| Hans-Gert Pöttering | |
|---|---|
| 23rd President of the European Parliament | |
| In office 16 January 2007 – 14 July 2009 |
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| Vice President | |
| Preceded by | Josep Borrell |
| Succeeded by | Jerzy Buzek |
| Leader of the European People's Party-European Democrats | |
| In office 20 July 1999 – 16 January 2007 |
|
| Preceded by | Wilfried Martens |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Daul |
| Member of the European Parliament for Germany |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 17 July 1979 |
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| Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 4 December 2009 |
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| Preceded by | Bernhard Vogel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 September 1945 Bersenbrück, Germany |
| Political party | Christian Democratic Union |
| Children | Johannes Benedict |
| Residence | Bad Iburg, Germany |
| Alma mater | University of Bonn University of Geneva Graduate Institute of International Studies Columbia University |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Website | Official website |
Hans-Gert Pöttering (born 15 September 1945) is a German conservative politician (CDU, European People's Party), and was the President of the European Parliament from January 2007 to July 2009. On 4 December 2009 he was elected Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
He has served as a Member of the European Parliament continuously since the first elections in 1979 and thus is its longest-serving member, and was Chairman of the European People's Party-European Democrats 1999–2007.
He is a member of the Reconciliation of European Histories Group.[1]
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He studied law, political science and history in University of Bonn, the University of Geneva, the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva and at Columbia University in New York. He took his first state exam in jurisprudence in 1973, earned a PhD in political science and history in 1974 and took his second state exam in jurisprudence in 1976.
He has been a member of the European Parliament since 1979, the only member of the European Parliament to have served continuously since the first elections.
From 1984 to 1994 he was chairman of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence. From 1994 to 1996 he chaired the working group on the Intergovernmental Conference of the European People's Party (EPP) and EPP-ED Group, the results of which became the official EPP position for the Treaty of Amsterdam.
In 1994 he became Vice-President of the EPP, and from 1999 to 2007 he was the Chairman of the EPP-ED Group in the European Parliament. He was the top candidate of the CDU in the 2004 European elections. He also is a member of the Executive Board (Präsidium) of the CDU.
He is Deputy Chairman of the Advisory Board of A Soul for Europe.
As part of a deal with the socialist group, it was agreed that he would succeed Josep Borrell Fontelles as President of the European Parliament in the second part of this term, which he did on 16 January 2007. He was elected with 450 of 689 valid votes, and defeated Italian Green Monica Frassoni, Danish Eurosceptic Jens-Peter Bonde and French Communist Francis Wurtz.
Pöttering is known as an enthusiastic European Federalist and an ally of Angela Merkel. He has stated that his priority will be to rejuvenate the European Constitution.
Pöttering has received the Robert Schuman Medal of EPP-ED, the Grand Order of Merit of Germany, the Grand Decoration of the Republic of Austria, the Mérite Européen en or of Luxembourg, the European Honorary Senator, the ‘MEP of the year 2004’, award given by the newspaper ‘European Voice’, an Honorary Doctorate from Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Opole, Poland, the Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great,Grand Order of Queen Jelena with Sash and Star, Croatia, the Walter Hallstein Prize 2007, Frankfurt am Main, European Excellence Award 2008 of the Autonomous Community of Madrid ('Premio a la Excelencia Europea 2008'), and the Grand Ernst Moritz Arndt Medal of the Pomeranian Exiles Association. On Tuesday 24 June he was awarded the 'Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana', the highest honour of the Republic of Italy, at a ceremony conducted by the Italian State President, Giorgio Napolitano.
He lives in Brussels in Belgium. Pöttering is Roman Catholic, divorced and has two sons.[2]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Wilfried Martens |
Leader of the European People's Party-European Democrats 1999–2007 |
Succeeded by Joseph Daul |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Josep Borrell |
President of the European Parliament 2007–2009 |
Succeeded by Jerzy Buzek |
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