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In late November 2010, [[United States diplomatic cables leak|leaked US diplomatic cables]] revealed that American diplomats considered Westerwelle an obstacle to deeper [[Germany – United States relations|transatlantic]] relations and were skeptical of Westerwelle's abilities, with one cable comparing Westerwelle unfavorably to former German foreign minister [[Hans-Dietrich Genscher]].<ref>{{cite web|author=|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,731645-2,00.html|title=How America Views the Germans|publisher=[[Der Spiegel]] |date=30 November 2010 |accessdate=30 November 2010}}</ref>.
In late November 2010, [[United States diplomatic cables leak|leaked US diplomatic cables]] revealed that American diplomats considered Westerwelle an obstacle to deeper [[Germany – United States relations|transatlantic]] relations and were skeptical of Westerwelle's abilities, with one cable comparing Westerwelle unfavorably to former German foreign minister [[Hans-Dietrich Genscher]].<ref>{{cite web|author=|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,731645-2,00.html|title=How America Views the Germans|publisher=[[Der Spiegel]] |date=30 November 2010 |accessdate=30 November 2010}}</ref>.

On December 3 2010, Westerwelle dismissed his personal assistant Helmut Metzner following a [[Wikileaks]] diplomatic cables release which led to Helmut Metzner admitting that he regularly spied for the Americans. <ref>{{cite web|author=|url=http://euobserver.com/9/31416?=Heads start rolling in WikiLeaks affair
|publisher=[[EU Observer]] |date=03 December 2010 |accessdate=03 December 2010}}</ref>


==Personal life==
==Personal life==

Revision as of 11:52, 3 December 2010

Guido Westerwelle
Westerwelle arriving at Hamm, during the 2009 campaign.
Vice-Chancellor of Germany
Incumbent
Assumed office
28 October 2009
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded byFrank-Walter Steinmeier
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
28 October 2009
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded byFrank-Walter Steinmeier
Chairman of the Free Democratic Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 May 2001
Preceded byWolfgang Gerhardt
Personal details
Born (1961-12-27) 27 December 1961 (age 62)
Bad Honnef, West Germany (now Germany)
Political partyFree Democratic Party
Domestic partnerMichael Mronz
Residence(s)Berlin (Official)
Bonn (Private)
Alma materUniversity of Bonn
Distance University of Hagen
ProfessionLawyer
Websiteguido-westerwelle.de

Guido Westerwelle [German pronunciation: [ˈɡiːdo ˈvɛstɐˌvɛlə]] (born 27 December 1961) is a German liberal politician, currently serving as the Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel (since 28 October 2009). He is the first openly gay person to hold either of those positions. Since 2001, he has been the chairman of the Free Democratic Party of Germany. A lawyer by profession, he has been a Member of Parliament since 1996.

Early life and education

Guido Westerwelle was born in Bad Honnef in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. After graduating from Gymnasium in 1980, 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 practicing as an attorney in Bonn in 1991. In 1994, he earned a doctoral degree in law from FernUniversität Hagen. Today, he is frank about his homosexuality and lives together with his partner Michael Mronz. Until 2004 he was not openly gay, although this was fairly common knowledge in the general public.

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 the drafting of a new party programme.

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

In 2001, he succeeded Wolfgang Gerhardt as party chairman, who 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 and Social Democrats. He was also declared the FDP's candidate for the office of chancellor. Since the FDP had never claimed such a candicacy (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 Guidomobile, wearing the figure 18 on the soles of his shoes or appearance in the Big Brother TV show.[1] 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 the Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats and Greens nor a coalition of Christian and Free Democrats, favoured 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 and preferred to become one of the leaders of the disparate opposition of the subsequently formed Grand coalition of Christian and Social Democrats under Chancellor Angela Merkel. 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 Dr Merkel's CDU/CSU, ruling out a coalition with Social Democrats and Greens, and led his party to unprecedented 14.6%.[2] In accordance with earlier announcements, he formed a coalition government with CDU/CSU. On October 28 he was sworn in as Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor, becoming the head of the Foreign Office.[3][4][5]

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.

Positions

Westerwelle is a staunch supporter of the free market and has proposed reforms to curtail the German welfare state and deregulate German labor law. In an interview in February 2003, Westerwelle described trade 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".[6] He has called for substantial tax cuts and smaller government, in line with the general direction of his party. He was one of the first politicians to push for a biometric passport already in 2001 [7]

He opposes Google Street View and stated "I will do all I can to prevent it.".[8]

Controversy

His 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 labeled his approach as Spaßpolitik (fun politics) in the past.[9]

At a press conference on 27 September 2009, after the election, Westerwelle refused to answer a question in English from a BBC reporter, claiming that "it is normal to speak German in Germany".[10][11]

His public statements in 2010 about the "welfare state",[12] comparing the lifestyle of Hartz IV welfare receivers to "late Roman decadence", have caused quite a stir in Germany.

The fact that his official trips as foreign minister included his partner Michael Mronz, an event manager, as well as Ralf Marohn, a partner in his brother's company,[13] have also caused some 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 the issue the public had was that these representatives had a personal relation to the foreign minister.

In late November 2010, leaked US diplomatic cables revealed that American diplomats considered Westerwelle an obstacle to deeper transatlantic relations and were skeptical of Westerwelle's abilities, with one cable comparing Westerwelle unfavorably to former German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.[14].

On December 3 2010, Westerwelle dismissed his personal assistant Helmut Metzner following a Wikileaks diplomatic cables release which led to Helmut Metzner admitting that he regularly spied for the Americans. [15]

Personal life

On 20 July 2004, Westerwelle attended Angela Merkel's 50th birthday party accompanied by his partner, businessman Michael Mronz, thereby tacitly acknowledging that he was gay. It was the first time that he attended an official event with his partner.[16] The couple registered their partnership on 17 September 2010 in a private ceremony in Bonn.[17][18]

Michael Mronz (left) and his long time partner, German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle (2009)
  • Guido Westerwelle is the main-subject of the song 18 == 100[19] by German Singer-Songwriter Evan Freyer. The song is about the possibility of Westerwelle becoming the chancellor of Germany.

References

  1. ^ sueddeutsche.de GmbH, Munich, Germany. "FDP-Kanzlerkandidat - „Eher wird Pieper Päpstin als Westerwelle Kanzler" - Deutschland". sueddeutsche.de. Retrieved 2010-04-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Übersicht". Bundeswahlleiter.de. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  3. ^ Handelsblatt, Düsseldorf, Germany (2009-10-16). "Der schwarz-gelbe Showdown beginnt - Politik - Deutschland". Handelsblatt.com. Retrieved 2010-04-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ "German elections seen triggering brief stocks rally". Reuters. 2009-09-27. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  5. ^ [1][dead link‍]
  6. ^ Brinkmann, Hans (22 February 2003). "WESTERWELLE-Interview für die "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung"" (in German). Archived from the original on 13 December 2009. {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Zeh, Juli (21 August 2009). "Angriff auf die Freiheit" (in German). {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ German Foreign Minister joins criticism of Google's mapping program
  9. ^ "Guido Westerwelle, Germany's Mittelman". TIME. 2009-09-07. Retrieved 2010-06-25. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  10. ^ "Future foreign minister Westerwelle refuses to answer English question". thelocal.de. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  11. ^ Off to the Auswärtiges Amt The Economist 1 October 2009
  12. ^ "Dekadenz-Sprüche: Westerwelles explosives Oppositions-Recycling - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Politik". Spiegel.de. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  13. ^ "Liberaler Klüngel: FDP-Reiseaffäre weitet sich aus - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Politik". Spiegel.de. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  14. ^ "How America Views the Germans". Der Spiegel. 30 November 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  15. ^ . EU Observer. 03 December 2010 start rolling in WikiLeaks affair http://euobserver.com/9/31416?=Heads start rolling in WikiLeaks affair. Retrieved 03 December 2010. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ^ "Out is In Among German Politicians". Deutsche Welle. 2004-07-23. Retrieved 2007-06-27.
  17. ^ "Bild article (in German)". 2010-09-17.
  18. ^ http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-17/germany-s-westerwelle-enters-civil-partnership-bild-says.html "Germany’s Westerwelle Enters Civil Partnership, Bild Says," BusinessWeek, 17 Sept. 2010.
  19. ^ "Song-Lyrics". Evan Freyer at Bandcamp. Retrieved 2010-06-23.

Bibliography

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