Roman Herzog

Former Federal President Roman Herzog intervenes and sets distinctive political signs. He has imprinted on the minds of the Germans that they have to give up their mental rigidity and become more flexible. His legendary speech of April 1997 represented the attempt to point out that a certain complacency had spread in Germany and that the time had come to change and venture out into the 21st Century. With a view on the political change worldwide, in particular globalisation, it addressed a lethargic attitude, even an outright refusal of reform and a lack of courage to tackle economic and social challenges. Everybody should feel involved, everybody should get involved. Our world has not become more reliable, the challenges remain. This is one of the reason why Herzog’s lecture bears the title “The Uncertainties of the Future and Politics’ Answers”.

As chairman of the “Convention for Germany” Herzog has for many years emphasised the importance of a reform of German federalism. At the beginning of 2007 he stated his position with respect to his criticism of Europe. According to the German magazine Die Zeit what distinguishes him are his sparkling intelligence, his ‘incurable’ common sense and his good-humoured pragmatism.

Roman Herzog was born in 1934 in Landshut. He taught as a professor at universities in Munich, Berlin and Speyer, for a time became a vice chancellor. His years in politics began in 1978, when he became first minister for education, then minister for the interior of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg and finally president of the Federal Constitutional Court. In 1994 he became the seventh Federal President of Germany, and the first to hold office in Berlin for the entire term (until 1999). In 1999 he was made an honorary citizen of the city of Berlin.