This year also marked her tenth year as leader of Germany, during which time she has been credited with overseeing the rebuilding of the nation’s economy and its return to power on the world stage.
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She beat some of the world’s best-known politicians and leaders including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Russian President Vladimir Putin, ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump for the annual honour.
As CDU delegates converge on the southwestern city for the two-day party conference, the European refugee crisis that risks overwhelming towns and communities across Germany is the biggest topic on the agenda.
From helping avert a “Grexit”, to taking a leading diplomatic role mediating the conflict in Ukraine, to spearheading Europe’s response to the refugee crisis, 2015 has been a landmark year for Merkel.
Time cites Merkel’s “humanity, generosity [and] tolerance” for agreeing to accept more than 800,000 refugees from the Middle East. The judgment is apt.
“Once again you have the question of the future of Europe at play, and her at the helm”. She has a doctorate as a physical chemist and has entered politics during the 1989 revolutions.
“This agreement represents a genuine new course for energy transition in the world”, Merkel told reporters on Sunday, ahead of a national congress of her Christian Democrats in Karlsruhe, southwestern Germany.
The other individual women to win were Wallis Simpson (1936), Queen Elizabeth II (1952), and Corazon Aquino (1986), as reported by BBC. Eight years later, she was sworn in for her third term in Germany’s highest office.
Affectionately nicknamed “Mutti” or “Mommy” by the German public, she has a modest personal style, having lived in the same ordinary apartment building for more than a decade.
Last year, the New York-based magazine tapped those behind the fight against the Ebola virus as its persons of the year. This comes as a great surprise that after so many years a woman has gained this prestigious title.
Time Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs announced the victor on NBC’s “Today Show” on Wednesday.
Time says Trump did make its “short list” for the title, but then so did the founder of Uber.
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“They picked the person who is ruining Germany”, he wrote, in apparent reference to Merkel’s migrant-friendly policies.
