Brussels 22.10.2021 Merkel has attended a staggering number of 107 EU Summits in Brussels that saw some of the biggest twists in recent European history, including the eurozone debt crisis, an inflow of Syrian refugees, Brexit and the creation of the bloc’s landmark pandemic recovery fund.

“You are a monument,” the incumbent President of the EU Council and the host of the Summits Charles Michel, said in the closed-door homage to her, according to an official in the room.

An EU summit “without Angela is like Rome without the Vatican or Paris without the Eiffel tower,” Michel said after Merkel’s 26 counterparts gave her a standing ovation.

The gift given by the European Council President Charles Michel to departing Merkel and Lovren to mark their last ever summits. It’s a representation of the “Lantern” of the Europa Building in Brussels.