Guido Westerwelle

Dr. (jur.) Guido Westerwelle (born December 27, 1961) is a German politician and leader of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP).

Related Topics:
December 27 - 1961 - German - Free Democratic Party of Germany

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Guido Westerwelle was born in Bad Honnef, Germany. 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 the University of Hagen.

Related Topics:
Bad Honnef - Germany - Gymnasium - University of Bonn - Bonn - Hagen

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Westerwelle joined the FDP in 1980. He was a founding member of Junge Liberale, the youth organisation of the FDP, and their chairman from 1983 to 1988. He has been a member of the Executive Board of the FDP since 1988 and, in 1994, became Secretary General. In 1996, he was elected to the Bundestag (the German parliament), and in the elections of September 2002, he was the FDP's chancellor-candidate.

Related Topics:
Junge Liberale - Bundestag - Chancellor

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Westerwelle is a staunch supporter of the free market and has proposed reforms that would curtail the German welfare state and liberalise German labour law. He has advocated for substantial tax cuts and believes in smaller government. While this is in line with the general direction of his party, his chairmanship has seen considerable controversy. Critics inside and outside the FDP have accused him of focusing his energy on public relations, as opposed to developing and promoting sound public policy. 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, a description that many now consider to be a liability.

Related Topics:
Free market - Welfare state - Wolfgang Gerhardt

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On July 20, 2004, he attended Angela Merkel's 50th birthday party accompanied by his male partner, Cologne businessman Michael Mronz and revealed that he was gay. It was the first time he was at an official gathering with his partner and made clear that he no longer expected his relationship with Mronz to be treated discreetly. Since several leading politicians in Western Europe have come out, such as the popular heads of government in the states of Berlin (Klaus Wowereit), Hamburg (Ole von Beust) and Peter Mandelson in Britain or Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, it generated relatively little controversy in the German public.

Related Topics:
Angela Merkel - Cologne - Michael Mronz - Western Europe - Come out - States - Berlin - Klaus Wowereit - Hamburg - Ole von Beust - Peter Mandelson - Britain - Bertrand Delanoë - Paris

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In the past, Westerwelle's sexual orientation was used against him. Westerwelle's main opponent in the FDP, the late Jürgen Möllemann, hinted that Westerwelle's then-unrevealed sexual leanings could pose a security risk and alleged that Westerwelle was "excessively pro-Israel" because the Mossad acquired compromising evidence of his private life. Although this debate within the FDP was carried out in the language of anti-semitism versus uncritical support of Israel's suppression of the Palestinians, it was also connected to the party's stance on Gay rights issues.

Related Topics:
Jürgen Möllemann - Mossad - Anti-semitism - Gay rights

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