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2. Angela Merkel – German chancellor
Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German politician and former research scientist who has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005 and the Leader of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000. She is the first woman to hold either office. Merkel has been described as the de facto leader of the European Union, and was ranked as the world’s second most powerful person by Forbes magazine in 2012 and 2015, the highest ranking ever achieved by a woman.
