Merkel and Juncker have also pushed for a permanent relocation scheme to respond to future migrant surges and for a plan to resettle refugees from camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. “For asking more of her country than most politicians would dare, for standing firm against tyranny as well as expedience and for providing steadfast moral leadership in a world where it is in short supply, Angela Merkel is Time’s Person of the Year”, she added. Speaking on the show, Gibbs pointed to Merkel’s handling of many issues, including the European economic crisis, the flood of refugees into the continent from the Middle East and Africa, and several deadly terrorist attacks in the region, as the reason for her getting this coveted award.
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ISIS terror group’s chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been named as one of the runners up for Time’s “Person of the year”.
“It’s pretty easily Angela Merkel”, he said, describing her as “the de facto leader of the European Union” by virtue of being leader of the EU’s largest and most economically powerful member state.
“Fluechtlinge”, which comes from the verb “fluechten” – to flee – and the derivative ling, a person who is characterised by a particular trait or feature, took the top honour because it stood for the “dominant theme of the year”, the jury said. Germany would bail Greece out, on her strict terms.
“If we now have to start apologizing for showing a friendly face in response to emergency situations”, she said, “then that’s not my country”.
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, and frequently attending soccer games with her second husband, a quantum chemist and professor.
According to The Guardian, Angela Merkel is the first woman to be named Person of the Year since 1986, and the fourth female title holder since Time opened the contest to women in 1936.
“You can agree with her or not, but she is not taking the easy road”.
And that is why she is their person of the year.
Time Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs announced the victor on NBC’s “Today Show” on Wednesday.
Donald Trump has called Merkel “insane” and the refugees “one of the great Trojan horses”.
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Merkel was third-to-last, ahead of only Jenner and Rouhani.
