Angela Merkel

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

Angela Merkel
Official portrait, 2010
Chancellor of Germany
In office
22 November 2005 – 8 December 2021
President
Vice Chancellor
See list
Preceded byGerhard Schröder
Succeeded byOlaf Scholz
Leader of the Christian Democratic Union
In office
10 April 2000 – 7 December 2018
General Secretary
See list
Deputy
See list
Preceded byWolfgang Schäuble
Succeeded byAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
Leader of the Opposition
In office
22 September 2002 – 22 November 2005
ChancellorGerhard Schröder
Preceded byFriedrich Merz
Succeeded byWolfgang Gerhardt
Leader of the CDU/CSU in the Bundestag
In office
22 September 2002 – 21 November 2005
First DeputyMichael Glos
Chief Whip
  • Volker Kauder
  • Norbert Röttgen
Preceded byFriedrich Merz
Succeeded byVolker Kauder
Early federal, state politics 1991‍–‍2000
General Secretary of the Christian Democratic Union
In office
7 November 1998 – 10 April 2000
LeaderWolfgang Schäuble
Preceded byPeter Hintze
Succeeded byRuprecht Polenz
Leader of the Christian Democratic Union in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In office
June 1993 – 20 May 2000
General Secretary
  • Klaus Preschle
  • Hubert Gehring
Preceded byGünther Krause
Succeeded bySteffie Schnoor
Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
In office
17 November 1994 – 26 October 1998
ChancellorHelmut Kohl
Preceded byKlaus Töpfer
Succeeded byJürgen Trittin
Minister for Women and Youth
In office
18 January 1991 – 17 November 1994
ChancellorHelmut Kohl
Preceded byUrsula Lehr
Succeeded byClaudia Nolte
Member of the Bundestag
for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In office
20 December 1990 – 26 October 2021
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byAnna Kassautzki
Constituency
Personal details
Born
Angela Dorothea Kasner

(1954-07-17) 17 July 1954 (age 70)
Hamburg, West Germany
Political partyChristian Democratic Union (since 1990)
Other political
affiliations
Spouses
Ulrich Merkel
​
​
(m. 1977; div. 1982)​
​
(m. 1998)​
Residence(s)Am Kupfergraben, Berlin
Alma materLeipzig University (BS)
German Academy of Sciences at Berlin (Dr. rer. nat.)[1]
AwardsFull list
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website
Scientific career
FieldsQuantum chemistry
ThesisStudy of the mechanism of decay reactions with single bond rupture and calculation of their rate constants based on quantum chemical and statistical methods (1986)
Doctoral advisorLutz Zülicke [de]
This article is part of
a series about
Angela Merkel

Revolution of 1989

Kohl government

Leader of the Christian Democratic Union

First ministry and term

Second ministry and term

Third ministry and term

Fourth ministry and term

Angela Dorothea Merkel (German: [aŋˈɡeːla doʁoˈteːa ˈmɛʁkl̩] ⓘ;[a] née Kasner; born 17 July 1954) is a retired German politician who served as the chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021 and was the first woman to hold that office. She previously served as leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union from 2000 to 2018.[9] During her chancellorship, Merkel was frequently referred to as the de facto leader of the European Union (EU) and the most powerful woman in the world. Beginning in 2016, she was often described as the leader of the free world.[10] Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, her legacy came under increased scrutiny both in Germany and abroad.[11][12]

Merkel was born in Hamburg in West Germany. Her family moved to East Germany when she was an infant. Merkel obtained a doctorate in quantum chemistry in 1986 and worked as a research scientist until 1989.[13] She then entered politics in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989, briefly serving as deputy spokeswoman for the first democratically elected government of East Germany led by Lothar de Maizière. Following German reunification in 1990, Merkel was elected to the Bundestag for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. As the protégée of chancellor Helmut Kohl, Merkel was appointed as Minister for Women and Youth in 1991, later becoming Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in 1994. After the CDU lost the 1998 federal election, Merkel was elected general secretary of the party. She then became the party's first female leader, and the first female leader of the Opposition, two years later.

Following the 2005 federal election, Merkel was elected chancellor, leading a grand coalition consisting of the CDU, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). She was the first woman to be elected chancellor, and the first chancellor of reunified Germany to have been raised in the former East Germany.[b] In the 2009 federal election, the CDU obtained the largest share of the vote, and Merkel subsequently formed a coalition government with the Free Democratic Party (FDP), an alliance more favourable to the CDU than the grand coalition.[15] In the 2013 federal election, the CDU won a landslide victory and formed a second grand coalition with the SPD, after the FDP lost all of its representation in the Bundestag.[16] In the 2017 federal election, Merkel led the CDU to become the largest party for the fourth time, resulting in the formation of a third grand coalition with the SPD.[17]

In foreign policy, Merkel emphasised international cooperation, both in the context of the EU and NATO, and initiating the Russian reset and strengthening of Eurasian and transatlantic economic relations. In the first half of 2007, Merkel served as president of the European Council and played a central role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. Merkel's governments managed the global 2007–2008 financial crisis and the European debt crisis. She negotiated the 2008 European Union stimulus plan, which focused on infrastructure spending and public investment to counteract the Great Recession. In domestic policy, Merkel's Energiewende program supported the development of renewable energy sources and eventually phased out the use of nuclear power in Germany. Despite the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, which prompted sanctions around the world, she initiated the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipelines to Russia and protected their construction from United States sanctions imposed in 2019. Reforms to the Bundeswehr, health care reform, the 2010s European migrant crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic were major issues during her chancellorship. Merkel stepped down as leader of the CDU in 2018 and did not seek a fifth term as chancellor in the 2021 federal election. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, she came under increased criticism both in Germany and abroad for her relatively good relations with Russia and increasing the German economy's dependence on Russia, as well as the downsizing of the military that occurred during her tenure.

  1. ^ "Angela Merkel: Her bio in brief". The Christian Science Monitor. 20 September 2013. Archived from the original on 29 November 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  2. ^ "Merkel, Angela" Archived 7 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine (US) and "Merkel, Angela". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 10 February 2020.
  3. ^ "Merkel". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  4. ^ Wells, J. C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Pearson Education Limited.
  5. ^ Mangold, Max, ed. (1995). Duden, Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (6th ed.). Dudenverlag. p. 501. ISBN 978-3-411-20916-3. Merkel ˈmɛrkl̩
  6. ^ Krech, Eva-Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz Christian; et al., eds. (2009). Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch (1st ed.). Walter de Gruyter. p. 739. ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6. Merkel mˈɛʶkl̩
  7. ^ Mangold, Max, ed. (1995). Duden, Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (6th ed.). Dudenverlag. p. 139. ISBN 978-3-411-20916-3. Angela ˈaŋɡela auch: aŋˈɡeːla.
  8. ^ Langguth, Gerd (2005). Angela Merkel (in German). Munich: dtv. p. 50. ISBN 3-423-24485-2. Merkel wollte immer mit der Betonung auf dem 'e' Angela genannt werden. (Merkel always wanted her first name pronounced with the stress on the 'e'.)
  9. ^ Government continues as acting government Archived 15 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine, bundeskanzlerin.de, 24 October 2017
  10. ^
  11. ^ "Angela who? Merkel's legacy looks increasingly terrible". The Economist. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  12. ^ "In Germany, Angela Merkel's legacy is being re-evaluated critically". Le Monde. 12 October 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  13. ^ Miller, Saskia (20 April 2020). "The Secret to Germany's COVID-19 Success: Angela Merkel Is a Scientist". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2 May 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  14. ^ "The Price of a Failed Reunification". Spiegel International. 5 September 2005. Archived from the original on 20 November 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2006.
  15. ^ "Germany's Merkel begins new term". BBC. 28 October 2009. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  16. ^ "German Chancellor Angela Merkel makes a hat-trick win in 2013 Elections". Archived from the original on 26 September 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  17. ^ Oltermann, Philip; Connolly, Kate (14 March 2018). "Angela Merkel faces multiple challenges in her fourth term". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.


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