Biography
Angela Dorothea Merkel (born Kasner; 17 July 1954) is a German former scientist and politician who served as Germany's Chancellor from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she was the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and led the CDU from 2000 to 2018. Merkel was Germany's first female chancellor. Throughout her chancellorship, she was often seen as the de facto leader of the European Union (EU), regarded as the most powerful woman globally, and from 2016, considered the leader of the free world.
Born in Hamburg, West Germany, Merkel moved as an infant to East Germany when her father, a Lutheran pastor, took a position in Perleberg. She earned a doctorate in quantum chemistry in 1986 and worked as a research scientist until 1989. Merkel entered politics following the 1989 Revolutions, serving briefly as deputy spokeswoman for East Germany's first democratically elected government under Lothar de Maizière. After German reunification in 1990, she was elected to the Bundestag representing Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. As a protégé of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Merkel was appointed Minister for Women and Youth in 1991 and later Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety in 1994. After the CDU's defeat in the 1998 federal election, she became CDU General Secretary, then the party's first female leader and first female Leader of the Opposition in 2000, following a donations scandal that led to Wolfgang Schäuble's resignation.
After the 2005 federal election, Merkel succeeded Gerhard Schröder as Chancellor, leading a grand coalition comprising the CDU, its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). She was the first woman elected Chancellor and the first Chancellor since reunification raised in former East Germany. In the 2009 federal election, the CDU won the largest vote share, allowing Merkel to form a coalition government with the Free Democratic Party (FDP). The 2013 election saw the CDU secure a landslide victory with 41.5% of the vote, leading to a second grand coalition with the SPD after the FDP lost all Bundestag representation. In the 2017 election, Merkel led the CDU to its fourth consecutive victory and formed a third grand coalition with the SPD, beginning her fourth term as Chancellor on 14 March 2018.
