Angela Merkel Celebrates Ten Years at the Head of the German Government

President Horst Köhler on 22nd November 2005 appointed Angela Merkel for Chancellor of Germany, many people did not expect much from her. 

Angela Dorothea Merkel (Born Kassner) was born 17th of July 1954 in Hamburg. Her mother Herlind was a Latin and English teacher, Father Horst Kassner was an evangelical pastor who studied theology in Heidelberg and Hamburg. In 1973 she graduated from the polytechnic school in Templin with an average rating of 1.0. Later she moved to Leipzig where she began studying physics. Between her studies in Karl-Marx-University in Leipzig she studied abroad in both Moscow and Leningrad where she met her first husband Ulrich Merkel. 

Just before the fall of the Berlin Wall she actively opposed the former state German Democratic Republic (GDR). After the fall of the Berlin Wall she became a member of the newly created party Democratic Movement. Later in December 1990 she was chosen as acting agent in the federal parliament (Bundestag). Her party unified with the West German Christian - Democratic Union (CDU) and she became the Minister for Women and Youth in the government of Helmut Kohl. Later, she continued her career and in 1994 became Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. 

Four years later, when Kohl was defeated in the election, Merkel became General Secretary of the CDU. Over the years Merkel has advocated to reform the German economy in terms of reforming legislation that would make it easier for employers to lay off workers and increase the number of working days in a week, whilst at the same time she advocated the reduction of social rights, all aiming to increase competition in the German economy. The coalition of the CDU and the Cristian Social Union (CSU) at the end of May 2005, saw Merkel nominated as a candidate for the Chancellor position in the upcoming parliamentary elections on 18th September. Winning the position, it was the first time in history that the position of Chancellor of Germany was held by a woman. Merkel highlighted her two main objectives - the promotion of the German economy and to reduce unemployment. In the parliamentary elections in 2009 she was again selected for the German Chancellor. 

The success of Angela Merkel, also known as the German Iron Lady (which was the nickname given to the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher) has been praised by many. Even now when Europe is fighting with migration issues and terrorism she was noted saying ¨Nobody in Europe will be abandoned. Nobody in Europe will be excluded. Europe only succeeds if we work together¨.