Werner Hoyer (born 17 November 1951 in

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

) is a German economist and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who is currently serving as the President of the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...

Education and early career

Hoyer graduated as an economist at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

in 1974, and worked as a scientific assistant there until 1984. He earned from the same university a PhD degree in economics (i.e. German doctorate

Dr. rer. pol. A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

) in 1977, with a dissertation called ''Vermögenseffekte des Geldes – Theoretische Ansätze zur Rolle des Geldes als Vermögensobjekt im Wirtschaftsprozess'' (''Wealth Effects of Money – Theoretical Approaches to the Role of Money as a Capital Property in the Economic Process''). From 1985 to 1987, he worked with the Carl Duisberg Society in Cologne. He taught international economics at the

until 1994. Hoyer is a member of the Union of European Federalists (UEF).

Political career

In 1972, Hoyer became a member of the FDP, and was a board member of the Young Liberals from 1983 to 1986. He chaired the local party board in Cologne from 1984 to 1992, and became a member of the FDP board in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

in 1984 and the federal FDP board in 1994. Under the leadership of

Klaus Kinkel Klaus Kinkel (17 December 1936 – 4 March 2019)

, he was Secretary General of his party from 1993 to 1994. From 1997 to 2000, he was Vice President and from 2000 to 2005, President, of the

European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

Member of the German Bundestag, 1987–2012

Hoyer first became a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

in the 1987 elections, and served as chief whip from 1989 to 1993 and his party's spokesman for security policy from 1990 to 1994. From 2002 to 2009, he was deputy chair of the FDP parliamentary group in the

under the leadership of successive chairmen

Wolfgang Gerhardt Wolfgang Gerhardt (born 31 December 1943) is a German politician and was the leader of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) from 1995 until he was succeeded by Guido Westerwelle in 2001. Political career Gerhardt was born in Ulrichstein. ...

(2002-2006) and

Guido Westerwelle Guido Westerwelle (; 27 December 1961 – 18 March 2016) was a German politician who served as Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vice-Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011, being the first openly gay person ...

(2006-2009). Between 2005 and 2009, he also served as Deputy Chairman of the German-American Parliamentary Friendship Group. Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, 1994–98 From 1994 to 1998, Hoyer was Minister of State at the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

in the

Fifth Kohl Cabinet The Fifth Kohl cabinet led by Helmut Kohl was sworn in on 15 November 1994 and laid down its function on 27 October 1998. The cabinet was formed after the 1994 elections. It laid down its function after the formation of the Cabinet Schröder ...

under Foreign Minister

Klaus Kinkel Klaus Kinkel (17 December 1936 – 4 March 2019)

. In this capacity, he was the German representative in a high-level working group chaired by Spanish foreign minister

Carlos Westendorp Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza (born 7 January 1937) is a Spanish diplomat and former politician. He is the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and also served as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina succeeding Carl Bildt and was powered wit ...

and set up to prepare the negotiations on treaty change which led to the Treaties of Amsterdam and subsequently,

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. In 1996, he was the German negotiator during an intergovernmental conference in Turin that was aimed at improvements in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

's decision-making processes, including the establishment of a

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP) is the chief co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) within the European Union (EU). The position is currently held ...

. He also repeatedly reiterated German determination to enter a single currency – the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

– by 1999. Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, 2009–12 From October 28, 2009 Hoyer was Minister of State at the

in the Second Cabinet Merkel under Foreign Minister

. During that time, he was Germany’s official in charge of German-French relations. He resigned in 2012. In August 2011, Hoyer issued a tough statement criticizing plans by

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

to build new control posts between the two countries, insisting that this unilateral decision to increase customs procedures on the border violated

European law European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its valu ...

President of the European Investment Bank, 2012–present

On the basis of a nomination by the German government, Hoyer was appointed as President and Member of the Management Committee of the

in 2012, succeeding

Philippe Maystadt Philippe M.P.J. Maystadt (14 March 1948 – 7 December 2017) was a Belgian politician who served as Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of Finance, and Deputy Prime Minister. He was President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) from 2000 t ...

. His competitors for the post included Magdalena Álvarez, at the time one of the EIB's eight vice-presidents. In 2017, Hoyer was re-appointed for a second six-year term. In 2012, Hoyer called for a new

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

– a reference to the US-financed programme that revived European economies after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

– to be launched to reanimate the Greek economy, involving both private and public investment. He said the EIB had the resources to invest in Greek infrastructure and support Greek banks to revive lending to businesses. Following his party’s strong performance in the 2017 German elections, Hoyer was cited as a possible candidate to succeed

Wolfgang Schäuble Wolfgang Schäuble (; born 18 September 1942) is a German lawyer, politician and statesman whose political career has spanned for more than five decades. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he is one of the longest-serving politi ...

and take over as Federal Minister of Finance.

Other activities

* Berlin office of the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ...

(AJC), Member of the Advisory Board * Charlemagne Prize Foundation, Member of the Board *

European Leadership Network European Leadership Network (ELN) is a pan-European think-tank focusing on European foreign, defence and security issues based in London, United Kingdom. The ELN's Director is Sir Adam Thomson, former UK Permanent Representative to NATO. Histo ...

(ELN), Member *

European Movement International The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it. History The origins of the ...

, Member of the Honorary Council * Friedrich August von Hayek Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees * German-Algerian Society, President *

German Council on Foreign Relations The German Council on Foreign Relations (german: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e. V. (DGAP)) is Germany's national foreign policy network and policy research institute. As an independent, private, non-partisan and non-profit org ...

(DGAP), Member of the Steering CommitteeBoards

(DGAP). *

Institute for European Politics The Institute for European Politics (IEP; ''Institut für Europäische Politik'' in German) is a German foreign and European policy research centre based in Berlin. It is an independent non-governmental organization. History The IEP was founded ...

, President of the Board of Trustees * Ludwig Erhard Foundation, Member

Personal life

Hoyer is married and has two children.

References

External links

Werner Hoyer

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoyer, Werner 1951 births German Roman Catholics Living people Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Presidents of the European Investment Bank German officials of the European Union Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Members of the Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (Germany)