The Fonds of Hans-Gert Pöttering

Biography

Hans-Gert Pöttering was born on 15 September 1945. 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 and earned a PhD in political science and history. In 1989 he was appointed Lecturer at the University of Osnabrück and became an honorary professor of the University in 1995. 

He served as a Member of the European Parliament continuously from the first direct elections in 1979 until 2014. In 1994 he became Vice-President of the EPP and from 1999 to 2007 was Chairman of the European People's Party-European Democrats. He succeeded Josep Borrell Fontelles as President of the European Parliament in the second part of the 2004–2009 term. When he stepped down in 2014 he was the European Parliament's longest-serving member. 

As president of the European Parliament he proposed the creation of the House of European History museum in Brussels, and has since served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. From 2010 to 2017 Pöttering was Chair of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Pöttering was Chairman of the Former Members Association (FMA) of the European Parliament from 2018 to 2022.

Political positions held

• 1974 - 1976: Chairman of the Young Christian Democrats regional committee, Osnabrueck county
• 1974 - 1980: Chairman of the Christian Democrats local committee, city of Bersenbrueck
• 1976 - 1980: Speaker on European affairs of the Young Christian Democrats of Lower Saxony
• 1979 - 2014: Member of the European Parliament (Only deputy who has been Member of the European Parliament continuously since the first direct election in 1979 till 2014)
• 1981 - 1991: Chairman of "Europa-Union" Lower Saxony
• 1984 - 1994: Chairman of the subcommittee on "Security and Disarmament"
• 1990 - 2010: Chairman of the CDU in the district of Osnabrueck
• 1994 - 1996: Supervisor of EPP/EPP group's working group on "Intergovernmental Conference 1996", drafting of the EPP position on the Amsterdam Treaty
• 1994 - 1999: Vice-Chairman of the EPP group in the European Parliament
• 1996 - 1999: Supervisor of EPP/EPP group's working group "Enlargement of the European Union"
• 1997 - 1999: President of "Europa-Union" Germany
• 1999 - 2007: Chairman of the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament
• 1999 - 2009: Member of the Federal Board of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU, Germany), Member of the Federal Executive Commitee
• 1999 - 2009: Member of the Executive Commitee of the European People´s Party EPP
• 2007 - 2009: President of the European Parliament
• 2008 - 2009: President of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly EMPA
• 2008 - 2014: Chairman of the Working Group on the Middle East in the European Parliament
• 2010-2017: Chairman of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
• 2018 - 2022: Chairman of the Former Members Association (FMA) of the European Parliament
• Since 2010: Member of the Board of Directors of the Association for the "International Charlemagne Prize" of Aachen

What's in the Archives

The Archive received 90 files from the Office of President Pöttering. Briefings for the President are of particular importance as they are summaries of meetings and meetings held by members and directors and sent to Cabinet for information. We also note the chronological collection of the President’s letters, especially the replies to invitations and letters of thanks. The Cabinet has compiled files which follow all aspects of the President’s agenda such as visits, speeches, interviews and media relations.

Find more documents on Pöttering’s presidency in the Konrad Adenauer Foundation

Reflections of Former Presidents of the European Parliament: Hans-Gert Pöttering

Extract from the Inaugural address by the President of the European Parliament, Tuesday, 13 February 2007 - Strasbourg:

"I extend a very warm welcome to all of you. It is a cause of great joy to us that you have all accepted the invitation to be here. Mr Pierre Pflimlin and Mr Piet Dankert are no longer with us. We remember them with gratitude.

I share with Mr Klaus Hänsch, Mr Ingo Friedrich, Mr Karl von Wogau, Mr Francis Wurtz and Mr Jens-Peter Bonde the privilege of having been a Member of the European Parliament since its first elections in 1979. Since then we have lived through highs and lows in European politics.

The greatest success has been overcoming the division of Europe. Our shared values have prevailed. The accession to the European Union of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia – and of Cyprus and Malta – on 1 May 2004, and of Bulgaria and Romania on 1 January this year, together with the reunification of Germany on 3 October 1990, remain for me the miracle of this generation. We all have reason to be extremely happy about this, now as always.

Hans-Gert Pöttering, EP President, makes an official visit to Romania - Joint press conference with the President of Romania's Senate Nicolae Văcăroiu and Lower Chamber President Bogdan Olteanu. © European Union 2007 – European Parliament

We all, however, still have to learn from each other and to strengthen our respect and understanding for each other. We should stop talking about the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ Member States. All of us, together, constitute the European Parliament, and the nations that we represent are the community of the European Union.

In the 1980s, there was talk of ‘Eurosclerosis’. Then, however, along came the single market and the single European currency. We in this House fought to secure our rights, and will continue to do so. Today this Parliament is influential and self-confident. Experience, then, teaches us that we can win successes for Europe when we want them ourselves, when our will to achieve unity for our continent while maintaining its diversity remains strong and determined. I would like, today, to ask you all to continue in this determination.

We shall only succeed in this, though, if the citizens of the European Union – alongside their attachment to home and their own country – understand and are aware, as Europeans, of what binds them to one another. A sense of community and a sense of being ‘us’ are necessary conditions for our shared future. European unification is not simply a desire dictated by our minds; European unification is also an affair of the heart. Making this clear to people is perhaps the greatest challenge that we must meet together.

What we have to do is to serve the citizens of the European Union. Europeans should be proud of what they have achieved by their labours over the centuries in terms of values, freedom, law and democracy. It has been a long haul. We know that our European roots lie in Greek philosophy, Roman law, the Judeo-Christian heritage, the Enlightenment – in other words, in our shared European culture. Together with those, though, there have also been tragic European civil wars, and in the 20th century the totalitarian ideologies, with their contempt for humanity, and then, in 1945, the courage of the founding fathers in following the path of forgiveness and reconciliation, in building a new, better, more peaceful, shared Europe. We should still remember this today, and rediscover the things that are common to us all. The great French European Jacques Delors followed Robert Schuman in speaking of the ‘European soul’. The great Polish European Władysław Bartoszewski once said: ‘Europe means above all else freedom of the individual and human rights – both political and economic’. They were both right.

EPP group meeting - Outgoing EC President Jacques Delors is awarded the Robert Schuman medal. Pictured: (Top row, L-R) Edward Kellett-Bowman, Hans-Gert Pöttering, Ria Oomen-Ruijten, Wilfried Martens, Jacques Delors; (Bottom row, L-R): Egon Klepsch, Peter Schmidhuber, Sir Leon Brittan, Franz Fischler. © European Communities 1995

I would like to talk about European values. They are, in essence, founded upon the idea of human dignity. It is in the dignity of the individual that we respect the other, place ourselves under obligations, and thus build a system based on responsibility and solidarity. In our practical political activities we should always serve the cause of human dignity, and I would like to encourage all of us to defend that, and human rights throughout the world.

That is not an abstract plea. We are not the world’s teachers, but our humanitarian image and our values become more convincing to others if we live our own lives with credibility. This has very concrete implications for our policies...”