**G20특별판 12일자 7면 국가별 정상 소개란(독일 총리)**
Germany's Angela Merkel became the first female chancellor of Germany on November 22, 2005, replacing Gerhard Schröder who had been in power since 1998. She was re-elected in 2009 with a larger majority and was able to form a governing coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Before entering into politics Merkel worked as a researcher and physicist. She was first elected to the Bundestag in 1990 and has held the cabinet portfolios of women and youth, environment, nature conservation and nuclear safety. She was born in Hamburg on July 17, 1956. In 1978, she received her doctorate in physics from the University of Leipzig. She is married to Joachim Sauer and has no children.
In 2007, Merkel was also President of the European Council and chaired 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 major issues of her tenure.
Merkel is the first female Chancellor of Germany. In 2007 she became the second woman to chair the G8, after Margaret Thatcher.
As a female politician from a centre right party, and a scientist, Merkel has been compared by many in the English-language press to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Some have referred to her as "Iron Lady", "Iron Girl", and even "The Iron Frau" (all alluding to Thatcher, whose nickname was "The Iron Lady" —Thatcher also has a science degree: an Oxford University degree in chemistry). Political commentators have debated the precise extent to which their agendas are similar.[16]
In addition to being the first female German chancellor and the youngest German chancellor since the Second World War, Merkel is also the first born after World War II, and the first with a background in natural sciences. She studied physics; her predecessors law, business, history or were military officers, among others.
In October of 2010 Merkel told a meeting of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party at Potsdam that attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany had "utterly failed", stating: "The concept that we are now living side by side and are happy about it does not work" and that "we feel attached to the Christian concept of mankind, that is what defines us. Anyone who doesn't accept that is in the wrong place here." She continued to say that immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany's culture and values. This has added to a growing debate within Germany on the levels of immigration, its effect on Germany and the degree to which Muslim immigrants have integrated into German society.
Merkel topped Forbes magazine's list of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009.
