ABSTRACT
For Angela Merkel, 2015 was a year full of anniversaries. Europe’s longest-serving incumbent head of government celebrated a decade in power as Germany’s chancellor, and 15 years at the helm of her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Together with her fellow Germans, she also celebrated the quarter-century commemoration of her country’s peaceful reunification of East and West. And as Europe’s most influential leader, she observed how the Old Continent marked the 70th anniversary of Germany’s defeat on Victory in Europe (VE) Day, 8 May 1945, and remembered the end of the Second World War.
