November 22, 2020, marked the 15th anniversary of Angela Merkel as Chancellor of Germany. On this day in 2005, few dare to bet on the time in power as well as the popularity of the leader. However, time has proven that she is the most powerful woman in the world.

On September 18, 2005, when the polls closed and the results of the polls were published in the media, “cold water” was poured into the Conservatives led by Angela Merkel. A few days earlier, polls had shown that the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) would win more than 40% of the vote. However, with the result of obtaining 35.2% of the vote, this was the lowest achievement of CDU and CSU. In the new parliament, the CDU-CSU coalition was only four seats ahead of its rival.

According to the German constitution, the largest coalition in the House of Commons would be assigned to form a government. The CDU allied with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) to gather forces. Thanks to that, Angela Merkel was elected Chancellor by the House of Commons on November 22, 2005, with a majority of votes. For the first time since 1949, a woman was elected head of the German government.

Before becoming Chancellor of Germany, Merkel served as a minister in the government of Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl in various positions, first at the Ministry of Youth, then the Ministry of the Environment and continued her business for 8 years. In 1998, Angela Merkel became Secretary General of the CDU. Two years later, she took over the leadership of the party with the support of Prime Minister Helmut Kohl. Mr. Helmut Kohl often calls Merkel “Das Mädchen” (little girl), who can do things that many men dare not do.

Former Prime Minister Helmut Kohl has shown great support for Angela Merkel since she was a minister at his office 

The fact that accepting a woman from East Germany, the daughter of a Protestant pastor, having no children to lead the CDU party was revolutionary. However, at that time, many people thought that helping Merkel come to power was a temporary solution. Even three years later, no one would have supposed that Mrs. Merkel would match Helmut Kohl's record time in office. She was continuously voted by Forbes Magazine as “the most powerful woman in the world" ” as well as “defender of the liberal world” 4 years ago. Over the past 15 years, Chancellor Merkel has worked with 4 French presidents and 3 US presidents.

If Chancellor Helmut Kohl goes down in history as a great European and father of German unification and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is known as the father of important social reforms, it is difficult to find the right words to describe Angela Merkel. Angela Merkel is self-disciplined, an excellent negotiator and is supposed to be the chancellor of crises. She met her first challenge when she took office in 2005, which was that the Netherlands and France rejected the draft European Constitution, forcing her and European leaders to discuss an alternative solution. When the financial crisis hit in 2008, with her negotiating skills and endurance in “marathons” in Brussels, Merkel saved Greece from the risk of exiting the eurozone.

 Internationally, Mrs. Merkel is nicknamed “Madame No”. With Mrs. Merkel's assertiveness, Germany reached a historic agreement with France and later other partners on European fiscal stimulus and debt consolidation. In all crises, Angela Merkel was nicknamed “Mutti” (Mother). She became “mother of the nation”, giving Germans a good impression of a plain female prime minister.She often eats buffet in hotels when attending EU summits or goes shopping in Berlin. She runs the country in moderation, care and focusing on communication. However, she can also make quick decisions. For example, a few days after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, the German government decided to completely abandon nuclear power. Another urgent decision that marked the power of Merkel was her decision not to close the borders when hundreds of thousands of refugees poured into Europe in early September 2015. Chancellor Merkel's saying “Wir schaffen das” (We'll get there) has gone down in history because of her empathy and humanistic decisions towards refugees.

An immigrant took a selfie with Chancellor Angela Merkel (2015)

Germany in 2020 is more divided than in 2005 by Covid-19 pandemic. Although protests against Covid-19 prevention measures occurred in many places, support for Mrs. Merkel did not decrease. Recent polls show that 74% of Germans still trust Ms. Merkel as Chancellor. However, Ms. Merkel has announced that she will not run for re-election next year and will resign in the fall of 2021. Until then, the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic remains the central task of the “mother of the nation.”

Tags: Angela Merkel, Merkel, Angela, Chancellor of Germany, German Conservatives, Chancellor Helmut Kohl, German politics, Angela policy