Günter Verheugen (born 28 April 1944) is a German politician who served as
European Commissioner for Enlargement
The Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement is the member of the European Commission in charge of overseeing the accession process of prospective new member states and relations with those bordering the European Union (EU). The present ...
from 1999 to 2004, and then as
European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry
The Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship was a vice-president of the European Commission.
The post was enlarged from the ''Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society'' portfolio in the Prodi Commission to include Industry.
Ve ...
from 2004 to 2010. He was also one of five vice presidents of the 27-member
Barroso Commission
The Barroso Commission was the European Commission in office from 22 November 2004 until 31 October 2014. Its president was José Manuel Barroso, who presided over 27 other commissioners (one from each of the states composing the European Unio ...
(Barroso I). After his retirement, he is now honorary Professor at the
European University Viadrina in
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
.
Early life and education
Born at
Bad Kreuznach
Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, most well known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke, which is one of the few remaining bridges in the ...
in Rhineland-Palatinate, Verheugen studied history, sociology and political science 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 ...
and at the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...
.
Career
Political career
Verheugen was Secretary General of the
Free Democratic Party of Germany
The Free Democratic Party (german: link=no, Freie Demokratische Partei; FDP, ) is a liberal political party in Germany.
The FDP was founded in 1948 by members of former liberal political parties which existed in Germany before World War II, ...
(FDP) from 1978 to 1982, under the leadership of the party's chairman
Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Hans-Dietrich Genscher (21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affair ...
. He left the FDP with many left liberal party members in 1982, because the FDP left the government of Chancellor
Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982.
Before becoming C ...
. In the same year, he joined the
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

Member of Parliament, 1983–1999
In the
1983 Western German elections, Verheugen became a member of the German
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the German Federalism, 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 Representat ...
. He was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs from 1983 to 1998. In the early 1980s, Verheugen mapped out a principled policy towards South Africa's
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
regime, embarrassing many of Germany's major companies, including
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarter ...
and
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
, by exposing their efforts to get round international sanctions in a book published in 1986.
From 1994 to 1997, Verheugen was deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group, under the leadership of the group's chairman
Rudolf Scharping. In addition to his parliamentary work, he chaired the Broadcasting Council of ''
Deutsche Welle'' from 1994 until 1998.
Ahead of the
1994 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 1994.
Africa
* 1994 Botswana general election
* 1994 Guinea-Bissau general election
* 1994 Malawian general election
* 1994 Mozambican general election
* 1994 Namibian general election
* 1994 South Afr ...
, Scharping included Verheugen in his
shadow cabinet for the party's campaign to unseat incumbent
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
as Chancellor. Within
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of German ...
's campaign team for the
1998 federal elections, he served as his external affairs advisor and accompanied him on his trips to Washington and Warsaw.
Minister of State for European Affairs, 1998–1999
In the
first cabinet
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
* World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
of
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of German ...
, Verheugen briefly served as Minister of State in the
Federal Foreign Office
, logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg
, logo_width = 260 px
, image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg
, picture_width = 300px
, image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building
, headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...
under Minister
Joschka Fischer
Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 12 April 1948) is a German retired politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice-chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. F ...
. During Germany's
presidency of the Council of the European Union
The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. It rotates among the member stat ...
in 1999, he led the negotiations on the
Agenda 2000 package of EU policy reforms. Shortly after, he was in talks to be nominated as Germany's candidate for the European Union's newly created
High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy; the post eventually went to
Javier Solana. In 1999, he left parliament and became EU
commissioner for Enlargement of the European Union.
Member of the European Commission, 1999–2010
Nominated by the German government of
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of German ...
, Verheugen first served in the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
as
European Commissioner for Enlargement
The Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement is the member of the European Commission in charge of overseeing the accession process of prospective new member states and relations with those bordering the European Union (EU). The present ...
in the
Prodi Commission
The Prodi Commission was the European Commission in office between 1999 and 2004. The administration was led by former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
History
The commission took office on 16 September 1999 following the scandal and su ...
, presiding over the accession of ten new member states in 2004. He continued in the following
Barroso Commission
The Barroso Commission was the European Commission in office from 22 November 2004 until 31 October 2014. Its president was José Manuel Barroso, who presided over 27 other commissioners (one from each of the states composing the European Unio ...
as Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, also being promoted to one of the five
vice presidents
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
.
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the
Élysée Treaty
The Élysée Treaty was a treaty of friendship between France and West Germany, signed by President Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer on 22 January 1963 at the Élysée Palace in Paris. With the signing of this treaty, Germ ...
in 2003, the
EU Commissioners of Germany and France, Verheugen and
Pascal Lamy
Pascal Lamy (born 8 April 1947) is a French political consultant and businessman. He was the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 1 September 2005 to 1 September 2013 for 8 years. In April 2009, WTO members reappointed Lam ...
, jointly presented the so-called Lamy-Verheugen Plan that proposed a factual ''unification'' of France and Germany in some important areas – including unified armed forces, combined embassies and a shared seat at the
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
.
As a Commissioner, Verheugen stated a desire to cut
red tape
Red tape is an idiom referring to regulations or conformity to formal rules or standards which are claimed to be excessive, rigid or redundant, or to bureaucracy claimed to hinder or prevent action or decision-making. It is usually applied to ...
, especially in order to make it more favourable to
SMEs. He also highlights research and innovation as "twin keys to future competitiveness". He outlines his priorities as; better regulation, a modern industrial policy, SMEs and innovation. In order to promote competitiveness, he laid down three policies derived from the treaties; "Competitiveness and improvement of the business environment (Art. 157). Completing and managing the
Internal Market for products (Art. 28 and 95) and Innovation and research framework programmes (Title XVIII)."
Verheugen was heavily involved in work on the
REACH
Reach or REACH may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* Reach plc, formerly Trinity Mirror, large British newspaper, magazine, and digital publisher
* Reach Canada, an NGO in Canada
* Reach Limited, an Asia Pacific cable network company
* ...
regulation and ensuring its compatibility with the
Lisbon Strategy
The Lisbon Strategy, also known as the Lisbon Agenda or Lisbon Process, was an action and development plan devised in 2000, for the economy of the European Union between 2000 and 2010. A pivotal role in its formulation was played by the Portugues ...
. He sees a common patent in the Union implemented by 2012 which he sees as important as patent application for the 24 million SMEs in Europe are on average 11 times higher than in the United States.
In response to the refusal of countries to sign the
Kyoto protocol
The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (par ...
, such as the United States and Australia, Verheugen asked
President Barroso to look into whether the EU could implement taxes on products imported from those countries not taking
low-carbon policies on board (
Border Tax Adjustments
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...
).
In October 2006, Verheugen accused European Union officials of being impossible to control, stating ''inter alia'' the purported impossibility of firing Directors-General (the highest grade in the EU civil servants structure). However, Article 50 of the EU's Staff Regulations empowers the commission to do precisely that. Former
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
Derk Jan Eppink
Derk Jan Eppink (born 7 November 1958) is a Dutch journalist, politician in the Netherlands, and former cabinet secretary for European Commissioners Bolkestein (1999–2004) and Kallas (2004–2007). In 2009, he was elected to the Eur ...
described Verheugen's position in the following terms:
Life after politics
Since leaving public office, Verheugen has held a variety of paid or unpaid positions, including the following:
*
FleishmanHillard
FleishmanHillard Inc. (formerly, Fleishman–Hillard) is a public relations and marketing agency founded and based in St. Louis, Missouri. It was acquired by Omnicom Group in 1997, becoming part of the Diversified Agency Services (DAS) division. ...
, Member of the International Advisory Board
* German-Azerbaijani Forum, Member of the Board of Trustees
*
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
* Turkey: Culture of Change Initiative (TCCI), Member of the Advisory Board
*
National Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR), Advisor (since 2010)
*
Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) ...
(RBS), Senior Advisor (since 2010)
In 2014 Verheugen was awarded the Mercator Visiting Professorship for Political Management at the
Universität Essen-Duisburg's
NRW School of Governance. He gave both seminars and lectures at the university.
From March 2015, Verheugen headed the European integration work stream in the
Dmytro Firtash
Dmytro Vasylovych Firtash ( uk, Дмитро́ Васи́льович Фі́рташ; born 2 May 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman who heads the board of directors of Group DF. He was highly influential during the Yuschenko administration and th ...
-backed
Agency for the Modernisation of Ukraine (AMU), a non-governmental organization developing a comprehensive program of modernization of Ukraine and looking for investment resources for its implementation. Verheugen led the Agency's sectoral division for the institutional reforms recommendations aimed at the integration of Ukraine into the EU and civil society building.
Controversy
In 2001, former Czech Prime Minister
Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second ...
accused Verheugen of a "tragic misuse of his position", after Verheugen warned that the country's hope of joining the European Union swiftly would take a setback if the right-leaning
Civic Democrats won the
2002 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 2002.
* 2002 Bahraini parliamentary election
* 2002 Comorian presidential election
* 2002 East Timorese presidential election
* 2002 Fijian municipal election
* 2002 Hong Kong Chief Executive election
* ...
. On 5 November 2004, during a press conference, Verheugen mentioned that the future prime-minister of
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...
would be
Mircea Geoană (of the
PSD) and that Romania would end negotiations with the EU with just four days before the Romanian
legislative
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.
Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...
and
presidential
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...
elections. Following this, Romanian journalists accused him of meddling in Romanian politics.
During his time in office, photographs appeared showing Verheugen holidaying with Petra Erler, the head of his private office. A Commission spokesman backed him by saying "the private holidays of Vice President Verheugen in
Lithuania this summer did not violate the rules applicable to members of the Commission". Despite this, there was a minor political row over Erler's appointment with allegations of her being appointed due to their friendship. These allegations were later aggravated over photos of them together on holiday holding hands, and then on a
naturist beach together in
Lithuania.
Positions
On cutting EU bureaucracy
* "Many people still have this concept of Europe that the more rules you produce the more Europe you have."
*: (October 2006)
* "The idea is that the role of the commission is to keep the machinery running and the machinery is producing laws. And that's exactly what I want to change."
*: (October 2006)
* "We must ask the question of whether so many decisions need to be taken in Brussels."
*: (June 2016)
Honours
National honours
* : Knight Commander of the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
Foreign honours
* : 1st Class of the
Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana
The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana ( et, Maarjamaa Risti teenetemärk, sometimes translated as the Order of the Cross of St. Mary's Land) was instituted by the President of Estonia, Lennart Meri, on 16 May 1995 to honour the independence of t ...
* : 1st Class of the
Order of the Three Stars
Order of the Three Stars ( lv, Triju Zvaigžņu ordenis) is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvija ...
* : Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the
Order of the White Double Cross
The Order of the White Double Cross ( sk, Rad Bieleho dvojkríža) is the highest state decoration of the Slovak Republic.
The Order was instituted on 1 March 1994 after Slovakia became independent on 1 January 1993. It continues the Czechoslovak ...
(2004)
* : 1st Class of the
Order of the White Lion
The Order of the White Lion ( cs, Řád Bílého lva) is the highest order of the Czech Republic. It continues a Czechoslovak order of the same name created in 1922 as an award for foreigners (Czechoslovakia had no civilian decoration for its ...
(2016)
President awards thirty high state distinctions
/ref>
References
External links
Biography
from the ''Southeast European Times''
, -
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verheugen, Gunter
1944 births
German European Commissioners
Living people
People from Bad Kreuznach
University of Bonn alumni
German people of Dutch descent
Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria
Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002
Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998
Members of the Bundestag 1990–1994
Members of the Bundestag 1987–1990
Members of the Bundestag 1983–1987
Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany
Vorwärts editors