Angela Merkel

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Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Incumbent
Assumed office 
22 November 2005
President Horst Köhler
Deputy Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Preceded by Gerhard Schröder
In office
17 November 1994 – 26 October 1998
Chancellor Helmut Kohl
Preceded by Klaus Töpfer
Succeeded by Jürgen Trittin
In office
18 January 1991 – 17 November 1994
Preceded by Hannelore Rönsch
Succeeded by Claudia Nolte
Born 17 July 1954 (1954-07-17) (age 53)
Hamburg, West Germany
Political party CDU
Spouse Ulrich Merkel (div.)
Joachim Sauer
Alma mater University of Leipzig
Profession Physicist
Religion Lutheran

Angela Dorothea Merkel (help·info) (IPA: [ˈaŋɡela doʁoˈteːa ˈmɛɐ̯kəl]) (born Angela Dorothea Kasner, 17 July 1954, in Hamburg, Germany), is the Chancellor of Germany. Merkel, elected to the German Parliament from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union CDU since 9 April 2000, and Chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary party group from 2002 to 2005. She leads a Grand coalition with its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), formed after the 2005 federal election on 22 November 2005.

In 2007, Merkel was also President of the European Council and chair of 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 the major issues of her tenure.

Merkel is the first woman to become Chancellor of Germany. Merkel, considered by Forbes Magazine to be the most powerful woman in the world at present, is only the third woman to serve on the G8 after Margaret Thatcher and Kim Campbell, and in 2007 became the second woman to chair a G8 summit after Margaret Thatcher.

In 2008 Merkel received the Charlemagne Prize "for her work to reform the European Union", the prize was presented by Nicolas Sarkozy.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Angela Merkel was born as Angela Dorothea Kasner in Hamburg, as the daughter of Horst Kasner (b. 6 August 1926 in Berlin-Pankow), a Lutheran pastor and his wife, Herlind (b. 8 July 1928 in Elbing as Herlind Jentzsch), a teacher of English and Latin. Her mother is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Her grandparents on her mother's side lived in Elbing in East Prussia, one of them had Polish origin. She has a brother, Marcus (born 7 July 1957), and a sister, Irene (b. 19 August 1964).

Merkel's father studied Theology in Heidelberg and, afterwards, in Hamburg. In 1954 her father received a pastorship at the church in Quitzow near Perleberg in Brandenburg, and the family moved to Templin. Thus Merkel grew up in the countryside 80 km (50 miles) north of Berlin, in the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR). Gerd Langguth, a former senior member of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union states in a book[1] that the family's ability to travel freely from East to West Germany, as well as their possession of two automobiles, leads to the conclusion that Merkel's father had a 'sympathetic' relationship with the communist regime, since such freedom and perquisites for a Christian pastor and his family would have been otherwise impossible in East Germany.[2]

Like most pupils, Merkel was a member of the official, socialist-led youth movement Free German Youth (FDJ). Later she became a member of the district board and secretary for "Agitprop" (agitation and propaganda) at the Academy of Sciences in that organisation. However, she did not take part in the secular coming of age ceremony Jugendweihe, which was common in East Germany, and was confirmed instead.

Merkel was educated in Templin and at the University of Leipzig, where she studied physics from 1973 to 1978. Merkel worked and studied at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin-Adlershof from 1978 to 1990. Angela Merkel speaks Russian fluently, and even earned a statewide prize for her proficiency. After being awarded a doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) based on a doctoral thesis on quantum chemistry[3] she worked in research.

In 1989, Merkel got involved in the growing democracy movement after the fall of the Berlin Wall, joining the new party Demokratischer Aufbruch. Following the first (and only) democratic election of the East German state, she became the deputy spokesperson of the new pre-unification caretaker government under Lothar de Maizière.[4]

[edit] Member of Bundestag

At the first post-reunification general election in December 1990, she was elected to the Bundestag from a constituency which includes the districts of Nordvorpommern and Rügen, as well as the city of Stralsund. This has remained her electoral district until today. Her party merged with the west German CDU and she became Minister for Women and Youth in Helmut Kohl's 3rd cabinet. In 1994, she was made Minister for the Environment and Reactor Safety, which gave her greater political visibility and a platform on which to build her political career. As one of Kohl's protégées and his youngest cabinet minister, she was referred to by Kohl as "das Mädchen" ("the girl").

From 1977 until their divorce in 1982, Merkel was married to physicist Ulrich Merkel. Since 1998, she has been married to Berlin chemistry professor Joachim Sauer. She has no children, but Sauer has two adult sons.

[edit] Leader of the Opposition

When the Kohl government was defeated in the 1998 general election, Merkel was named Secretary-General of the CDU. In this position, Merkel oversaw a string of Christian Democrat election victories in six out of seven regional elections in 1999 alone, breaking the SPD-Green coalition's hold on the Bundesrat, the legislative body representing the states. Following a party financing scandal, which compromised many leading figures of the CDU (most notably Kohl himself, who refused to reveal the donor of DM 2,000,000 because he had given his word of honour and the then party chairman Wolfgang Schäuble, Kohl's hand-picked successor, who wasn't cooperative either), Merkel criticized her former mentor, Kohl, and advocated a fresh start for the party without him. She was elected to replace Schäuble, becoming the first female chair of her party, on 10 April 2000. Her election surprised many observers, as her personality offered a contrast to the party she had been chosen to lead; Merkel is a Protestant, originating from predominantly Protestant northern Germany, while the CDU is a male-dominated, socially conservative party with deep Catholic roots, and has its strongholds in western and southern Germany.

Following Merkel's election as CDU leader, she enjoyed considerable popularity among the German population and was favoured by many Germans to become Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's challenger in the 2002 election. However, she did not receive enough support in her own party and particularly its sister party (the Bavarian Christian Social Union, or CSU), and was subsequently out-manoeuvred politically by CSU leader Edmund Stoiber, who had had the privilege of challenging Schröder but squandered a large lead in the opinion polls to lose the election by a razor-thin margin. After Stoiber's defeat in 2002, in addition to her role as CDU chairwoman, Merkel became leader of the conservative opposition in the lower house of the German parliament, the Bundestag. Her rival, Friedrich Merz, who had held the post of parliamentary leader prior to the 2002 election, was eased out to make way for Merkel.

Merkel supported a substantial reform agenda concerning Germany's economic and social system and was considered to be more pro-market (and pro-deregulation) than her own party (the CDU); she advocated changes to German labour law, specifically, removing barriers to laying off employees and increasing the allowed number of work hours in a week, arguing that existing laws made the country less competitive because companies cannot easily control labour costs at times when business is slow (see [1]).

Merkel argued for Germany's nuclear power to be phased out 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. This led some critics to characterize her as an American lackey. 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 was seen as being in unison with many Germans in rejecting Turkish membership of the European Union.

[edit] Comparisons

As a female politician from a centre right party, and a scientist, Merkel has been compared by many in the English language press to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Some have referred to her as "Iron Lady", "Iron Girl" and even "The Iron Frau" (both alluding to Thatcher, whose nickname was "The Iron Lady" -- Thatcher has an undergraduate degree in chemistry). Political commentators have debated the precise extent to which their agendas are similar (see [2]).

In addition to being the first female German chancellor and the youngest German chancellor after the War, Merkel is also the first from East Germany (although born in Hamburg), the first born after World War II, and the first with a background in natural sciences. She studied physics; her predecessors law, business and history.

Merkel topped Forbes magazine's list of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" in 2006 and 2007. [5]

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% 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 credibility 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 proposing 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. Merkel was also criticized for plagiarizing a passage from a speech used by President Ronald Reagan in a 1980 US presidential debate for her own television election duel with Gerhard Schröder, the Social Democratic chancellor.

On 18 September Merkel's CDU/CSU and Schröder's SPD went head-to-head in the national elections, with the CDU/CSU winning 35.3% (CDU 27.8%/CSU 7.5%) of the second votes to the SPD's 34.2%. 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, and both Schröder and Merkel claimed victory. 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 (see [3] and [4]). The coalition deal was approved by both parties at party conferences on November 14 (see [5]). Merkel was elected Chancellor by the majority of delegates (397 to 217) in the newly assembled Bundestag on 22 November but 51 members of the governing coalition voted against her (see [6]).

Reports had indicated that the Grand Coalition would pursue a mix of policies, some of which differ from Merkel's political platform as leader of the opposition and candidate for Chancellor. The coalitions intent was to cut public spending whilst increasing VAT (from 16 to 19%), social insurance contributions and the top rate of income tax.[6] Employment protection will no longer cover employees during their first two years in a job, pensions will be frozen and subsidies for first-time home buyers will be scrapped. On foreign policy, Germany would maintain its strong ties with France and eastern European states, particularly Russia, and support Turkey for one day joining the European Union.[citation needed]

Merkel had stated that the main aim of her government would be to reduce unemployment, and that it is this issue on which her government will be judged.[7]

[edit] Chancellor of Germany

Merkel at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (17 January 2007).
Merkel at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (17 January 2007).[8]
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Merkel's first foreign trip took place on the day she was sworn in as Chancellor, and went to Paris for a meeting with the then French president, Jacques Chirac. In his speech, Chirac emphasized the importance of the Franco-German Companionship for Europe. After the meeting with Chirac, she travelled to Brussels for talks with EU leaders and the Secretary-General of NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. She then traveled to London where she met with the then British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. On November 28 she received her first state guest: President Pohamba of Namibia, a former colony of Germany. In her first government address on 30 November 2005 she announced her objective of improving the German Economy and reducing unemployment.

Merkel made her first visit to the Middle East as President-in-office of the European Council on 1 April 2007. She offered Europe's help to get Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, and tried to restart international efforts for renewed peace talks.[9]

On September 25, 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.[10]

Chancellor Merkel told Israel of Germany's "Holocaust shame," and asserted its support for the Jewish state during a speech to the Knesset on March 18, 2008.[11]

[edit] Cabinet

See also Cabinet Merkel

The cabinet of Angela Merkel was sworn in at 16:00 CET, November 22, 2005.

On October 31, 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 November 1. 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 November 14.

[edit] Personal life

In 1977, Angela Kasner married physics student Ulrich Merkel. The marriage ended in divorce in 1982.[12] Her second husband is quantum chemist and professor Joachim Sauer. He remains out of the spotlight.[13]

[edit] Honours

In 2007 Angela Merkel was awarded the honorary doctorate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[14][15] She received the Karlspreis (Charlemagne Prize) for 2008 for distinguished services to European unity.[16][17] In January 2008 she was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany).[18] She was also awarded the honorary doctorate from Leipzig University in June 2008.[19]

[edit] Selected published works

  • Der, R.; A. Merkel, H.-J. Czerwon (1980). "On the influence of spatial correlations on the rate of chemical reactions in dense gases. I. Quantum statistical theory". Chemical Physics 53 (3): 427-435. doi:10.1016/0301-0104(80)85131-7. 
  • Der, R.; R. Haberlandt, A. Merkel (1980). "On the influence of spatial correlations on the rate of chemical reactions in dense systems. II. Numerical results". Chemical Physics 53: 437-442. doi:10.1016/0301-0104(80)85132-9. 
  • Boeger, I.; A. Merkel, J. Lachmann, H.-J. Spangenberg, T. Turanyi (1982). "An Extended Kinetic Model and its Reduction by Sensitivity Analysis for the Methanol/Oxygen Gas-Phase Thermolysis". Acta Chim. Hung. 129 (6): 855-864. 
  • Merkel, Angela; Ilka Böger, Hans Joachim Spangenberg, Lutz Zülicke (1982). "Berechnung von Hochdruck-Geschwindigkeitskonstanten für Zerfalls- und Rekombinationsreaktionen einfacher Kohlenwasserstoffmoleküle und -radikale (Calculation of High Pressure Velocity Constants for Reactions of Decay and Recombinations of simple Hydrocarbon Molecules and Radicals)". Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie 263 (3): 449-460. 
  • Merkel, Angela; Lutz Zülicke (1985). "Berechnung von Geschwindigkeitskonstanten für den C-H-Bindungsbruch im Methylradikal (Calculation of Velocity Constants for the Break of the Carbon-Hydrogen-Bond in the Methyl Radical)". Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie 266 (2): 353-361. 
  • Merkel, Angela; Lutz Zülicke (1987). "Nonempirical parameter estimate for the statistical adiabatic theory of unimolecular fragmentation carbon-hydrogen bond breaking in methyl". Molecular Physics 60 (6): 1379-1393. doi:10.1080/00268978700100901. 
  • Merkel, Angela; Zdenek Havlas, Rudolf Zahradník (1988). "Evaluation of the rate constant for the SN2 reaction fluoromethane + hydride: methane + fluoride in the gas phase". Journal of American Chemical Society 110 (25): 8355-8359. doi:10.1021/ja00233a012. 
  • Mix, H.; J. Sauer, K.-P. Schröder, A. Merkel (1988). "Vibrational Properties of Surface Hydroxyls: Nonempirical Model Calculations Including Anharmonicities". Coll. Czechoslov. Chem. Commun. 53 (10): 2191-2202. 
  • Schneider, F.; A. Merkel (1989). "The lowest bound states of triplet (BH2)+". Chemical Physics Letters 161 (6): 527-531. doi:10.1016/0009-2614(89)87033-2. 
  • Merkel, Angela; Lutz Zülicke (1990). "Theoretical approach to reactions of polyatomic molecules". International Journal of Quantum Chemistry 36: 191–208. doi:10.1002/qua.560380214. 
  • Merkel, Angela (1998). "The role of science in sustainable development". Science 281 (5375): 336-337. doi:10.1126/science.281.5375.336. 

[edit] References

  1. ^ Langguth, Gerd [August 2005]. Angela Merkel (in German). Munich: dtv. ISBN 3-423-24485-2. 
  2. ^ Luke Harding: East German past of iron lady unveiled. The Observer, 26 June 2005
  3. ^ Merkel, Angela (1986). Untersuchung des Mechanismus von Zerfallsreaktionen mit einfachem Bindungsbruch und Berechnung ihrer Geschwindigkeitskonstanten auf der Grundlage quantenchemischer und statistischer Methoden (Investigation of the mechanism of decay reactions with single bond breaking and calculation of their velocity constants on the basis of quantum chemical and statistical methods) (in German). Berlin: Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic (dissertation).  cited in Langguth, Gerd (August 2005). Angela Merkel (in German). Munich: DTV, p 109. ISBN 3-423-24495-2.  and listed in the Catalogue of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek under subject code 30 (Chemistry)
  4. ^ Langguth, Gerd [August 2005]. Angela Merkel (in German). Munich: dtv, pp 112-137. ISBN 3-423-24485-2. 
  5. ^ The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.
  6. ^ BBC NEWS | World | Europe | German coalition poised for power
  7. ^ BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Merkel defends German reform plan
  8. ^ Speech by Merkel, to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, 17 January 2007.
  9. ^ "Merkel visits Mideast as EU president", International Herald Tribune, 2007-04-01. Retrieved on 2007-04-01. 
  10. ^ Euronews.net, Merkel meets with the Dalai Lama
  11. ^ cnn.com, Merkel admits Germany's 'Holocaust shame'
  12. ^ Biographie: Angela Merkel, geb. 1954
  13. ^ Germany's First Fella, Angela Merkel Is Germany's Chancellor; But Her Husband Stays Out Of The Spotlight - CBS News
  14. ^ http://www.afhu.org/site/press_releases/news_merkel.htm
  15. ^ http://www3.huji.ac.il/htbin/hon_doc/doc_search.pl
  16. ^ Charlemagne Prize 2008: Angela Merkel
  17. ^ http://www.karlspreis.de/index.php?id=32&doc=68 (German)
  18. ^ http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/merkelgrosskreuz2.html
  19. ^ Pressemitteilung 2008/106 der Universität Leipzig

[edit] External links

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Preceded by
Hannelore Rönsch		 Minister for Women and Youth of Germany
1991 – 1994		 Succeeded by
Claudia Nolte
Preceded by
Klaus Töpfer		 Minister for the Environment and Reactor Safety
1994 – 1998		 Succeeded by
Jürgen Trittin
Preceded by
Gerhard Schröder		 Chancellor of Germany
2005 – present		 Incumbent
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Russia		 Chair of the G8
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Preceded by
Friedrich Merz		 Chairwoman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group
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NAME Merkel, Angela
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Angela Dorothea Merkel
SHORT DESCRIPTION German politician
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg, Germany
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH