"An unfuckable lard-arse," is how Silvio Berlusconi is alleged to have referred to Germany's first female leader. "She says she is on a diet and then helps herself to a second helping of cheese," is what Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly said to another European leader about the European Union's de facto ruler. Yet while their careers were mired in sex scandals, corruption enquiries and voter rage, Angela Merkel continues to reign supreme.

German media has often drawn comparisons between Merkel and that other strong female leader, Margaret Thatcher. "Frau Germania", "Iron Lady" and even "Maggie Merkel" are just some of the headlines that have greeted Merkel in recent years. Like Thatcher, Merkel has certainly not been ashamed to put her own country's interests first, sometimes vociferously so.

Merkel had already been called "the most powerful woman in the world" by Time magazine. But now gender-specifics have been disposed of as Merkel's handling of the Eurozone crisis and assured response to the Ukraine situation has won plaudits across the political spectrum as she bats away her rivals with ease. No wonder the New York Times now calls her Europe's "most powerful political figure".

One story is particularly illuminating about Merkel's unease with the traditional willy-waving machismo of foreign politics. Knowing full well of Merkel's fear of dogs, Vladimir Putin made sure that his black Labrador entered the room during the press conference for her visit to his Sochi presidential residence in 2007. Merkel sat frozen with fear as the dog sniffed at her. Her pithy response to reporters? "I understand why he has to do this — to prove he's a man," she said. "He's afraid of his own weakness. Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this."

Cool, calm and collected, Merkel has maintained the affections of ordinary Germans by making great virtue of her simple home life and domestic qualities. Married to publicity-shy quantum chemist Joachim Sauer – the 'Merkel' comes from her first marriage – she often used to brag about her cooking and baking qualities during her early public life. She purportedly makes a fantastic potato soup and beef loaf, with a plum cake her signature dish. While a junior minister in the cabinet of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl (who used to refer to Merkel as "my girl"), she was still able to have two or three baking weekends each plum season.

Though born in West Germany, Merkel spent most of her youth in East Germany, where her father, a Lutheran pastor, received a pastorate in the rural town of Quitzow, in Brandenberg. Like most young East Germans, she was a member of the Free German Youth, the official youth movement of the ruling Socialist Unity Party. Yet, as even Merkel herself only found out recently, her father was born a Catholic and her grandfather was of Polish origin. Merkel could have grown up as Angela Kazmierczak since it was the Kazmierczak family who had immigrated to Berlin after the end of the First World War. Following common practice, the family germanised their name to Kasner in the 1930s. When Merkel's Polish ancestry was revealed, a long-lost second cousin contacted the Chancellor and invited her for dinner. She is yet to take up the invitation.

Despite infighting paralysing her cabinet during her early years, Merkel managed to lead Europe's economic heart to its dominant position, while steering the European Union through its most existential crisis ever. Resisting calls to flood the European market with a greater money supply, Merkel has instead doggedly insisted on the implementation of her own policies in the Eurozone's stricken countries: assistance, with the promise of reform.

Yet Merkel's austerity policies are by no means popular in those countries where they have been most stringently applied, with some wondering whether the cure is worse than the disease. Syriza's overwhelming victory in the recent Greek election seemed to beckon an end to Merkel's monopoly on EU policy. "The viscous cycle of austerity is over," declared Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras on the day of his party's election win. Anti-austerity sentiment is running equally high in Spain, Italy and France. But despite all the bluster, Syriza backed away from exiting the EU and a four-month extension to the bailout program was agreed.

"There is no alternative," has been Merkel's mantra throughout the Eurozone crisis. Yet some Germans fear that this phrase may soon come to describe the German political scene where Merkel has now reigned supreme for ten years. A political consensus built on a foundation of economic success and an unusually popular leader who, at the period when most political leaders seem to lose contact with reality, is still firmly in touch with public opinion is not a situation where opposition thrives. While the anti-Islam party Pegida may be attracting thousands to their rallies, they are unlikely to see widespread success across the country. Merkel may still dominate the German and European political scene for a while yet.