 |
Guido WesterwelleVice-Chancellor and Federal Foreign Minister of Germany
Date of Birth: 27.12.1961
Country:  Germany |
Content:
Biography of Guido Westerwelle
Guido Westerwelle was born on December 27, 1961, in the West German city of Bad Honnef. His parents, Heinz and Erika Westerwelle, were both lawyers who divorced when Guido was eight years old. He lived with his father after the divorce. During his school years, Westerwelle developed an interest in horseback riding and politics. In 1980, he graduated from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Gymnasium in Bonn and joined the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP). That same year, he enrolled at the University of Bonn, where he studied law. Westerwelle passed his state legal exams in 1987 and 1991, and practiced law in Bonn until 1996. In 1994, he defended his dissertation on "Party Law and Political Youth Organizations" to earn his Doctor of Law degree from the Fernuniversitat in Hagen. Alongside his studies, Westerwelle was involved in politics. He was one of the founding members of the Young Liberals, the youth wing of the FDP. In 1983, he was elected leader of the Young Liberals and became a member of the FDP's executive committee in 1988.
Political Career
Westerwelle actively supported the exchange of East German marks for West German marks at a 1:1 ratio during the reunification of Germany in 1990. Although this exchange caused production problems in the former East Germany, Westerwelle argued that it was necessary for the reunification process. From 1993 to 2000, Westerwelle served as chairman of the FDP's Bonn city branch. In 1994, he was appointed secretary-general of the FDP and became a member of the Bundestag, the German parliament, in 1996. In May 2001, Westerwelle was elected chairman of the FDP and became the first party leader to position the FDP as a major political force. He ran as the FDP's candidate for chancellor in the 2002 parliamentary elections. However, the FDP only received 6% of the votes, instead of the projected 18%. The party's rating was also affected by anti-Semitic remarks made by one of its regional leaders, Juergen Moellemann, shortly before the elections.
In 2006, Westerwelle replaced Wolfgang Gerhardt as the head of the FDP's parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Before the 2009 elections, Westerwelle criticized the Social Democratic Party's (SPD) tax policies, arguing that they placed a heavy burden on the middle class. He called for tax cuts and advocated for weakening worker protection against dismissals and eliminating it altogether for small and medium-sized businesses. In the parliamentary elections held in September 2009, the FDP received 14.5% of the votes. It was expected that the FDP, together with Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), would form a coalition government, replacing the SPD-led coalition. Westerwelle was appointed Vice Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the new government.
Political Views and Personal Life
Westerwelle campaigned against German bureaucracy and was a vocal critic of trade unions, calling for their powers to be reduced. In foreign policy, he advocated for the swift withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan, the removal of US nuclear missiles from German territory, and opposed Turkey's accession to the European Union. Westerwelle also opposed the involvement of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the "Nord Stream" project, claiming that Schroeder had given a job to the company involved in the project and then joined it himself.
Westerwelle was an openly gay politician. He first publicly appeared with his partner, sports manager Michael Mronz, in 2004. Some critics accused him of using his homosexuality as a political performance, believing that it would not harm the FDP's reputation. According to his official biography, Westerwelle had a passion for music, books, and contemporary art. He also enjoyed horseback riding, running, beach volleyball, and mountain biking. Westerwelle held an honorary doctorate from Hanyang University in Seoul and was a member of the board of directors of the transatlantic cooperation organization Atlantik-Brucke and the board of trustees of the German AIDS Foundation.
