How The 2010s Were Angela Merkel's Decade

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is not known for being a passionate speaker, touting big ideas or earnest promises. Her personality type would not make her a great candidate for, say, president of the United States.
"She's not a charismatic type," says Stefan Kornelius, who has written a biography about Merkel. But "[German] people don't want to have the visionary thing and being led with flying flags. They just want to have predictability and the guarantee that things are calm and under control, and she gave that guarantee for pretty much all of her rule."
Germany's chancellor since 2005, Merkel says she won't seek reelection in 2021 and has already stepped down as leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union Party. Looking back at her long tenure, the past decade has particularly tested her leadership over the European Union's largest economy. It kicked off with a global financial crisis that threatened to break up the EU. Then by mid-decade, Russia's intervention in Ukraine and a historic influx of refugees, and later, a surge of populist movements across Europe further challenged the continent's cohesion.