Everything about Angela Merkel totally explained
(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.
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
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 didn't 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 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.
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'd 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
(External Link
) and
(External Link)). The coalition deal was approved by both parties at party conferences on
November 14 (see
(External Link)). 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
(External Link)).
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. 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.
Merkel had stated that the main aim of her government would be to reduce unemployment, and that it's this issue on which her government will be judged.
Chancellor of Germany
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.
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.
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.
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'd 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.
Personal life
In 1977, Angela Kasner married the physics student Ulrich Merkel. The marriage ended in divorce in 1982. Her second husband is the quantum chemist and professor
Joachim Sauer. He stays out of the spotlight.
Honours
Angela Merkel was awarded the
Karlspreis (Charlemagne Prize) for 2008 for distinguished services to European unity.
Selected published works
Further Information
Get more info on 'Angela Merkel'.
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