The political life of Angela Merkel

1. The political life of Angela Merkel

2. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a top candidate of the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU) for the upcoming general elections reacts at the final election rally in Munich, Germany September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

3. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leader of the Christian Democratic Union party CDU stands in front of her election campaign tour bus before a CDU board meeting in Berlin September 16, 2013. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

4. German former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (R) leaves after presenting flowers to Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin November 22, 2005, after she became chancellor following a parliamentary vote.

5. German Construction Minister Angela Merkel (L) jokes with Justice Minister Sabine Leutheuser-Schnarrenberger (R) as she notices they are dressed with similar jackets prior to a weekly cabinet meeting, February 22, 1995. REUTERS/Michael Urban

6. German Chancellor Angela Merkel waits for India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Chancellery in Berlin, April 14, 2015.   REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

7. A combination picture shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel wearing jackets of different colours while attending various public events from August 2004 to August 2021.  REUTERS/Staff/File Photos

8. German Chancellor and head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Angela Merkel drinks a beer after her speech in a beer tent in Munich May 15, 2013. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

9. German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with U.S. President Barack Obama outside the Elmau castle in Kruen near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, June 8, 2015.     REUTERS/Michael Kappeler/Pool

10. Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 10, 2015. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

11. Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (R) chats with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel prior to a meeting over the Balkan refugee crisis with leaders from central and eastern Europe at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, October

12. A migrant takes a selfie with German Chancellor Angela Merkel outside a refugee camp near the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees after registration at Berlin's Spandau district, Germany September 10, 2015. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

13. German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a session at the lower house of parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, October 17, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

14. (L-R first row) Romania's President Traian Basescu, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, (L-R second row) Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, (L-R third row), Japanese Prime

15. (L-R) German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, French President Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker take part in a euro zone EU leaders

16. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives at the European Union (EU) council headquarters for an EU leaders summit discussing the EU's long-term budget in Brussels November 23, 2012. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

17. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May address a news conference following talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany July 20, 2016.   REUTERS/Stefanie Loos

18. Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain (centre L-R) , President Barack Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, and others watch the overtime shootout of the Chelsea vs.

19. French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a working dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, September 16, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

20. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, Britain, June 11, 2021. REUTERS/Phil Noble/Pool

21. U.S. President Barack Obama is welcomed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel upon his arrival at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, November 17, 2016.      REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

22. German Chancellor Angela Merkel rests her head in her hands, as she follows a debate with Labour Minister Franz Muentefering (L) at the German lower house of parliament Bundestag in Berlin June 14, 2007. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

23. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is welcomed by Slovakia's Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini before the summit of the Prime Ministers of the Visegrad Group and Germany in Bratislava, Slovakia, February 7, 2019.   REUTERS/David W Cerny

24. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a news conference following a meeting of the heads of international economy and finance organizations at the Chancellery in

25. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during news conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, June 1, 2017.    REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

26. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) talks with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy during a family photo session at a EU summit in Brussels March 13, 2008. REUTERS/Thierry Roge

27. German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks over at U.S. President George W. Bush during a news conference at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, November 10, 2007.  REUTERS/Jim Young

28. German Chancellor Angela Merkel fist bumps with a humanoid robot as Mexican First Lady Angelica Rivera de Pena and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto look on, at the booth of IBG at Hannover Messe, the trade fair in Hanover, Germany, April 23,

29. German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures during a election campaign in the western town of Soest April 26, 2010.   REUTERS/Ina Fassbender

30. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and museum director Piotr Cywinski walk past the "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate at the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland,

31. German Chancellor Angela Merkel walks as she attends the inauguration of memorial at the site of last year's truck attack in a Christmas market, which killed 12 people and injured many others, at Breitscheidplatz square in Berlin, Germany December

32. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, wearing a flak jacket, looks out of the door during her helicopter flight to the German ISAF headquarters in Masar-i-Sharif  north of the Afghanistan capital Kabul November 3, 2007, during her first visit to

33. German Chancellor Angela Merkel lights a candle at the memorial of the divided city and the victims of communist tyranny during a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Wall memorial on Bernauer Strasse in Berlin,

34. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) talks to German Bundeswehr armed forces soldiers with the Alpha platoon of the 2nd paratroop company 373 during a visit to an army camp in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, December 18, 2010.   REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

35. German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledges the applause as she receives an honorary Doctor of Laws degree during the 368th Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., May 30, 2019.   REUTERS/Brian Snyder

36. German Chancellor Angela Merkel feeds penguins at the Ozeaneum sea museum in Stralsund, May 6, 2011. Merkel adopted a female humboldt penguin at the aquarium and named it Alexandra.  REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz

37. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is reflected in a table as she arrives for a meeting with social workers in Berlin April 30, 2009. REUTERS/Johannes Eisele

38. Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (L) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wear 3D glasses during the opening ceremony of the CeBIT computer fair in Hanover March 1, 2010. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

39. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 17, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

40. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Britain's Queen Elizabeth smile as a robot waves during their visit at the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin) in Berlin, Germany June 24, 2015.    REUTERS/Michael Sohn/Pool

41. Pope Francis (R) gestures as he talks to German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a private audience at the Vatican, May 18, 2013. REUTERS/Gregorio Borgia/Pool

42. France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) gestures beside German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the start of a European Union leaders summit in Brussels March 25, 2010. REUTERS/Yves Herman

43. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (C) speaks with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) during a news conference following a summit to discuss the international financial crisis at the Elysee Palace October

44. German Chancellor Angela Merkel frowns as she is flanked by Hesse state Prime Minister Roland Koch (L) and German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung (R)  during an election campaign rally in Kassel September 21, 2009.      REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

45. German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and her husband Joachim Sauer (back) smile as they arrive to cast their votes for the general election in Berlin, September 27, 2009. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

46. Workers remove an advertisement showing German Chancellor Angela Merkel with a slogan that reads "Mother of Nation - Thanks For 16 Years of Hard Work" before the upcoming state elections in Hamburg, Germany September 24, 2021. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer