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The "Pantone Merkel", also known as the "many shades of Merkel" or "Merkel Rainbow", is a compilation of photos of Angela Merkel, former chancellor of Germany, collected by Dutch graphic designer Noortje van Eekelen. [1] It consists of an overview of Merkel's jackets arranged into a chart by colour in a manner similar to the Pantone color chart. The "Pantone Merkel" also includes captions describing the locations and dates the photos were taken.
The series is composed of 100 different news photos of public moments and has become one of the most widely recognized symbols of Merkel, including many variations and imitations. [2] The project went viral and gained considerable media attention via social media [3] and was published by many international websites, magazines [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] and newspapers, including The Guardian , [10] [11] The New York Times , [12] and The Telegraph . [13]
The Pantone Merkel was created as part of the project "The Spectacle of the Tragedy," [14] a website with collected and repurposed images identifying the politicians who navigate the Eurozone crisis. The project was made as part of van Eekelen's Master of Design at the Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam, and is generally described as a satire of the crisis. [15] The project approaches the Eurozone crisis through a wide variety of disciplines, such as fashion, [16] [17] [18] [19] art, [20] design, [21] [22] [23] [24] journalism, [25] [26] [27] politics, [28] [29] [30] and economics. [31] The purpose of The Spectacle of the Tragedy is to generate a platform to reflect on the euro crisis, by "[telling] a visual story about the politicians that navigate the Euro crisis" and giving readers "an insight into their irresponsible behavior". [32] The project can be interpreted as an entertaining diversion [33] [34] and commentary on how our European leaders [35] are trying to secure financial security in the eurozone.
In contrast to many female celebrities and public figures, Merkel is known for purchasing and repeatedly wearing her own formal clothes. In 2014 the newspaper Bild praised Merkel for attending a formal event in a tunic she had owned since at least 1996. [36] [37]
In (online) discussions, the "Pantone Merkel" is often compared to the "Diamond Jubilee Colour Guide" by Pantone [38] and Leo Burnett London. [39] The Pantone Merkel has been imitated several times by various parties, including Reuters [40] and the German Bild; [41] it has also been shown in different exhibitions [22] [42] [43] and lectures. [44] [45] [46] [47] The artistic approach of the Pantone Merkel was followed by the Dutch image editor Frank Schallmaier, who reached a large audience in December 2013 with a series of photos called "De hand van Hollande". [48]
Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021 and was the first woman to hold that office. She previously served as Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union from 2000 to 2018. During her chancellorship, Merkel was frequently referred to as the de facto leader of the European Union (EU) and the most powerful woman in the world. Beginning in 2016, she was often described as the leader of the free world.
Wolfgang Schäuble was a German politician whose political career spanned more than five decades. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the longest-serving member of any democratic German parliament. Schäuble served as the 13th president of the Bundestag from 2017 to 2021.
Martin Schulz is a German politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany from 1994 to 2017 and a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. During his tenure he was Leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats from 2004 to 2012, President of the European Parliament from 2012 to 2017 and Leader of the Social Democratic Party from 2017 to 2018.
The president of the European Central Bank is the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), the main institution responsible for the management of the euro and monetary policy in the Eurozone of the European Union (EU)
Peer Steinbrück is a German politician who was the Chancellor-candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the 2013 federal election. Steinbrück served as the eighth Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2002 to 2005, a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2016, and as Federal Minister of Finance in the first Cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2009.
Horst Lorenz Seehofer is a German politician who served as Minister for the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), he served as the 18th minister-president of Bavaria from 2008 to 2018 and Leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria from 2008 to 2019.
Karl Ernst Thomas de Maizière is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2018, as well as Federal Minister of Defence from 2011 to 2013. He previously served as Head of the Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Affairs in the First Merkel cabinet from 2005 to 2009. Since 2009, he has been a member of the Bundestag for Meißen.
Federal elections were held on 22 September to elect the members of the 18th Bundestag of Germany. At stake were all 598 seats to the Bundestag, plus 33 overhang seats determined thereafter. The Christian Democratic Union of Germany/Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CDU/CSU) of incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel won their best result since 1990 with nearly 42% of the vote and nearly 50% of the seats, just five short for an overall majority. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) failed to meet the 5% vote electoral threshold in what was their worst showing ever in a federal election, denying them seats in the Bundestag for the first time in their history.
The European debt crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis, was a multi-year debt crisis that took place in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone member states were unable to repay or refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks under their national supervision without the assistance of third parties like other eurozone countries, the European Central Bank (ECB), or the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
From late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis in some European states developed, with the situation becoming particularly tense in early 2010. Greece was most acutely affected, but fellow Eurozone members Cyprus, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain were also significantly affected. In the EU, especially in countries where sovereign debt has increased sharply due to bank bailouts, a crisis of confidence has emerged with the widening of bond yield spreads and risk insurance on credit default swaps between these countries and other EU members, most importantly Germany.
Jeroen René Victor Anton Dijsselbloem is a Dutch politician and economist serving as Mayor of Eindhoven since 13 September 2022, succeeding John Jorritsma (VVD). A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), he has also been Chairman of the supervisory board of Wageningen University since 1 April 2019.
Gerda Hasselfeldt is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who served as deputy chairperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and chairwoman of the Bundestag group of CSU parliamentarians. Following her departure from active politics, she became President of the German Red Cross in 2018.
The Euro summit is the meeting of the heads of state or government of the member states of the eurozone. It is distinct from the EU summit held regularly by the European Council, the meeting of all EU leaders.
The Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union; also referred to as TSCG, or more plainly the Fiscal Stability Treaty is an intergovernmental treaty introduced as a new stricter version of the Stability and Growth Pact, signed on 2 March 2012 by all member states of the European Union (EU), except the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. The treaty entered into force on 1 January 2013 for the 16 states which completed ratification prior to this date. As of 3 April 2019, it had been ratified and entered into force for all 25 signatories plus Croatia, which acceded to the EU in July 2013, and the Czech Republic.
A Greek withdrawal from the eurozone was a hypothetical scenario, debated mostly in the early to mid 2010s, under which Greece would withdraw from the Eurozone to deal with the Greek government-debt crisis of the time. This conjecture was given the nickname "Grexit", a portmanteau combining the English words 'Greek' and 'exit', and which has been expressed in Greek as ελλέξοδος. The term "Graccident" was coined for the case that Greece exited the EU and the euro unintentionally. These terms first came into use in 2012 and have been revitalised at each of the bailouts made available to Greece after that.
The Merkel-Raute, termed the Merkel diamond or Triangle of Power by English-speaking media, is a hand gesture made by resting one's hands in front of the stomach so that the fingertips meet, with the thumbs and index fingers forming a rough quadrangular shape. This signature gesture of Angela Merkel, former Chancellor of Germany, has been described as "probably one of the most recognisable hand gestures in the world".
Peter Hintze was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the German Bundestag from 1990 until his death in 2016.
Markus Thomas Theodor Söder is a German politician serving as Minister-President of Bavaria since 2018 and Leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) since 2019.
The foreign policy of the Angela Merkel government has been the foreign policy of Germany when Merkel was in office as Chancellor of Germany from November 2005 to December 2021. During Merkel's chancellorship, Merkel has personally been highly active in the field of the foreign policy. She named Frank-Walter Steinmeier to serve as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009; the office was subsequently held by Guido Westerwelle from 2009 to 2013, and again by Steinmeier from 2013. He was succeeded by Sigmar Gabriel in 2017, who was himself succeeded by Heiko Maas in 2018.