Summary
Angela Dorothea Merkel (/ˈmɜːrkəl, ˈmɛərkəl/, German: [aŋˈɡeːla doʁoˈteːa ˈmɛʁkl̩]; née Kasner; born 17 July 1954) is a German politician serving as chancellor of Germany since 2005. She served as the leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 2000 to 2018. Merkel has been widely described as the de facto leader of the European Union, the most powerful woman in the world, and "leader of the free world".