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'A Role Model': Obama Pays Tribute to Merkel During Her Final EU Summit

European and international political leaders paid tribute to the outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel on October 22, as a meeting of the European Council – the 107th that Merkel participated in – drew to a close.

European Council President Charles Michel described Merkel as “a monument” and a “compass and a shining light of our European project,” Reuters reported.

Michel later posted a video from former US President Barack Obama in which Obama lauded Merkel as a “role model” and said he had been proud to award her the US Medal of Freedom for her “commitment to what the alliance between the United States, Germany, and Europe can mean to the world.”

Obama said he had been “privileged” to have been able to draw on Merkel’s “wise pragmatism and unrelenting moral compass” as they faced "a series of crises.

“Thanks to you, the center has held through many storms,” Obama said. Credit: Barack Obama via Storyful