German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Bloomberg

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel Photos

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor and party leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), speaks during a news conference at the CDU headquarters in Berlin Sept. 23, 2013. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Angela Merkel is poised for a third term as German chancellor after her Christian Democrats took the largest share of the vote in Sept. 22 elections on the strength of her economic record. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters today at the Berlin headquarters of her Christian Democratic Union party, “We are now open to talks. Germany needs a stable government.” Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg 

Merkel’s CDU and its Christian Social Union Bavarian sister party took 41.5 percent compared with the 25.7 percent for the SPD, according to results from all 299 districts. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

 

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, left, and Sigmar Gabriel, leader of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD), talk prior to a concert at the Gewandhaus concert hall in Leipzig, Germany on May 23, 2013. Photographer: Kay Nietfeld/AFP/Getty Images

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, party leader of the Christian Democratic Union, stands with her paperwork next to her husband Joachim Sauer, right, as she prepares to vote at the election polling station in Berlin, on Sept. 22, 2013. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, party leader of the Christian Democratic Union, casts her vote in the elections at a polling station in Berlin, on Sept. 22, 2013. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Supporters of Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor and party leader of the Christian Democratic Union, wave 'Angie' posters during Merkel's final election rally in Berlin, on Sept. 21, 2013. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, party leader of the Christian Democratic Union, speaks during her final election rally in Berlin, on Sept. 21, 2013. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg 

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel waved during an election campaign event in Munich on Sept. 20, 2013. Photographer: Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images 

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, has already made history as Germany’s first woman chancellor and the first who grew up in the ex-Communist East. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Germany's chancellor and party leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Angela Merkel speaks during an election rally in Dresden. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg 

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor and party leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), speaks during an election rally in Potsdam, Germany on Sept. 16, 2013. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg 

Chancellor Angela Merkel has also dismissed a grand coalition option. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

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#1 Power Women

May 2013

 

The world's most powerful woman is the backbone of the 27-member European Union and carries the fate of the euro on her shoulders. Merkel's hard-line austerity prescription for easing the European debt crisis has been challenged by both hard-hit southern countries and the more affluent north, most particularly French President Francois Hollande. Merkel has served as ­chancellor since 2005, the first woman in the position, but her biggest challenge may still lie ahead: she is running for a third term this fall's general elections. 2013 SPOTLIGHT: Merkel has earned the top spot on the FORBES list of Most Powerful Women In The World for seven of the past 10 years.

1.Angela Merkel 

Age:58

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses guests at the Second Demographics Summit of the German government, in Berlin May 14, 2013. The most populous country in the EU, Germany suffers from one of the union's lowest birth rates, meaning its population is shrinking rapidly.

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KUNDUZ, AFGHANISTAN - MAY 10: In this photo provided by the German Government Press Office

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, is dressed in a bulletproof vest as she arrives to Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, Friday, May 10, 2013. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel made a surprise trip to northern Afghanistan to visit her troops less than two weeks after insurgents killed a German special forces soldier and wounded a second, a military spokesman said. Germany is the only NATO nation that is committed to leaving troops in Afghanistan after the coalition completes its scheduled pullout of combat forces next year. The U.S. is likely to deploy several thousand troops if the Afghan government provides them legal protection. (AP Photo/DPA/Kay Nietfeld)

BERLIN, GERMANY - MAY 08: German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for the weekly German federal government Cabinet meeting on May 8, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. High on the morning's agenda was discussion of a proposed bill for regulation of the supervision of credit institutions by the European Central Bank

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, welcomes the President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, right, with military honors at he chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

German chancellor Angela Merkel (L) and Gerhard Robbers president of the 34th German Protestant church congress ('Deutsche Evangelische Kirchentag'), talk during the church congress on May 03, 2013 in Hamburg, northern Germany. Organisers of the church congress themed 'As much as you need' expect up to 100,000 visitors for the congress running from May 1 to 5, 2013.

German chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech during the award ceremony of the 'Deutscher Sozialpreis' (Social Price) of social welfare organizations, on November 27, 2012 in Berlin. For the 41st time the association awarded their media prize.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) smiles on Wednesday (11/28/12) at the Chancellery in Berlin at the cabinet table. photo: Steffi Loos/dapd/AP Photo

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gives a press conference at the EU Headquarters, on November 23, 2012 in Brussels, after a two-day European Union leaders summit called to agree a hotly-contested trillion-euro budget through 2020. EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy said today that an EU budget deal was within reach early next year, after a two-day summit collapsed without agreement.

 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pose after a press at the Chancellery in Berlin on November 14, 2012. Tusk and Merlkel held talks focused on the forthcoming EU summit on the bloc's seven-year budget.
 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel signs a book of condolence in memory of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who died on April 8, 2013 at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke at the British embassy in Berlin, Germany, Thursday April 11, 2013.

 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) smiles on Wednesday (18.07.12) at a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin. Merkel received before the Thai Prime Minister Shinawatra to bilateral talks. (AP Photo/Steffi Loos/dapd)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012. The Federal Statistical Office reported on Tuesday that the German economy grew 0.3 percent in the second quarter, beating expectations of a 0.2 percent increase though slowing from the first quarter's 0.5 percent growth.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper attend a luncheon meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) and her husband Joachim Sauer arrive for the opening of the Bayreuth Wagner Opera Festival with the premier of 'The Flying Dutchman' at the opera house in the southern German city of Bayreuth on July 25, 2012. It is the at the 101st edition of the Richard Wagner opera festival this year.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacts during a joint press conference with the Italian Prime Minister following their meeting on July 4, 2012 at Villa Madama in Rome. Monti hosts talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on tackling the debt crisis sweeping the eurozone, less than a week after a key summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

 
BERLIN, GERMANY - JULY 18: Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, walks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono prior to their meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, July 10, 2012.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacts during a news conference with the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, unseen, after a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Tuesday, July 3, 2012. Merkel had to answers questions about the interpretation of the results of the European summit last week.
 

REIMS, FRANCE - JULY 08: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande attend a ceremony to celebrate 50 years of French and German reconciliation, on July 8, 2012 in Reims, France. The leaders are meeting on the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting of the French President Charles de Gaulle and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who in 1962 met at the cathedral and forged a new era of friendship in post-World War II Franco-German relations. Merkel and Hollande are also seeking common ground despite their policy differences in seeking a solution to the current Eurozone debt crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds her book "Dialog ueber Deutschlands Zukunft" (Dialogue on Germany's Future) during a discussion at the federal chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, July 2, 2012.
 
BERLIN, GERMANY - JUNE 29: German Chancellor Angela Merkel laughs at the remark of a colleague pior to a vote in the Bundestag on Germany's ratification of the European Stability Mechanism

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, speaks during a news conference at the Federal Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2011. The European Commission is pushing for a coordinated capital injection for banks to shield them from the fallout of a potential Greek default as Germany urges each country to prepare its own blueprint. (Michele Tantussi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 25: Sheikh Hasina Wajed

German Chancellor Angela Merkel receives the prize for 'Understanding and Tolerance' from Werner Michael Blumenthal, director of the Jewish museum at the Jewish museum in Berlin on October 24, 2011.
 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel smiles during the signing of economic contracts between Russia and Germany at a meeting of the German and Russian governments in Hannover, northern Germany, on Tuesday, July 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

(FromL) Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte speaks during the meeting of Heads of State or Government of the Euro area as part of an European Council at the Justus Lipsius building, EU headquarters in Brussels on October 23, 2011.

EMSBUEREN, GERMANY - AUGUST 26: German Chancellor Angela Merkel smiles during the visit of a market garden during her familiarization trip on August 26, 2010 in Emsbueren, Germany. Merkel is visiting a variety of energy producing facilities, including a nuclear energy plant, a windpark and a biogas plant, ahead of a government decision planned for the end of September on what combination of energy producing possibilities the government will pursue as part of its future energy policy. Germany is investing heavily in alternative and high efficient energy production.

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski (L) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wave to the people gathered in Gdansk harbour on July 9, 2011. Merkel and her husband Joachim Sauer are on a two day private visit at the Polish presidential summer villa in Jurata near Gdansk.

Picture taken on on December 10, 2010 shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel giving a press conference during the German-French consultations in Freiburg, southern Germany. Merkel has responded to voter anger about eurozone bailouts by saying that people in southern Europe should retire later and take fewer holidays, reports said May 18., 2011.

 
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