--- title: Angela Merkel Is on the 2020 TIME 100 List description: Find out why Angela Merkel is one of the 100 most influential people of 2020. canonical: https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888319/angela-merkel/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-09-22T18:33:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-21T07:22:42.463Z og:title: Angela Merkel: The 100 Most Influential People of 2020 og:description: Find out why Angela Merkel is on this year’s list og:url: https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888319/angela-merkel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt259f30de39c1a569/698a124d22fb856c0fe2b6bf/time-100-Angela-Merkel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Angela Merkel: The 100 Most Influential People of 2020 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Angela Merkel: The 100 Most Influential People of 2020 twitter:description: Find out why Angela Merkel is on this year’s list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt259f30de39c1a569/698a124d22fb856c0fe2b6bf/time-100-Angela-Merkel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 22, 2020 # Angela Merkel by Ursula von der Leyen  La canciller alemana Angela Merkel camina hacia la Cancillería acompañada de sus guardaespaldas, el miércoles 13 de mayo de 2020\. (Michael Kappeler/dpa vía AP) La canciller alemana Angela Merkel camina hacia la Cancillería acompañada de sus guardaespaldas, el miércoles 13 de mayo de 2020\. (Michael Kappeler/dpa vía AP)Michael Kappeler—dpa/AP [Angela Merkel](https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/ "undefined") is an unusual politician. Many are fond of quick fixes and crowd-pleasing slogans, but Angela likes complex problems. She has the capacity to factor in many external and internal considerations when working toward a solution. She takes a long view and, where possible, avoids saying too much too soon. As a minister in her government from 2005, I was able to benefit on a number of occasions from her strategic patience. When I was convinced by an idea or a project and wanted to forge ahead, she would simply say, “You’re taking the right course. But let’s wait a bit.” And when the time was right, I could always rely on her. Angela is a tough negotiator. Despite all her years in office, she can still look any opposite number in the eye. She achieves her negotiating goals in ways that also allow all [parties to reach compromise](https://time.com/5440147/merkel-europe-politics-exclusion/ "undefined"). We saw this play out in the [financial crisis](https://time.com/3980384/germany-europe-greece-crisis/ "undefined"), the euro crisis and now the [coronavirus crisis](https://time.com/5812555/germany-coronavirus-deaths/ "undefined"). Although she is sparing with her words, people all over the world know that [they can trust Angela](https://time.com/5793794/angela-merkel-100-women-of-the-year/ "undefined"), especially when a storm is gathering. Crises always help separate the wheat from the chaff, including in government. That she is being honored today says everything you need to know. _Von der Leyen is president of the European Commission_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888319/angela-merkel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888319/angela-merkel/"},"headline":"Angela Merkel","datePublished":"2020-09-22T18:33:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:42.463Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888319/angela-merkel/","keywords":["TIME 100","T100 2020","T100 2020 Leaders"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt259f30de39c1a569/698a124d22fb856c0fe2b6bf/time-100-Angela-Merkel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt259f30de39c1a569/698a124d22fb856c0fe2b6bf/time-100-Angela-Merkel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888319/angela-merkel/","name":"Angela Merkel"}}]}] ```