”That was quite a statement for the Protestant pastor’s daughter, who grew up behind the Iron Curtain and lived through the fall of the Berlin Wall a quarter-century ago.At a time of growing uncertainty and division in Europe, the pragmatic quantum chemist whom Germans call Mutti, or mummy, preached fiscal rectitude and humanitarian principles, often drawing a mixed response.Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, more politely, stressed that while he had esteem for Ms Merkel, “Europe has to serve all 28 countries, not just one.Her unusually bold move to throw open Germany’s doors to Syrian refugees has particularly battered her long-stellar poll ratings at home, and left the leader of Europe’s top economy isolated on key issues in the 28-member EU.The country that once sent rail carriage-loads of people into concentration camps was now cheering as trains arrived packed with refugees from war-torn Syria, in moving TV footage seen around the world.The rise of Germany’s influence during Ms Merkel’s decade in power has often unsettled European neighbours..When an unyielding Ms Merkel told debt-hit eurozone members to slash public spending, she was caricatured as an austerity dominatrix in Nazi garb who deployed accountants rather than tanks.Ms Merkel was hailed as “Mama Merkel” by refugees who flocked to take selfies with her. “We can do this,” has been Ms Merkel’s mantra ever since, China bathroom shower shelf manufacturers as she has sought to instill courage in a country scrambling to welcome the one million newcomers who arrived this year.“I’ve never experienced such a rapid sequence of highly significant events.”Ms Merkel won over some of her harshest critics with her decision in September to open the doors to a record wave of refugees who were heading in, many on foot, from Budapest.Whether spearheading EU diplomacy with Moscow, bargaining with Athens over tough bail-out terms or responding to the world’s biggest refugee wave since World War II — Ms Merkel was in the middle, again and again.“2015 has been an incredible year, hard to comprehend really,” said the 61-year-old chancellor, who is not usually given to hyperbole, at a congress of her centre-right party this month.In a year of crises for Europe, from the Ukraine war to Greece’s debt turmoil to the historic refugee influx, Germany’s Angela Merkel emerged as the continent’s de facto leader, drawing more praise and fire than ever.

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