Who is Angela Merkel

' (; born Angela Dorothea Kasner', 17 July 1954, in Hamburg, West Germany) is the current Chancellor of Germany. Merkel, elected to the German Parliament from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 10 April 2000, and Chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary party group from 2002 to 2005. She leads a Grand coalition with the Christian Social Union (CSU), its Bavarian sister party, and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), formed after the 2005 federal election on 22 November 2005.

In 2007, Merkel was also President of the European Council and chair of the G8. She played a central role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. In domestic policy, health care reform and problems concerning future energy development have thus far been the major issues of her tenure.

Merkel is the first female Chancellor of Germany. From 2006 to 2008, Forbes Magazine has named her the most powerful woman in the world. In 2007 she became the second woman to chair the G8, after Margaret Thatcher.

Chancellor Merkel is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.

In 2008 Merkel received the Charlemagne Prize "for her work to reform the European Union". The prize was presented by Nicolas Sarkozy.

Germany (), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (, ), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The territory of Germany covers 357,021 square kilometers (137,847 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate.

With 82 million inhabitants, it accounts for the largest population among the member states of the European Union and is home to the third-largest number of international migrants worldwide.Germany: Inflow of foreign population by country of nationality, 1994 to 2003

A region named Germania inhabited by several Germanic peoples has been known and documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire that lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state, the country was first unified amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. In 1949, after World War II, Germany was divided into two separate states?East Germany and West Germany?along the lines of Allied occupation.Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (2 BvF 1/73; BVerfGE 36, 1): The German Reich as the German state is identically the very same to the Federal Republic of Germany it exists as a nation-state and international legal personality (public international law) since 1871. In 1949, at East ? West Germany division there was no foundation of a new West German state and no successor of the German Reich, instead of that a part of Germany was reorganised. The two states were unified in 1990. West Germany was a founding member of the European Community (EC) in 1957, which became the European Union in 1993. It is part of the Schengen zone and adopted the European currency, the euro, in 1999.

Germany is a federal parliamentary republic of sixteen states (). The capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, G8 and the OECD. It is a major economic power with the world's fourth largest economy by nominal GDP and the fifth largest in purchasing power parity. It is the largest exporter and second largest importer of goods. In absolute terms, Germany allocates the second biggest annual budget of development aid in the world, [http://www.topnews.in/germany-worlds-second-biggest-aid-donor-after-us-229970 Germany world's second biggest aid donor after US] TopNews, India, Retrieved 2008, 04-10.

while its military expenditure ranked sixth. The country has developed a high standard of living and established a comprehensive system of social security. It holds a key position in European affairs and maintains a multitude of close partnerships on a global level.The leader of Europe? Answers an ocean apart International Herald Tribune. April 4, 2008. Retrieved 2008, 04-04. Germany is recognised as a scientific and technological leader in several fields.Confidently into the Future with Reliable Technology www.innovations-report.de. May 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008, 04-04.