argentine President Mauricio Macri in Berlin in 2016.

Merkel's foreign policy has focused on strengthening European cooperation and international trade agreements. Merkel has been widely described as the de facto leader of the European Union throughout her tenure as Chancellor.

One of Merkel's priorities was strengthening transatlantic economic relations. She signed the agreement for the Transatlantic Economic Council on 30 April 2007 at the White House. Merkel enjoyed good relations with former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Obama described her in 2016 as his "closest international partner" throughout his tenure as President.

On 25 September 2007, Merkel met the 14th Dalai Lama for "private and informal talks" in the Chancellery in Berlin amid protest from China. China afterwards cancelled separate talks with German officials, including talks with Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries.

Merkel with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, May 2017

In 2006 Merkel expressed concern about overreliance on Russian energy, but she received little support from others in Berlin.

Merkel favors the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union; but stated in December 2012 that its implementation depends on reforms in Ukraine.

Merkel with Barack Obama in Hannover, Germany, April 2016

In recognition of the importance of China to the German economy, by 2014 Merkel had led seven trade delegations to China since assuming office in 2005. The same year, in March, China's President Xi Jinping visited Germany.

In 2015, with the absence of Stephen Harper, Merkel became the only leader to have attended every G20 meeting since the very first in 2008, having been present at a record eleven summits as of 2016. She hosted the twelfth meeting at the 2017 G20 Hamburg summit.

In June 2017, Merkel criticized the draft of new U.S. sanctions against Russia that target EU–Russia energy projects, including Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Eurozone crisis

Merkel, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, 2008

Angela Merkel at the 2012 congress of the European People's Party (EPP)

Following major falls in worldwide stock markets in September 2008, the German government stepped in to assist the mortgage company Hypo Real Estate with a bailout, which was agreed on 6 October, with German banks to contribute €30 billion and the Bundesbank €20 billion to a credit line.

On 4 October 2008, a Saturday, following the Irish Government's decision to guarantee all deposits in private savings accounts, a move she strongly criticised, Merkel said there were no plans for the German Government to do the same. The following day, Merkel stated that the government would guarantee private savings account deposits, after all. However, two days later, on 6 October 2008, it emerged that the pledge was simply a political move that would not be backed by legislation. Other European governments eventually either raised the limits or promised to guarantee savings in full.

Social expenditure

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2013, she said that Europe had only 7% of the global population and produced only 25% of the global GDP, but that it accounted for almost 50% of global social expenditure. She went on to say that Europe could only maintain its prosperity by being innovative and measuring itself against the best. Since then, this comparison has become a central element in major speeches. The international financial press has widely commented on her thesis, with The Economist saying that:

If Mrs Merkel's vision is pragmatic, so too is her plan for implementing it. It can be boiled down to three statistics, a few charts and some facts on an A4 sheet of paper. The three figures are 7%, 25% and 50%. Mrs Merkel never tires of saying that Europe has 7% of the world's population, 25% of its GDP and 50% of its social spending. If the region is to prosper in competition with emerging countries, it cannot continue to be so generous.

adding that:

She produces graphs of unit labour costs ... at EU meetings in much the same way that the late Margaret Thatcher used to pull passages from Friedrich Hayek's Road to Serfdom from her handbag.

The Financial Times commented:

Although Ms Merkel stopped short of suggesting that a ceiling on social spending might be one yardstick for measuring competitiveness, she hinted as much in the light of soaring social spending in the face of an ageing population.

Cabinets

Angela Merkel at the signing of the coalition agreement for the 18th election period of the Bundestag, December 2013

The first Cabinet of Angela Merkel was sworn in at 16:00 CET on 22 November 2005. On 31 October 2005, after the defeat of his favoured candidate for the position of Secretary General of the SPD, Franz Müntefering indicated that he would resign as party chairman, which he did in November. Ostensibly responding to this, Edmund Stoiber (CSU), who was originally nominated as Minister for Economics and Technology, announced his withdrawal on 1 November 2005. While this was initially seen as a blow to Merkel's attempt at forming a viable coalition, the manner in which Stoiber withdrew earned him much ridicule and severely undermined his position as a Merkel rival. Separate conferences of the CDU, CSU, and SPD approved the proposed Cabinet on 14 November 2005. The second Cabinet of Angela Merkel was sworn in on 28 October 2009.

In 2013, Merkel won one of the most decisive victories in German history, achieving the best result for the CDU/CSU since reunification and coming within five seats of the first absolute majority in the Bundestag since 1957. However, with their preferred coalition partner, the FDP, failing to enter parliament for the first time since 1949, the CDU/CSU turned to the SPD to form the third grand coalition in postwar German history and the second under Merkel's leadership. The third Cabinet of Angela Merkel was sworn in on 17 December 2013.

At the beginning of August 2015, Der Spiegel reported that Merkel had "decided to run again in 2017". These elections resulted in complicated maneuverings to form a new coalition government, that was to exclude nationalists and immigration opponents. Merkel's third cabinet from 2013 remained in office in late 2018 as the caretaker government, until a new government could be formed. The Fourth Merkel cabinet was sworn in on 14 March 2018. The negotiations that led to a Grand Coalition agreement with the Social Democrats (SPD) were the longest in German post-war history, lasting almost six months.

Resignation plans

On October 29, 2018, Merkel announced that she would not seek reelection as CDU leader at their upcoming party conference, but intends to remain as chancellor until 2021, when the next German federal election must be held. She did not plan to seek any political offices after this. This followed October setbacks for the CSU in the Bavarian state election, and for the CDU in the Hessian state election. She did not suggest a successor as leader of the CDU.

Approval ratings

Online meme image of Merkel that was altered to depict her with blood on her hands, symbolizing her tacit support of population replacement. However, even severe critics of the Chancellor admit she opposes active genocide, or any other type of political violence.

Midway through her second term, Merkel's approval plummeted in Germany, resulting in heavy losses in state elections for her party. An August 2011 poll found her coalition had only 36% support compared to a rival potential coalition's 51%. However, she scored well on her handling of the recent euro crisis (69% rated her performance as good rather than poor), and her approval rating reached an all-time high of 77% in February 2012 and again in July 2014. Merkel's approval rating dropped to 54% in October 2015, during the European migrant crisis, the lowest since 2011. According to a poll conducted after terror attacks in Germany Merkel's approval rating dropped to 47% (August 2016). Half of Germans did not want her to serve a fourth term in office compared to 42% in favor. However, according to a poll taken in October 2016, her approval rating had been found to have risen again, 54% of Germans were found to be satisfied with work of Merkel as Chancellor. According to another poll taken in November 2016, 59% were to found to be in favour of a renewed Chancellor candidature of Merkel in 2017. According to a poll carried out just days after the 2016 Berlin Attack, in which it was asked which political leader(s) Germans trust to solve their country's problems; 56% named Merkel, 39% Seehofer (CSU), 35% Gabriel (SPD), 32% Schulz (SPD), 25% Özdemir (Greens), 20% Wagenknecht (Left party), 15% Linder (FDP), and just 10% for Petry (AfD).

International status

Merkel with Petro Poroshenko and Joe Biden, 7 February 2015

Merkel has been widely described as the de facto leader of the European Union throughout her tenure as Chancellor. Merkel has twice been named the world's second most powerful person following Vladimir Putin by Forbes magazine, the highest ranking ever achieved by a woman. On 26 March 2014, Merkel became the longest-serving incumbent head of government in the European Union. In December 2015, Merkel was named as Time magazine's Person of the Year, with the magazine's cover praising her as the "Chancellor of the Free World". In May 2016, Merkel was named the most powerful woman in the world for a record tenth time by Forbes. While condemning the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency in November 2016, The New York Times praised Merkel as "the Liberal West's Last Defender"; Left-wing commenter Timothy Garton Ash was "tempted" to call Merkel the new leader of the free world", and other left-wing media figures echoed this. She is currently the senior G7 leader.

Caretaker government and succession

Further information: 2021 German federal election

On September 26, 2021, elections proved inconclusive, although the SPD came in first. This necessitated long negotiations that might take several weeks, if not months. In the meantime, Merkel would remain in a caretaker capacity. On November 23, 2021 a new coalition was announced, with Olaf Scholz nominated to take over. Merkel continued to serve as Chancellor in a caretaker capacity until December 8, 2021.

Personal life

Main article: Family of Angela Merkel

Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Merkel, and her husband, Joachim Sauer, 2009

In 1977 at the age of 23, Angela Kasner married physics student Ulrich Merkel and took his surname. The marriage ended in divorce in 1982. Her second and current husband is quantum chemist and professor Joachim Sauer, who has largely remained out of the media spotlight. They first met in 1981, became a couple later and married privately on 30 December 1998. She has no children, but Sauer has two adult sons from a previous marriage. She is a fervent football fan and has been known to listen to games while in the Bundestag and to attend games of the national team in her official capacity.

Merkel has a fear of dogs after being attacked by one in 1995. Vladimir Putin, in a move reminiscent of Germany's first chancellor, brought in his pet Labrador during a press conference in 2007. Putin claims he did not mean to scare her, though Merkel later observed, "I understand why he has to do this – to prove he's a man. ... He's afraid of his own weakness."

Religion

Merkel speaking at the 2011 German Evangelical Church Assembly in Dresden.

Angela Merkel is a Lutheran member of the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia (German: Evangelische Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz – EKBO), a United Protestant (i.e. both Reformed and Lutheran) church body under the umbrella of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). The EKBO is a church of the Prussian Union. Before the 2004 merger of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg and the Evangelical Church in Silesian Upper Lusatia (both also being a part of the EKD), she belonged to the former.

In 2012, Merkel said, regarding her faith: "I am a member of the evangelical church. I believe in God and religion is also my constant companion, and has been for the whole of my life. We as Christians should above all not be afraid of standing up for our beliefs." She also publicly declared that Germany suffers not from "too much Islam" but "too little Christianity".

Ancestry

Family of Angela Merkel

16. possibly Josef Wojciechowski               8. Ludwik Wojciechowski                       4. Ludwig Marian Kasner né Kaźmierczak (1896–1959), policeman                             18. Bartłomiej Kaźmierczak (1828–?)               9. Anna Kaźmierczak (1867–1943)                       19. Apolonia Bielejewicz (1826–1903)               2. Horst Kasner né Kaźmierczak (1926–2011), Lutheran pastor                                   5. Margarethe Pörschke                             1. Angela Dorothea Merkel née Kasner (born 1954), Chancellor of Germany                                         24. Johann Christoph Jentzsch               12. Friedrich Wilhelm Jentzsch, landowner (Gutsbesitzer)                       25. Anna Marie Hanke               6. Willi Jentzsch (1886–1936), teacher, school administrator and senator in the Free City of Danzig                             26. Friedrich Carl Wilde               13. Wilhelmine Pauline Minna Wilde                       27. Caroline Wilhelmine Ehrenberg               3. Herlind Jentzsch (1928–)                                   28. Carl Gottfried Drange, master miller in Unruhstadt               14. Emil Drange (1866–1913), city clerk of Elbing                       29. Emilie Juliane Günther               7. Gertrud Alma Drange                             15. Emma Wachs (1871–1935)

Honours and awards

Honours

National honours

• Germany: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Special Class

Foreign honours

• Austria: Grand Cross of the Order of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria, Special Class
• Bulgaria: Grand Cross of the Order of the Balkan Mountains
• Israel: Recipient of the President's Medal
• Italy: Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
• Lithuania: Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of Vytautas the Great
• Norway: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit
• Peru: Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru
• Portugal: Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Infante Henry
• Saudi Arabia: Grand Officer of the Order of Abdulaziz al Saud
• United States of America: Commander of the Order of Freedom

Honorary degrees

• In 2007, Merkel was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
• In June 2008, she was awarded the honorary doctorate from Leipzig University.
• University of Technology in Wrocław (Poland) in September 2008 and Babeş-Bolyai University from Cluj-Napoca, Romania on 12 October 2010 for her historical contribution to the European unification and for her global role in renewing international cooperation.
• On 23 May 2013, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Radboud University Nijmegen.
• In November 2013, she was awarded the Honorary Doctorate (Honoris Causa) title by the University of Szeged.
• In November 2014, she was awarded the title Doctor Honoris Causa by Comenius University in Bratislava.
• In September 2015, she was awarded the title Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Bern.
• In January 2017, she was awarded the title Doctor Honoris Causa jointly by the Ghent University and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
• In May 2017, Merkel was awarded the title of Doctrix Honoris Causa by the University of Helsinki.

Awards

• India: Recipient of the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding
• In 2006, Angela Merkel was awarded the Vision for Europe Award for her contribution toward greater European integration.
• She received the Karlspreis (Charlemagne Prize) in 2008 for distinguished services to European unity.
• In March 2008, she received the B'nai B'rith Europe Award of Merit.
• Merkel topped Forbes magazine's list of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
• New Statesman named Angela Merkel in "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures" 2010.
• On 16 June 2010, the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C. awarded Chancellor Merkel its Global Leadership Award (AICGS) in recognition of her outstanding dedication to strengthening German-American relations.
• On 21 September 2010, the Leo Baeck Institute, a research institution in New York City devoted to the history of German-speaking Jewry, awarded Angela Merkel the Leo Baeck Medal. The medal was presented by former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and current Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, W. Michael Blumenthal, who cited Merkel's support of Jewish cultural life and the integration of minorities in Germany.
• On 31 May 2011, she received the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for the year 2009 from the Indian government. She received the award for International understanding.
• Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People ranked Merkel as the world's second most powerful person in 2012, the highest ranking achieved by a woman since the list began in 2009; she was ranked fifth in 2013 and 2014
• On 28 November 2012, she received the Heinz Galinski Award in Berlin, Germany.
• India: Indira Gandhi Peace Prize (2013)
• In December 2015, she was named Time magazine's Person of the Year.
• For the Year 2017, she received the Elie Wiesel Award, from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Comparisons

Conservative leaders meet at congress of European People's Party in 2012

As a female politician from a party that many Europeans consider to be "centre right", and a former scientist, Merkel has been compared by commentators further to the political left to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Some have referred to her as "Iron Lady", "Iron Girl", and even "The Iron Frau," all alluding to Thatcher, whose nickname was "The Iron Lady" (Thatcher had a science degree from Oxford University in chemistry). Right-wing commentators have denied their agendas are very similar. Later in her tenure, Merkel acquired the nickname "Mutti" (a German familiar form of "mother"), said by Der Spiegel to refer to an idealised mother figure from the 1950s and 1960s. Left-wing and mainstream commentators have also called her the "Iron Chancellor", in reference to Otto von Bismarck. Stateside, both Donald Trump and Business Insider writer Josh Barro have described Merkel as being similar to Hillary Clinton, who herself praised Merkel. However, a minority of right-wing critics have condemned her as a traitor for her immigration policies, which they consider to be a form of partial population replacement. As such Merkel has been the subject of many epithets.

In addition to being the first female German chancellor, the first to have grown up in the former East Germany (though she was born in the West), and the youngest German chancellor since the Second World War, Merkel is also the first born after World War II, and the first chancellor of the Federal Republic with a background in natural sciences. She studied physics; her predecessors studied law, business or history, among other professions.

Controversies

By opening Germany's borders to refugees fleeing Middle East, some critics have blamed Merkel for encouraging the mass migration into Europe.

Merkel has been criticised for being personally present and involved at the M100 Media Award handover to Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who had triggered the Muhammad cartoons controversy. This happened at a time of fierce left-wing criticism in Germany over a book by the former Deutsche Bundesbank executive and finance senator of Berlin Thilo Sarrazin, which was critical of the Muslim immigration. At the same time she condemned a planned burning of Korans by a fundamental pastor in Florida. The Central Council of Muslims in Germany and the allied Left Party (Die Linke) as well as the German Green Party criticised the action by the progressive chancellor. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper wrote: "This will probably be the most explosive moment of her chancellorship so far." Others have praised Merkel and called it a brave and bold move for the cause of freedom of speech.

Merkel's position towards the negative statements by Thilo Sarrazin with regard to the integration problems with Arab and Turkish people in Germany has been critical throughout. According to her personal statements, Sarrazin's approach is "totally unacceptable" and counterproductive to the ongoing problems of integration.

The term alternativlos (German for "without an alternative"), which was frequently used by Angela Merkel to describe her measures addressing the European sovereign-debt crisis, was named the Un-word of the Year 2010 by a jury of linguistic scholars. The wording was criticised as undemocratic, as any discussion on Merkel's politics would thus be deemed unnecessary or undesirable. The expression is credited for the name of the political party Alternative for Germany, which was founded in 2013.

Protestors rally against NSA's mass surveillance, Berlin, June 2013

In July 2013, Merkel defended the surveillance practices of the NSA, and described the United States as "our truest ally throughout the decades". During a visit of U.S. President Barack Obama in Berlin, Merkel said on 19 June 2013 in the context of the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures: "The Internet is uncharted territory for us all". (German: Das Internet ist Neuland für uns alle.) This statement led to various internet memes and online mockery of Merkel.

Merkel compared the NSA to the Stasi when it became known that her mobile phone was tapped by that agency. In response Susan Rice pledged that the USA will desist from spying on her personally, but said there would not be a no-espionage agreement between the two countries.

File:-FsA14 - Freiheit statt Angst 060 (15062050686) (2).jpg

Germany's BND has covertly monitored European firms and officials at the request of the NSA.

In July 2014 Merkel said trust between Germany and the United States could only be restored by talks between the two, and she would seek to have talks. She reiterated the U.S. remained Germany's most important ally.

Her statement "Islam is part of Germany" during a state visit of the Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in January 2015 induced criticism within her party. The parliamentary group leader Volker Kauder said that Islam is not part of Germany and that Muslims should deliberate on the question why so many violent people refer to the Quran.

In October 2015, Horst Seehofer, Bavarian State Premier and leader of CSU, the sister party of Merkel's CDU, criticised Merkel's policy of allowing in hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East: "We're now in a state of mind without rules, without system and without order because of a German decision." Seehofer attacked Merkel policies in sharp language, threatened to sue the government in the high court, and hinted that the CSU might topple Merkel. Many MPs of Merkel's CDU party also voices dissatisfaction with Merkel. Chancellor Merkel insisted that Germany has the economic strength to cope with the influx of migrants and reiterated that there is no legal maximum limit on the number of migrants Germany can take.

At the conclusion of the May 2017 Group of Seven's leaders in Sicily, Merkel criticised American efforts to renege on earlier commitments on climate change. According to Merkel, the discussions were difficult and marred by dissent. "Here we have the situation where six members, or even seven if you want to add the EU, stand against one.”

In the arts and media

Merkel features as a main character in two of the three plays that make up the Europeans Trilogy ("Bruges", "Antwerp", "Tervuren") by Paris-based UK playwright Nick Awde: "Bruges" (Edinburgh Festival, 2014) and "Tervuren" (2016). A character named Merkel, accompanied by a sidekick called Schäuble, also appears as the sinister female henchman in Michael Paraskos's novel In Search of Sixpence.

On the American sketch-comedy Saturday Night Live, she has been parodied by Kate McKinnon since 2013.

On the British sketch-comedy Tracey Ullman's Show, comedian Tracey Ullman has parodied Merkel to international acclaim with German media dubbing her impersonation as the best spoof of Merkel in the world.

In 2016, a documentary film Angela Merkel - The Unexpected, a story about her unexpected rise to power from an East German physicist to the most powerful woman in the world, was produced by Broadview TV and MDR in collaboration with Arte and Das Erste.

See also

• Willkommenskultur

Further reading

• Plickert, Philip (Editor) (2017) "Merkel: Eine kritische Bilanz", FinanzBuch Verlag, ISBN 978-3959720656.
• Skard, Torild (2014) "Angela Merkel" in Women of Power – Half a Century of Female presidents and Prime Ministers Worldwide, Bristol: Policy Press, ISBN 978-1-44731-578-0
• Margaret Heckel: So regiert die Kanzlerin. Eine Reportage. Piper, München 2009, ISBN 978-3-492-05331-0.
• Volker Resing: Angela Merkel. Die Protestantin. Ein Porträt. St.-Benno-Verlag, Leipzig 2009, ISBN 978-3-7462-2648-4.
• Gertrud Höhler: Die Patin. Wie Angela Merkel Deutschland umbaut. Orell Füssli, Zürich 2012, ISBN 978-3-280-05480-2.
• Stefan Kornelius]: Angela Merkel. Die Kanzlerin und ihre Welt. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-455-50291-6.
• Nikolaus Blome: Angela Merkel – Die Zauderkünstlerin. Pantheon, München 2013, ISBN 978-3-570-55201-8.
• Stephan Hebel: Mutter Blamage – Warum die Nation Angela Merkel und ihre Politik nicht braucht. Westend, Frankfurt am Main 2013, ISBN 978-3-86489-021-5.
• Stephan Hebel: Die zwei Gesichter der Angela M., Frankfurter Rundschau, 21. Februar 2013.
• Günther Lachmann, Ralf Georg Reuth: Das erste Leben der Angela M. Piper, München 2013, ISBN 978-3-492-05581-9.
• Judy Dempsey: Das Phänomen Merkel – Deutschlands Macht und Möglichkeiten. Edition Körber-Stiftung, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-89684-097-4.
• Dirk Kurbjuweit: Alternativlos – Merkel, die Deutschen und das Ende der Politik. Hanser, München, 2014, ISBN 978-3-446-24620-1.

External links

• Official Website of Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Merkel's personal website (German)
• Merkel on her party's website
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Angela Merkel at the Internet Movie Database
• Angela Merkel collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
• Angela Merkel collected news and commentary at The Economist
• Angela Merkel collected news and commentary at Forbes
• Angela Merkel collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Angela Merkel collected news and commentary at Time

Political offices
Preceded by Ursula Lehr	Federal Minister for Women and Youth 1991–1994	Succeeded by Claudia Nolte
Preceded by Klaus Töpfer	Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety 1994–1998	Succeeded by Jürgen Trittin
Preceded by Gerhard Schröder	Chancellor of Germany 2005–present	Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Peter Hintze	General Secretary of the Christian Democratic Union 1998–2000	Succeeded by Ruprecht Polenz
Preceded by Friedrich Merz	Chair of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group 2002–2005	Succeeded by Volker Kauder
Preceded by Wolfgang Schäuble	Leader of the Christian Democratic Union 2000–present	Incumbent
Academic offices
Preceded by Jerzy Buzek	Invocation Speaker of the College of Europe 2010	Succeeded by Giorgio Napolitano
Order of precedence
Preceded by Norbert Lammert as President of the Bundestag	Order of precedence of Germany as Chancellor	Succeeded by Stanislaw Tillich as President of the Bundesrat