Guido Westerwelle

Guido Westerwelle
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 28 October 2009 – 17 December 2013
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Succeeded by	Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Vice-Chancellor of Germany
In office 28 October 2009 – 16 May 2011
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Succeeded by	Philipp Rösler
Leader of the Free Democratic Party
In office 4 May 2001 – 13 May 2011
Preceded by	Wolfgang Gerhardt
Succeeded by	Philipp Rösler
Personal details
Born	(1961-12-27) 27 December 1961 Bad Honnef, Federal Republic of Germany (1949-1990)
Political party	Free Democratic Party
Domestic partner	Michael Mronz
Alma mater	University of Bonn Distance University of Hagen
Website	Official website

Guido Westerwelle (German: [ˈɡiːdo ˈvɛstɐˌvɛlə]; born 27 December 1961) is a German politician who served as the Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel and was Vice Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011. He is the first openly gay person to hold either of those positions. He had been the chairman of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) since May 2001, but stepped down in 2011.^[1] A lawyer by profession, he was member of the Bundestag from 1996 to 2013.

Early life and education

Guido Westerwelle was born in Bad Honnef in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He graduated from Ernst Moritz Arndt Gymnasium in 1980 after academic struggles resulted in his departure from previous institutions where he was considered an average student at best, but substandard otherwise.^[2] He studied law at the University of Bonn from 1980 to 1987. Following the First and Second State Law Examinations in 1987 and 1991 respectively, he began practising as an attorney in Bonn in 1991. In 1994, he earned a doctoral degree in law from FernUniversität Hagen.

Career in the FDP

Westerwelle joined the FDP in 1980. He was a founding member of the Junge Liberale, the youth organization of that party, and was its chairman from 1983 to 1988.

Having been a member of the Executive Board of the FDP since 1988, he first gained national prominence in 1994, when he was appointed Secretary General of the party. As such, he was a notable proponent of an unlimited free market economy and took a leading part in drafting a new party programme.

In 1996, Westerwelle was first elected a member of the Bundestag, filling in for Heinz Lanfermann, who had resigned from his seat after entering the Ministry of Justice. In 1998, he was re-elected to parliament.

In 2001, Westerwelle succeeded Wolfgang Gerhardt as party chairman. Gerhardt, however, remained chairman of the FDP's parliamentary group. Westerwelle, the youngest party chairman at the time, emphasized economics and education, and espoused a strategy initiated by his deputy Jürgen Möllemann, who, as chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalia branch of party, had led his party back into the state parliament, gaining 9.8% of the vote. This strategy, transferred to the federal level, was dubbed Project 18, referring both to the envisioned percentage and the German age of majority. Leading up to the 2002 elections, he positioned his party in equidistance to the major parties and refused to commit his party to a coalition with either the Christian Democrats or the Social Democrats. He was also declared the FDP's candidate for the office of chancellor. Since the FDP had never claimed such a candidacy (and hasn't done since) and had no chance of attaining it against the two major parties, this move was widely seen as flippant political marketing alongside other moves, such as driving around in a campaign van dubbed the Guidomobile, wearing the figure 18 on the soles of his shoes or appearance in the Big Brother TV show.^[3] Eventually, the federal elections yielded a slight increase of the FDP's vote from 6.8% to 7.4%. Despite this setback, he was reelected as party chairman in 2003.

Westerwelle speaking at an election rally in Hamm

In the federal elections of 2005, Westerwelle was his party's frontrunner. When neither Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats and Greens nor a coalition of Christian and Free Democrats, favored by Angela Merkel and Westerwelle, managed to gain a majority of seats, Westerwelle rejected overtures by Chancellor Schröder to save his chancellorship by entering his coalition, preferring to become one of the leaders of the disparate opposition of the subsequently formed "Grand Coalition" of Christian and Social Democrats, with Merkel as Chancellor. Westerwelle became a vocal critic of the new government. In 2006, according to an internal agreement, Westerwelle succeeded Wolfgang Gerhardt as chairman of the parliamentary group.

Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany

In the federal elections of 2009, Westerwelle committed his party to a coalition with Merkel's CDU/CSU, ruling out a coalition with Social Democrats and Greens, and led his party to unprecedented 14.6% share of the vote.^[4] In accordance with earlier announcements, he formed a coalition government with CDU/CSU.

On 28 October, he was sworn in as Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor, becoming the head of the Foreign Office.^[5][6][7] In 2010 he announced he wouldn't be taking his male partner to anti-gay countries.^[8]

His deputies at the Foreign Office are Werner Hoyer and Cornelia Pieper as Ministers of State. Hoyer previously held the same office in the Cabinet Kohl V.

By May 2011, his party had collapsed in several states, including Rhineland-Palatinate and Bremen where they failed to secure the 5% threshold necessary for a seat in parliament.^[9] Westerwelle then stepped down as party leader. By July the party was only receiving 3% support in opinion polls, a record low,^[10] reflecting what political insiders had called his "last stand" in January, comparing Westerwelle and his party to Captain Ahab and the Pequod.^[11]

During July 2011, Westerwelle was the President of the United Nations Security Council as he headed the German delegation to the United Nations.^[12]

Positions

Westerwelle is a staunch supporter of the free market and has proposed reforms to curtail the German welfare state and deregulate German labour law. In an interview in February 2003, Westerwelle described labor unions as a "plague on our country" and said union officials were "the pall bearers of the welfare state and of the prosperity in our country".^[13] He has called for substantial tax cuts and smaller government, in line with the general direction of his party. In 2001, he was one of the first politicians to push for a biometric passport.^[14]

He opposed Google Street View and stated "I will do all I can to prevent it."^[15]

Controversy

His party chairmanship has also seen considerable controversy. Critics inside and outside the FDP have accused him of focusing on public relations, as opposed to developing and promoting sound public policy, especially in the election campaign of 2002. Westerwelle himself, who was made party chairman particularly because his predecessor Wolfgang Gerhardt had been viewed by many as dull and stiff, has labelled his approach as Spaßpolitik (fun politics) in the past.^[16]

On 27 September 2009, at a press conference after the election, Westerwelle refused to answer a question in English from a BBC reporter, stating that "it is normal to speak German in Germany".^[17][18]

He made public statements in 2010 about the "welfare state",^[19] claiming that promising the people effortless prosperity may lead to "late Roman decadence", in reference to a verdict in the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany regarding Hartz IV. This caused quite a stir in Germany.

His official trips as foreign minister have included his partner Michael Mronz, an event manager, and Ralf Marohn, a partner in his brother's company,^[20] also causing controversy. Westerwelle and the FDP defended this by saying that it is normal for foreign ministers to take industry representatives on their trips, ignoring the fact that these particular representatives had a personal relationship with him.

In late November 2010, leaked U.S. diplomatic cables revealed that American diplomats considered Westerwelle an obstacle to deeper transatlantic relations and were sceptical of Westerwelle's abilities, with one cable comparing Westerwelle unfavorably to former German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.^[21]

"The Ministry and the Past"

In 2010, the Foreign Ministry released a report prepared for Westerwelle called "The Ministry and the Past", which alleged the ministry's collusion with the Nazis. Westerwelle said the report "shamed" the institution.^[22]

Espionage

On 3 December 2010, Westerwelle dismissed his personal assistant Helmut Metzner following a Wikileaks diplomatic cables release which led to Metzner admitting that he regularly spied for the Americans.^[23]

Personal life

Westerwelle (right) and his partner Michael Mronz (2009)

On 20 July 2004, Westerwelle attended Angela Merkel's 50th birthday party accompanied by his partner, Michael Mronz. It was the first time he had attended an official event with his partner.^[24] The couple registered their partnership on 17 September 2010 in a private ceremony in Bonn.^[25][26]

References

Bibliography

• Guido Westerwelle, the Liberals' Top Gun Profile in Deutsche Welle, 20 July 2005

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Guido Westerwelle.

• Westerwelle's personal website (in German)
• Westerwelle's website as member of the Bundestag (in German)
• Sustainable Development
• German federal election, 2009

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