Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Frank-Walter Steinmeier - Federal President of Germany
Date of Birth: 01.05.1956
Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been Federal President of Germany since March 19, 2017. Previously, he was Federal Foreign Minister (2005-2009 and 2013-2017), Vice Chancellor (2007-2009), and has been a member of the SPD since 1975.
Place of Birth. Education. Frank-Walter Steinmeier was born in Detmold in a working-class family. After finishing high school in 1974, he served in the Bundeswehr. From 1976 to 1982, he studied law and political science at the Justus Liebig University Giessen. In 1986, Frank-Walter Steinmeier earned his doctorate with a dissertation on the legal status of the homeless.
Career. In 1975, he joined the SPD. From 1986 to 1991, he was a research assistant at the Institute for Civil Law and Political Science at the University of Giessen. In 1991, he worked as a legal advisor for information law and politics in the Lower Saxony state service. From 1993 to 1994, he headed the office of the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Gerhard Schröder. From 1994 to 1996, he was head of the political department, and from 1996 to 1998, he served as State Secretary in the Lower Saxony Chancellery. From November 1998 to July 1999, Frank-Walter Steinmeier was State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery, tasked with coordinating the intelligence services, and from July 1999 to November 2005, he was the head of the Federal Chancellery. In 2005, he became Foreign Minister in the grand coalition of CDU/CSU-SPD. Since 2007, he has been Vice Chancellor. In the first half of 2007, Frank-Walter Steinmeier chaired the Council of the European Union. From October 2007, Steinmeier was also Deputy Chairman of the SPD. Before his appointment as Deputy Chairman of the SPD in October 2007, Steinmeier had never held an SPD position. On September 7, 2008, following the resignation of SPD Chairman Kurt Beck, Frank-Walter Steinmeier temporarily took over the party chairmanship until the extraordinary party congress.
In 2008, he proposed a three-stage plan to resolve the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, which included the return of refugees, the reconstruction of Abkhazia by Georgia, and ultimately the determination of the political status of Abkhazia. Both sides rejected this document. In August 2008, the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia and South Ossetia escalated into full military confrontations. Steinmeier was involved in the peaceful resolution of the conflict, leading negotiations between Georgia and Russia, and demanded an immediate end to hostilities and the initiation of dialogues. Steinmeier supported the French initiative for a peace plan and stated that it was pointless to look for those responsible for the conflict before a ceasefire. He repeatedly stated that Russia was not adhering to the agreement on the withdrawal of its troops from Georgian territory.
On September 8, 2008, Frank-Walter Steinmeier was nominated as the SPD's chancellor candidate for the 2009 federal election. He himself denied these assumptions and stated that he would support the candidacy of SPD Chairman Kurt Beck. However, on September 7, 2008, Beck was dismissed at the SPD party congress, and Steinmeier was appointed interim party chairman and nominated as chancellor candidate for the federal election in September 2009.
On September 27, 2009, parliamentary elections took place, in which the SPD suffered a devastating defeat, receiving only 23% of the votes. Instead of the 'Grand Coalition' of CDU/CSU and SPD, a coalition of CDU and FDP was formed, and the SPD withdrew from the government. The party's defeat in the elections was also reflected in the SPD leadership team: a week after the elections, new candidates for leadership positions were nominated at a special meeting of the party plenum. SPD leadership member Andrea Nahles was nominated as Secretary General and approved at the party assembly held on November 13, 2009, in Dresden. Frank-Walter Steinmeier then resigned from his position as Secretary General of the party. Shortly thereafter, he was elected leader of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag.
From December 17, 2013, to January 27, 2017, he was Germany's Foreign Minister.
On February 12, 2017, he won the presidential elections and was elected Federal President of Germany. He took office as Federal President on March 19, 2017.
Awards. Recipient of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2006).
Family. Frank-Walter Steinmeier is married to administrative judge Elke Büdenbender. The couple has a daughter born in 1994.
In 2010, Elke Büdenbender underwent a kidney transplant, with her husband being the donor. Because of this, Steinmeier had to temporarily step away from the political arena. In October 2010, he returned to active political life.