The Fonds of Klaus Hänsch

Biography

Klaus Hänsch was born on 15 December 1938 in Sprottau in Silesia, a region that became Polish after the Second World War. In 1945, he and his family fled from Silesia to Flensburg in Schleswig-Holstein.

He received his degree in Political Science in 1965 and was awarded a PhD in 1969. Klaus Hänsch was first elected to the European Parliament in 1979 and served for six parliamentary terms (1979-2009). On 19 July 1994, the European Parliament elected him as its President. Klaus Hänsch was a Member of the Praesidium of the Convention on the Future of Europe (2002-2003). He represented the European Parliament at the Intergovernmental Conference for the adoption of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (2003-2004).

He held a number of academic accolades: he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Loughborough, United Kingdom, and from the Poznán Academy of Economics, Poland, where he was also a visiting lecturer. He was also an Honorary Professor of the University of Duisburg.

Klaus Hänsch passed away in Erkrath, Germany, on 4 August 2026.

Political posts held

•    1964-2026: Member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
•    1968-1970: Editor of Dokumente (magazine on transnational cooperation)
•    1968-1970: Adviser to the Federal Republic of Germany's delegate for cultural affairs in the framework of the Franco-German Treaty
•    1970-2026: Member of the multi-service trade union Verdi
•    1970-1979: Press attaché and, from 1977, special adviser to the Minister for Science and Research of North Rhine-Westphalia
•    1976-1994: Lecturer, University of Duisburg
•    1979-2009: Member of the European Parliament (Socialist Group)
•    1981-1989: Socialist Group Coordinator for Foreign Affairs and Security
•    1987-1989: Chairman of the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with the United States
•    1989-1994 and 1997-2002: Vice-Chairman of the Group of the Party of European Socialists (PSE) in the European Parliament
•    1994-1997: President of the European Parliament
•    1997-2026: Member of the Board of Governors of the Groupement d'Études et de Recherches Notre Europe, Paris
•    1997-2005: President of the Board of Governors and the General Council of the Centre d'Études Européennes de Strasbourg (CEES)
•    1998-2000: Chair of the group of mediators for the expansion of Frankfurt airport
•    2000-2026: Member of the Scientific Committee of the Berlin Institute for International Political Economy (IPE)
•    2002-2003: Member of the Praesidium of the Convention on the Future of Europe
•    2003-2004: Representative of the European Parliament in the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on the Constitutional Treaty
•    2005-2026: Member of the Board of Governors of the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA) in Paris/Strasbourg
•    2022-2026: President of the European Parliament Former Members Association (FMA) 

Archivists' corner

The fonds of President Hänsch (1994-1997) comprise over 700 files containing over 8,000 documents. The documents are arranged in files relating to specific procedures dealt with during the President's term of office and are structured in such a way as to reflect the various areas of activity of the President's Office.

Administrative and legal tasks

PE4 P1 A00/ADJU

This group of series contains documents concerning relations with the Parliament's administration, i.e. with all Directorates-General and the Legal Service.

Political tasks: internal

PE4 P1 B00/RINT

This group of series covers relations with Parliament's various political bodies, namely the Conference of Presidents, the Bureau, the Quaestors, the parliamentary committees, etc.

Political tasks: external

PE4 P1 C00/REXT

This group of series relates to the President's activities in representing Parliament externally (the President's speeches, public relations - visits, meetings, etc.) and to relations with the other Community institutions and bodies. The President's role as Parliament's representative also includes relations with Member States, third countries and international organisations.

Correspondence

PE4 P1 D00/COUR

Finally, the last group of series contains correspondence classified chronologically into incoming and outgoing mail.

Reflections of Former Presidents of the European Parliament: Klaus Hänsch

The European Parliament elected in June 1994 met for the first time in a new Europe. The Berlin Wall had fallen. The peoples of Central and Eastern Europe had freed themselves from the dictatorship of Communism and the all-embracing grip of the Soviet Union. The Iron Curtain, which had divided Europe for 40 years, had collapsed. The Cold War between the two blocs in Europe was over. Never before in its history had the European Parliament been required to adjust to such a fundamentally changed political environment.

The 1994 European elections had been the first in which the citizens of the former GDR had taken part. It was particularly moving for me to be able, in my inaugural speech, to welcome colleagues from East Germany as freely elected Members. A few months later, in January 1995, Parliament also welcomed MEPs from three new Member States, Finland, Sweden and Austria. This was the first step towards the unification of Europe as a continent.

EP President Klaus Hänsch speaks at the arrival of the observers and MEPs for Sweden, Austria and Finland following the 1995 enlargement © European Communities 1995

The European Parliament had grown in size from 567 to 626 Members. It was not only bigger, but also richer in terms of its political culture, experience, tradition. The new Members and staff were quickly integrated, a great achievement not only for the political groups and committees, but also for Parliament’s Secretariat.

The European Community had set out along the road to negotiations on the accession of the States of Central and Eastern Europe. However, their parliaments were, naturally enough, lacking in knowledge and areal understanding of the procedures, requirements and problems involved in the impending accession process. The European Parliament had to help them grow into their role in transposing the acquis communautaire into the national law of their countries. At my instigation, for the first time in the history of the European unification process all the presidents of the parliaments of the applicant States came together in the European Parliament for a free and frank exchange of views. The importance of such exchanges was demonstrated by the fact that meetings of this kind were then held regularly until the accession negotiations proper started. Our Parliament played a pioneering role in the work of providing parliamentary scrutiny of and safeguards for the European unification process.

A few months before the European elections the Treaty of Maastricht had come into force and, for the first time, had conferred on the European Parliament genuine rights of codecision, in particular in the area of the directives and regulations dealing with the completion of the internal market. Those rights now took effect. A new era was ushered in when I, on behalf of Parliament, signed the first EC directive which had been adopted under the new codecision procedure and was subsequently published in the Official Journal and brought into force as a ‘Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council’.

Its new powers had turned an advisory parliament into a decision-making parliament, but its working methods and its public profile were still those of a parliament with a purely consultative role. We faced the task, therefore, of reforming those working methods, for example the conduct of debates and votes in plenary and cooperation between the committees, and reorganising Parliament’s press and public relations work. This was quite a task. Although, initially, almost all my colleagues were enthusiastic advocates of the thoroughgoing reforms, that enthusiasm shrank with every step in the process of putting our intentions into practice. To this day I am grateful to Pauline Green and Wilfried Martens for their determined support in pushing through the reforms in the face of the scepticism of their political groups. Today, Parliament’s working methods are once again in need of reform.

"Structural Funds Reform Post 2000" seminar. Pauline Green (L), Klaus Hänsch (C), Arlene McCarthy (R) © European Communities 1998 – European Parliament

As the successor to Jacques Delors, who stood down at the end of 1994 after an exceptionally successful 10-year period of office as President of the Commission, the Heads of State and Government proposed the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jacques Santer. For the first time, they were required officially to consult the European Parliament on that proposal. Although it was no more than a consultation, all those involved knew that any candidate who failed to secure majority support in Parliament would forfeit all credibility. It was also clear that in such an event Santer would not take up his office. Parliament had secured at least some say in the process of making top-level appointments in Europe.

Homage to outgoing EC President Jacques Delors- Formal sitting, Jacques Delors (L), Klaus Hänsch (R) © European Communities 1995

For the first time, the appointment of the new EU Commissioners-designate was dependent on a vote of confidence in the European Parliament. In order to prepare that vote, Parliament had to gain a clear picture of each individual nominee, the chosen method being public hearings. In the face of opposition from many governments and the reluctance of the Commission, I secured an agreement that, prior to the vote of confidence in plenary, each individual nominee would be required to undergo a hearing in the Parliament committee responsible for the area covered by his or her portfolio.

There was no basis in the Treaties for this procedure. What was then a coup has now become an established procedure by means of which the European Parliament has already demonstrated several times that it exercises some influence over the composition of the Commission. This success showed me that it is more important for the European Parliament to exert the influence it does have, right down to the last detail, rather than bemoaning its lack of powers.

One activity gave me particular pleasure during my term of office. In my inaugural speech I had promised that I would travel to the regions of the Member States and, at their request, to my colleagues’ constituencies. I had 40 opportunities to fulfil that promise and if I only learnt one thing, it was this: public support for European unification in the regions is often much greater than the political manoeuvring performed in some capital cities would lead one to suspect.