Angela Merkel
| Angela Merkel | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Chancellor of Germany | |
|
Assumed office 22 November 2005 |
|
| President |
Horst Köhler Christian Wulff Joachim Gauck |
| Deputy |
Franz Müntefering Frank-Walter Steinmeier Guido Westerwelle Philipp Rösler Sigmar Gabriel |
| Preceded by | Gerhard Schröder |
| Leader of the Christian Democratic Union | |
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Assumed office 10 April 2000 |
|
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Schäuble |
| General Secretary of the Christian Democratic Union | |
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In office 7 November 1998 – 10 April 2000 |
|
| Preceded by | Peter Hintze |
| Succeeded by | Ruprecht Polenz |
| Minister for the Environment | |
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In office 17 November 1994 – 26 October 1998 |
|
| Chancellor | Helmut Kohl |
| Preceded by | Klaus Töpfer |
| Succeeded by | Jürgen Trittin |
| Minister for Women and Youth | |
|
In office 18 January 1991 – 17 November 1994 |
|
| Chancellor | Helmut Kohl |
| Preceded by | Ursula Lehr |
| Succeeded by | Claudia Nolte |
| Member of the Bundestag | |
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Assumed office 18 January 1991 |
|
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Angela Dorothea Kasner 17 July 1954 Hamburg, West Germany |
| Political party |
Democratic Awakening (1989–1990) Christian Democratic Union (1990–present) |
| Spouse(s) | Ulrich Merkel (1977–1982) Joachim Sauer (1998–present) |
| Alma mater | Leipzig University |
| Religion | Lutheranism |
| Signature |  |
Angela Dorothea Merkel (née Kasner; born 17 July 1954) is a German politician who is currently Chancellor of Germany. She is also the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
A former research scientist with a doctorate in physical chemistry, Merkel entered politics in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989, and briefly served as a deputy spokesperson for the first democratically-elected East German Government headed by Lothar de Maizière in 1990. Following German reunification in 1990, Merkel was elected to the Bundestag for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and has been reelected ever since. Merkel was appointed as the Minister for Women and Youth in the federal government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1991, and became the Minister for the Environment in 1994. After her party lost the federal election in 1998, Merkel was elected Secretary-General of the CDU before becoming the party's first woman leader two years later in the aftermath of a donations scandal that toppled Wolfgang Schäuble.
Following the 2005 federal election, Merkel was appointed Germany's first woman Chancellor at the head of a grand coalition consisting of the CDU, its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In the 2009 federal election, the CDU obtained the largest share of the vote and Merkel was able to form a coalition government with the support of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). At the 2013 federal election, Merkel won a landslide victory with 41.5% of the vote and formed a second grand coalition with the SPD, after the FDP lost all of its representation in the Bundestag.
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