Hans-Gert Pöttering
German lawyer, historian and conservative politician (born 1945)
Hans-Gert Pöttering (born 15 September 1945) is a German lawyer, historian and conservative politician (CDU, European People's Party), who served as President of the European Parliament from January 2007 to July 2009 and as Chairman of the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation from 2010 to 2017.2
From Wikipedia’s article on Hans-Gert Pöttering (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born Sep 15, 1945.1
About
He served as a Member of the European Parliament continuously since the first elections in 1979 until 2014 and was Chairman of the European People's Party-European Democrats 1999–2007. When he stepped down in 2014 he was the European Parliament's longest-serving member. As president of the European Parliament, he proposed the creation of the House of European History museum in Brussels.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hans-Gert Pöttering, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2
Companies
- Konrad Adenauer FoundationChair 2010 to 201817
Early life and education
- Date not recordedArtland-Gymnasium3
- Date not recordedUniversity of Bonn3
- Date not recordedColumbia University3
- Date not recordedUniversity of Geneva3
Pöttering never got to know his father who was killed in action during the last days of the Second World War. After Abitur and military service, he studied law, political science and history at the 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 with a dissertation on West German defence policy in the 1950s and 1960s and took his second state exam in jurisprudence in 1976, fully qualifying as an attorney.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hans-Gert Pöttering (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Career
Occupation: politician, university teacher.9
- 2010 to 2018Chair, Konrad Adenauer Foundation8
- 2009 to 2014Member of the European Parliament6
- 2007 to 2009President of the European Parliament6
- 2004 to 2009Member of the European Parliament6
- 1999 to 2004Member of the European Parliament6
- 1999 to 2007Chair, European People's Party Group7
- 1994 to 1999Member of the European Parliament6
- 1989 to 1994Member of the European Parliament6
- 1984 to 1989Member of the European Parliament6
- 1979 to 1984Member of the European Parliament6
- Date not recordedWorked at Osnabrück University4
- Date not recordedFounded Hans-Gert-Pöttering-Europa-Preis5
- Date not recordedPresident, Konrad Adenauer Foundation6
Known for: Hans-Gert-Pöttering-Europa-Preis.10
Later career
On 4 December 2009, Pöttering was elected Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation from 1 January 2010; he was succeeded by Norbert Lammert in 2018.
When the EPP membership of Hungarian party Fidesz was suspended in 2019, EPP president Joseph Daul appointed Pöttering – alongside Herman van Rompuy and Wolfgang Schüssel – to a group of high-level experts who were mandated to monitor Fidesz's compliance with EPP values.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hans-Gert Pöttering (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Personal life
Pöttering lives in Bad Iburg, Germany. He is Roman Catholic, divorced and has two sons.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hans-Gert Pöttering (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Politics
Political career
Member of the European Parliament, 1979–2014
Pöttering was a member of the European Parliament from 1979 until 2014. By the end of this period, he was the only member of the European Parliament to have served continuously since the first elections.
From 1984 to 1994, Pöttering 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, Pöttering 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 and the 2009 European elections.
Together with Volker Hassemer, he is a member of the advisory board of the pro-European initiative "A Soul for Europe". He was a member of the Reconciliation of European Histories Group.
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President of the European Parliament, 2007–2009
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 the 2004–2009 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.
As President of the European Parliament, he initiated the House of European History project. He made reference to the House in his inaugural speech in 2007.
For many years, he has been the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the House of European History in Brussels.
Political positions
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.
In February 2020, Pöttering joined around fifty former European prime ministers and foreign ministers in signing an open letter published by British newspaper The Guardian to condemn U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan, saying it would create an apartheid-like situation in occupied Palestinian territory.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hans-Gert Pöttering (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awards
- 2010Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit13
- 2010Great Cross with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany13
- 2007Walter Hallstein Prize13
- 1995Robert Schuman Medal13
- 1966Konsul-Penseler-Preis13 16
- Date not recordedCommander of the Legion of Honour13
- Date not recordedCommander of the Order for Merits to Lithuania13
- Date not recordedCommander with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland13
- Date not recordedGrand Cross of the Order of Merit of Portugal13 14
- Date not recordedGrand Officer of the Order of the Star of Romania13
More awards (8)
- Date not recordedGreat Golden Medal of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria13
- Date not recordedKnight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic13
- Date not recordedKnight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great13
- Date not recordedOrder of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 2nd class13
- Date not recordedOrder of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class13
- Date not recordedOrder of the Three Stars, 1st Class13
- Date not recordedhonorary doctor of Babeș-Bolyai University13
- Date not recordedhonorary doctorate from the European University of Humanities13 15
Links
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1WikidataHans-Gert Pöttering on Wikidata
- 2WikipediaHans-Gert Pöttering on Wikipedia
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- 14Wikidataaward, as reported
- 15Wikidataaward, as reported
- 16Wikidataaward, as reported
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- 18Wikimedia CommonsHans-Gert Pöttering photo by Foto-AG Gymnasium Melle, CC BY-SA 3.0