German Chancellor Angela Merkel Is TIME's 'Person of the Year' for 2015
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been hailed TIME magazine's "Person of the Year."
Angela Merkel, who served a pivotal role in providing solutions to Europe's immigration crisis and Greece's financial downturn, edged out seven other finalists: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, transgender Caitlyn Jenner, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and activist group Black Lives Matter.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was in second place, followed by Donald Trump in third, BBC noted Wednesday.
The announcement was made on the Wednesday broadcast of NBC's "Today Show' during which TIME Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs revealed that the 61-year-old world leader was selected for her active role in overcoming the economic crisis that swamped Europe this year as well as her strategy for dealing with the refugee crisis and terrorism threats.
"In a year where world leaders were tested all through the year, no one was tested the way she was, over and over again," Gibbs said. "The threat to European peace and security really fell to her."
Gibbs added that Angela Merkel has been "a very long-serving leader, the longest-serving in the west. She controls the world's fourth largest economy, but this year she really was tested in how she would respond to some of the most difficult challenges that any leader is facing in the world."
Angela Merkel, who was elected as Germany's chancellor in 2005, is the fourth individual woman to have been conferred the award. The other women named "Person of the Year" were Duchess of Windsor Wallis Simpson (1936), Queen Elizabeth II (1952), and the former Philippine president Corazon Aquino (1986).
In her "Person of the Year" article Gibbs wrote of Merkel, "By viewing the refugees as victims to be rescued rather than invaders to be repelled, the woman raised behind the Iron Curtain gambled on freedom. The pastor's daughter wielded mercy like a weapon."
TIME reported Wednesday that Germany led the way in solving the growing migrant crisis by opening its borders to 800,000 asylum-seekers.
