Hans-Gert Pöttering | |
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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 |
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Preceded by | Wilfried Martens |
Succeeded by | Joseph Daul |
Member of the European Parliament for Germany |
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Assumed office 17 July 1979 |
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Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation | |
Assumed office 1 January 2010 |
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Preceded by | Bernhard Vogel |
Personal details | |
Born |
Bersenbrück, Germany |
15 September 1945
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 from 1 January 2010.
He has 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.
He is a member of the Reconciliation of European Histories Group.
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 and took his second state exam in jurisprudence in 1976.
He has been a member of the European Parliament from 1979 until 2014, 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.