From 2005 to 2009 she led a grand coalition with the Christian Social Union (CSU), its Bavarian sister party, and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), formed after the 2005 federal election on 22 November 2005. In the elections of 27 September 2009, her party, the CDU, obtained the largest share of the votes, and formed a coalition government with the CSU and the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Her government was sworn in on 28 October 2009.
In 2007, Merkel was also President of the European Council and chaired the G8. She played a central role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. In domestic policy, health care reform and problems concerning future energy development have thus far been major issues of her tenure.
Merkel is the first female Chancellor of Germany. In 2007, she became the second woman to chair the G8, after Margaret Thatcher.
Childhood
Angela Merkel was born as ‘Angela Dorothea Kasner’ on 17th July 1954, in Hamburg, Germany. She was born to Horst Kasner, a Lutheran pastor and his wife, Herlind), a teacher of English and Latin and a member of the ‘Social Democratic Party of Germany’. Angela is the eldest of the three siblings, the other two being Marcus and Irene. Her family moved to Templin, after Horst was made a pastor at the church in Quitzow, near Perleberg, Brandenburg. Thus, she spent majority of her childhood in the countryside, north of Berlin.
Angela Merkel was a member of the official, socialist-led youth movement Free German Youth (FDJ). Thereafter, she also became a member of the district board and secretary for "Agitprop" (agitation and propaganda), at the Academy of Sciences. Even though she was brought up in socialist German Democratic Republic, she never became a participant in the secular coming of age ceremony, Jugendweihe. Rather, she received confirmation.
Early Life
Angela Merkel studied physics in Templin and at the University of Leipzig, from 1973 to 1978. For the next two years, from 1978 to 1990, she worked and studied at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences, in Berlin-Adlershof. In 1977, she married the physics student Ulrich Merkel, but got divorced in 1982. Angela has done doctoral thesis on Quantum Chemistry and received a doctorate for the same and also undertaken research work. She married Joachim Sauer, a chemistry professor in 1988.
Political Initiation and Later Life
Angela Merkel stepped into politics in 1989, when she joined the new party Demokratischer Aufbruch, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. After the first (and the only) democratic election of the East German state, she became the deputy spokesperson of the new pre-unification caretaker government, under Lothar de Maizière. Angela was elected to the Bundestag, from a constituency including Nordvorpommern district, Rügen district and the city of Stralsund, in December 1990 and it continued to be her electoral district till today.
She became Minister for Women and Youth in Helmut Kohl's 3rd cabinet, after her party’s merger with West German CDU. In 1994, she was made Minister for the Environment and Reactor Safety, the post which served as foundation of her political career. With the defeat of the Kohl government, in the 1998 general election, Merkel was made the Secretary-General of the CDU. A financial scandal rocked her party in 1999, after which she advocated a fresh start without her mentor, Kohl, and was elected to become the first female chairperson of the party.
Leader of Opposition
The defeat of Stoiber (leader of Bavarian Christian Social Union or CSU, CDU’s sister party) in 2002 led to her to becoming the ‘Leader of the Conservative Opposition’, in Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament. During this time, she supported reform agenda relating to Germany's economic and social system, along with changes to German labor law. She even advocated for slower phasing out of Germany's nuclear power, apart from a strong transatlantic partnership and German-American friendship. The support of ‘Iraq-invasion’ and ‘privileged partnership’ to Turkey in EU were some of her other policies.
Chancellor of Germany
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. She was re-elected in 2009 with a larger majority and was able to form a governing coalition with the FDP.
Foreign policy
On 25 September 2007, Chancellor Angela Merkel met the Dalai Lama for "private and informal talks" in Berlin in the Chancellery amid protest from China. China afterwards cancelled separate talks with German officials, including talks with Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries.
Der Spiegel reported that tensions between Chancellor Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama were eased during a meeting between the two leaders in June 2009. Commenting on a White House Press Conference held after the meeting, Spiegel stated, "Of course the rather more reserved chancellor couldn't really keep up with Obama's charm offensive," but to reciprocate for Obama's "good natured" diplomacy, "she gave it a go...by mentioning the experiences of Obama's sister in Heidelberg, making it clear that she had read his autobiography".
Russia
In 2006 Merkel expressed concern for overreliance on Russian energy, but she received little support from others in Berlin.
Iran
According to the news agency Mehr (as reported in the Mail & Guardian Online and Deutsche Welle, quoting AFP), in August 2006, Merkel received a letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. According to the reports, Merkel said that the letter contained "unacceptable" criticism of Israel and "put in question" the Jewish state's right to exist, and that therefore she would not formally respond to the letter.
Israel
On 16 March 2008, Merkel arrived in Israel to mark the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state. She was greeted at the airport by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, an honor guard and many of the country's political and religious leaders, including most of the Israeli Cabinet. Until then, US President George W. Bush had been the only world leader Olmert had bestowed with the honor of greeting at the airport. Merkel spoke before Israel's parliament, the only foreigner who was not a head of state to have done so, although this provoked rumbles of opposition from Israeli MPs on the far right. At the time, Merkel was also both the President of the European Council and the chair of the G8, thus arguably the world's most influential person.
Liquidity crisis
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 October 6, with German links 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 criticized, 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.
India
In 2011, India became the first Asian country to hold a joint cabinet meeting with Germany when Merkel visited.
Failure of multiculturalism
In October 2010 Merkel told a meeting of 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: "The concept that we are now living side by side and are happy about it does not work" and that "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 continued to say that immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany's culture and values. This has added to a growing debate within Germany on the levels of immigration, its effect on Germany and the degree to which Muslim immigrants have integrated into German society.
Approval
Midway through her second term, Merkel's approval plummeted in the country, resulting in heavy losses in state elections for her party. A poll in August 2011 found her coalition with only 36% support compared to a rival coalition which had 51%.
Cabinets
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 Chairman of the party in November, which he did. Ostensibly responding to this, Edmund Stoiber (CSU), who was originally nominated for the Economics and Technology post, announced his withdrawal on 1 November 2005. While this was initially seen as a blow to Merkel's attempt at forming a viable coalition and cabinet, 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.
Personal life
In 1977, Angela Kasner married physics student Ulrich Merkel. 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 partners later and married privately on 30 December 1998. She has no children, but Sauer has two adult sons from a previous marriage.
Honours
In 2006, Angela Merkel was awarded the Vision for Europe Award for her contribution toward greater European integration. In 2007, Merkel was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In March 2006, the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers gave the German Chancellor the recognition of Dama di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.
She received the Karlspreis (Charlemagne Prize) for 2008 for distinguished services to European unity.
In January 2008, Merkel was awarded Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. She was also awarded the honorary doctorate from Leipzig University in June 2008,[55] University of Technology in Wrocław (Poland) in September 2008[56] 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. In March 2008 she received the B’nai B’rith Europe Award of Merit.
From 2006 to 2009, Forbes Magazine has named her the most powerful woman in the world.
New Statesman named Angela Merkel in "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures" 2010.
On June 16, 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 September 21, 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 US 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 15 February 2011, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Barack Obama. The medal is presented to people who have made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, or cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
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.
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