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==Quotations== ==Quotations==


"I AM TEH GHEY WOMAN IN TEH UNIVERXE, I LUV TEH ANGELINA JOLIE" Gay and Lesbian Tivia House 2005
*Merkel is of the opinion that the ] has failed to define its common interests "for the (commercial) battles of the future" now that Europe's ] priorities of keeping "peace and freedom" have been achieved: "This is where I think Europe needs to learn a lot, not to concentrate too much on whether bicycle paths are built the same way in ] and north-west Germany."
*Domestically, Merkel has advocated change in the country's consensual model: "In Germany, we are always facing the danger that we are a little bit too slow. We have to speed up our changes."
*"The ] has to be the ], not the ]."
*After reaching a deal with the ] to form a ], Merkel stated: "I am absolutely certain — I know — that the success of this coalition will be measured by the question: Are there more jobs?"
*Merkel urged her party to approve the deal at a conference in ], saying: "Germany stands at a crossroads where it is about whether we will preserve what makes this country strong - a social market economy in times of globalisation."


==Trivia== ==Trivia==

Revision as of 19:30, 23 November 2005

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Angela Merkel
File:Angela Merkel PD3.jpg
34th Chancellor of Germany
(8th of the Federal Republic)
Preceded byGerhard Schröder
Personal details
Nationalitygerman
Political partyChristian Democratic Union

Dr. Angela Dorothea Merkel (born July 17, 1954), is the 34th Chancellor of Germany. As a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) she leads a coalition with its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The coalition was formed after two months of negotiations following the 2005 federal election.

Merkel, elected to the German Parliament from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, has been the chairwoman of the CDU since 2000, and Chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary party group from 2002 to 2005. She is the first female Chancellor of Germany and the first woman to lead Germany since it became a modern nation state in 1871.

Background

Merkel was born Angela Dorothea Kasner in Hamburg, the daughter of Horst Kasner, a Lutheran pastor, and his wife Herlind (née Jentzsch), a teacher. In 1954 her father received a pastorship at the church in Quitzow at Perleberg, and the family moved to Templin. Merkel grew up in the countryside only 80km (50 mi) north of Berlin, in communist German Democratic Republic (GDR). She was educated in Templin and at the University of Leipzig, where she studied physics (1973-78). Merkel worked and studied at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences (1978-90). After graduating with a doctorate in physics she worked in quantum chemistry.

In 1989, she 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 in the GDR, she became the deputy spokesperson of the new government under Lothar de Maizière. 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. Her party merged with the west German CDU and she became Minister for Women and Youth in Helmut Kohl's 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 as "das Mädchen" ("the girl") by Kohl.

According to an article in Der Spiegel, her background in the former GDR has served her well in post-reunification politics. For the first 36 years of her life, she honed her skills at disguising her inner thoughts and feelings — essential for survival in a society where every room might contain a State Security Police (Stasi) informer, and especially for a pastor's daughter. Speaking near-perfect English and remarking on her background as an "Ossi", she says: "Anyone who really has something to say doesn't need make-up."

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

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 provincial 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 and then-party chairman Wolfgang Schäuble, Kohl's hand-picked successor), 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 April 10, 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 woman, originating from predominantly Protestant northern Germany, while the CDU is a male-dominated, socially conservative party with deep Catholic roots, and has its stronghold in southern Germany. In November of 2001, despite her pledge to clean up the party, she refused to hold further inquiries into the financing scandal.

Following Merkel's selection as CDU leader, she enjoyed considerable popularity among the German population and was favoured by Germans to become Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's challenger in the 2002 election. However, she was unpopular 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 narrowly. 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.

Political platform

Merkel supported a substantial reform agenda concerning Germany's economic and social system and was considered to be more pro-free market (and pro-deregulation) than her own party (the CDU); she advocated changes to German labour law, specifically, removing barriers to firing 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. She 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 Turkish Membership in the European Union and favoured a "privileged partnership" instead. In doing so, she was seen as being in unison with an overwhelming majority of Germans in rejecting Turkish membership in the European Union, particularly due to fears that large waves of immigration may impose an unbearable burden on Germany and that there would be too much Islamist influence within the EU.

Comparisons

In the English language as well as the German press, Merkel has been compared by many to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, each a female politician from centre-right parties, as well as scientist. Some have referred to her as "Iron Lady" or "Iron Girl" (alluding to Thatcher); despite the name, some political commentators see little similarity between their respective agendas.

Candidacy for Chancellor

File:AMerkel.jpg
Angela Merkel

On May 30, 2005, she 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, she 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.

Both Merkel herself and the CDU again lost ground significantly 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 imitating 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. Her closing remarks in the debate had the following statements: "In two weeks you will make your decision about the election. Perhaps answering a few questions will help you to make your decision: Is our country better off than seven years ago? Is growth higher? Is unemployment lower? Do we have less bureaucracy? Are our pensions and health care better?" "If you can answer yes to all of these questions, then I think you have probably already decided who you will vote for. But if you have any doubt, if you do not want things to carry on as they are, then you have a choice."

This was obviously similiar to the statements of Reagan: "Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls, will stand there in the polling place and make a decision. I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago? And if you answer all of those questions yes, why then, I think your choice is very obvious as to whom you will vote for. If you don't agree, if you don't think that this course that we've been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another choice that you have."

On September 18, Merkel's CDU/CSU and Schröder's SPD went head-to-head in the national elections, with the CDU/CSU winning 35% of the vote to the SPD's 34%. 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., The coalition deal was approved by both parties at party conferences on November 14. Merkel was elected Chancellor by the majority of delegates (397 to 217) in the newly assembled Bundestag on 22 November.

Reports have indicated that the Grand Coalition will pursue a mix of policies, some of which directly contradict aspects of Merkel's political platform as leader of the opposition and candidate for Chancellor. The coalition intends to cut public spending whilst increasing VAT, 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 will maintain its strong ties with France and eastern European states, particularly Russia, and will continue its support for Turkey one day joining the European Union. However it is unlikely Germany will push for a lifting of the EU embargo on arms sales to the People's Republic of China, as Merkel has repeatedly stated her opposition to such a move.

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

Chancellor

File:Merkel and chirac.jpg
Merkel is greeted with a kiss by French President Jacques Chirac

Her first foreign trip took place the day after she was sworn in as Chancellor, and went to Paris for a meeting with Jacques Chirac. In his speech, Chirac emphasized the importance of the German-French Axis for Europe. After the meeting with Chirac, she travelled to Brussels for talks with EU leaders and secretary general of the NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Merkel's Cabinet

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

On October 31, after the defeat of his favored candidate for the position of Secretary General of the SPD, Franz Müntefering indicated that he will resign as Chairman of the party in November. 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 has earned him much ridicule and has severely undermined his position as a Merkel rival. Separate conferences of the CDU, CSU and SPD approved the proposed Cabinet on November 14.

See: ; ;

Quotations

"I AM TEH GHEY WOMAN IN TEH UNIVERXE, I LUV TEH ANGELINA JOLIE" Gay and Lesbian Tivia House 2005

Trivia

  • In her office she has a picture of Russian Empress Catherine the Great, a German-born princess described by Merkel as "a strong woman".
  • Her doctoral thesis was entitled "The Calculation of Speed Constants of Elementary Reactions in Simple Carbohydrates."

Published works

  • Angela Merkel, Ilka Böger, Hans Joachim Spangenberg, Lutz Zülicke: "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. 1982, 263 (3), S. 449-460
  • Angela Merkel, Lutz Zülicke: "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. 1985, 266 (2), S. 353-361,
  • Angela Merkel, Lutz Zülicke, "Nonempirical parameter estimate for the statistical adiabatic theory of unimolecular fragmentation carbon-hydrogen bond breaking in methyl", Molecular Physics, 1987, 60(6), 1379-1393,
  • Angela Merkel, Zdenek Havlas, Rudolf Zahradník, "Evaluation of the rate constant for the SN2 reaction fluoromethane + hydride: methane + fluoride in the gas phase", Journal of American Chemical Society, 1988, 110(25), 8355-8359.

External links

Template:Incumbent succession boxTemplate:Incumbent succession box
Preceded byHannelore Rönsch Minister for Women and Youth of Germany
1991–1994 		Succeeded byClaudia Nolte
Preceded byKlaus Töpfer Minister for the Environment and Reactor Safety
1994–1998 		Succeeded byJürgen Trittin
Preceded byPeter Hintze Secretary General of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany
1998–2000 		Succeeded byRuprecht Polenz
Preceded byFriedrich Merz Chairwoman of the CDU/CSU faction in parliament
2002–2005 		Succeeded byVolker Kauder
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