As with the shortlist, Time revealed their final selection Wednesday morning on the Today show, before posting a slew of stories on Merkel, as well as the runners up. “But now the prospect of Greek bankruptcy threatened the very existence of the euro zone”, Ms. Gibbs wrote in an essay about Merkel. It praised her leadership during Europe’s debt, refugee and migrant crises, plus Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
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Angela Merkel on the cover of Time magazine.
ANGELA MERKEL has been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year – but Queenslanders may remember her as the worldwide delegate who snapped a selfie on Caxton Street during last year’s G20.
“Leaders are tested only when people don’t want to follow”, Time editor Nancy Gibbs said. “It is great how she makes her way in a man’s world and defends her political interests worldwide”.
The magazine took to Twitter and posted why “Merkel is the world’s most powerful woman”.
She is the first individual woman to hold the title since Corazon Aquino in 1986, though women have been honoured as part of a group.
The year 2015 marked the start of Merkel’s 10th year as Chancellor of a united Germany and the de facto leader of the European Union, the most prosperous joint venture on the planet.
Merkel had an incredibly newsy year.
In addition to the magazine’s story on Trump, Time also appeared to tweak the candidate after he dinged the magazine. She was headstrong in dealing with the distress that her country has been facing in the last few months and was firm in her decision to help Syrian refugees who sought comfort and shelter in Germany. On the other hand, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was on the second position in the list of Times Person of the Year and Donald Trump was on the third position in the list.
In response to the news, Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference: “I am sure the chancellor will cherish this as an incentive in her job”.
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Roughly one million asylum seekers, many from Muslim countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, are expected to arrive in Germany this year, far more than in any other European country.
