Christian Wolf was president of the Federal Republic of Germany from 2010 to 2012. During this period, he formed a rather controversial opinion about himself. There are many more critics of him than responding positively to his policies.
Christian Wolfe: biography
The place where this future famous German politician was born is Osnabruck in Lower Saxony. Date of birth - 06/19/1959
Father left Christian at the age of four. His mother Dagmar got married again, but ten years later the new spouse also left.
My mother developed multiple sclerosis at this time, so her son had to devote a lot of time to caring for her. In addition, there was also a younger sister in his care.
After graduating from the University of Osnabruck in 1986, Christian Wilhelm Walter Wulf succeeded in passing the first qualification exam in law the following year.
Then he got a job at the Oldenburg High Regional Court, where he studied for three years. Upon completion, he passed the second state exam and went to a private law firm.
Political participation
In his school years, Christian showed a penchant for political activity. He actively participated in the Student Union, and then - in the "Young Union" of the CDU youth organization.
In 1978-1980, he was already a member of the federal executive body of the CDU. From 1979 to 1983 He was a member of the federal executive body of the Youth Union.
Since 1984, Christian Wulf has served as a lawyer in the CDU Land Executive in Lower Saxony.
In 1989-1994 he was a deputy and chairman of the CDU group on the board of Osnabruck.
Participation in elected bodies
For the first time, Christian Wulf proposed his candidacy for parliament in the state of Lower Saxony in 1994.
In 1994-2001, he led the CDU parliamentary group. From 1994 to 2008 was chairman of the Lower Saxon branch of the CDU.
In 1994, he also ran for land prime ministers, but he was outnumbered by the representative of the SPD, the future German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
1995 was a significant year for Wolfe in that the Davos International Economic Forum included him in the top 100 political leaders who were predicted to have a great future "tomorrow."
Christian Wolf at that time rather sharply criticized the head of the CDU. Helmut Kohl held this position.
In 1998, Wulf again failed to get around Schroeder in the elections, but he was elected deputy federal leader of the Christian Democratic Party - W. Schäuble, and after 2000 - A. Merkel. However, he remained a member of the Landtag (Parliament).
As Prime Minister of the Federal State
Since 2003, he led the government in Lower Saxony as Minister President. In the re-election of 2008, Christian Wolf again remained in this post. The years of his tenure as prime minister in this federal state were remembered by voters as a period of a rather conservative government policy.
To overcome the budget deficit, it was necessary to cut the size of the scholarship to students, to reduce funds for the educational sector and healthcare.
It is noteworthy that the budget surplus did not appear, but no discontent among the masses about this was noted.
Since 2006, Wulf introduced a system of state financing for the employment of people who are unemployed.
He strongly opposed the development of nuclear energy in his country.
Christian Wulf became well-known after Aigul Oskan, who was a Muslim by religion, became Minister of Social Affairs and Integration in the Government. Its origin was Turkish. Prior to this, no such thing was observed in the governments of the federal states of Germany.
A. Oskan came up with a proposal to remove Christians from the Lower Saxon schools.
In 2005, Wulf was considered a probable candidate for chancellor of Germany, but he did not agree to participate in the election for this position.
Christian Wolf - President. Years of rule
After the German President Horst Köhler had to resign due to statements about the advisability of military action in the event of the defense of German commercial interest, on 30.06.2010, in the third round of elections, Wolfe was elected President of the Federal Republic of Germany. By age, this is the youngest president in the history of the country.
Wolfe was promoted to the presidency by the Christian Democratic Union together with the Christian Social Union and the Free Democratic Party. His main competitor was Pastor Joachim Gauck, nominated from the Social Democrats and the Greens. Earlier, from 1990 to 2000, he led the Stasi Federal Archives Office.
After assuming the presidency, Woolf initiatively suspended his membership in the Christian Democratic Union. He held this post until 02/18/2012, until his resignation caused by a corruption scandal.
High-level initiatives
In October 2010, Christian Wulff, president of Germany, in a discussion on the role of Muslim immigration, said in a speech in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the reunification of the German people that Islam is as important for the development of Germany as Christianity or Judaism.
The reaction to these statements in German society was very mixed. CDU Chancellor and CDU leader Angela Merkel even had to refute the assumption that Islam could become one of the pillars of German political culture.
The beginning of the corruption scandal
At the end of 2011, the Bild newspaper published information about Wulf receiving a five hundred thousandth soft loan in October 2008. During his tenure as Lower Saxon Prime Minister, he received these funds from the wife of one of the local businessmen, E. Herkens. The latter media was referred to as Wolfe's close friend.
It is noteworthy that at the beginning of 2010, Wulf announced to the deputies of the Landtag of Lower Saxony that he had not entered into business relations with Gerkenson over the past decade. With this in mind, the president was suspected of breaking the law and deceiving deputies.
One week after the publication of the aforementioned article, Wolfe apologized, as well as a statement that he had submitted information about the credit history, reports on travel expenses to the regulatory authorities. He expressed the opinion that the effectiveness of his work does not depend on personal contacts.
New stage of scandal
Another impetus to the scandal in the coming 2012 was given by the news that shortly before the publication of the article in the Bild newspaper, Wulf initiated telephone calls to K. Dickman (editor-in-chief of the newspaper) and M. Dopfner (president of the publishing house, the owner of the newspaper) with demands preventing the publication of a denunciation article, with threats of filing a lawsuit and breaking relations with the publication.
On January 4, 2012, the president apologized on the TV screen about his call to the editor-in-chief of Bild, saying that it was a "big mistake."
However, the president in the same appeal expressed the idea that there is nothing illegal in his actions, so he does not intend to leave his post. In this regard, politicians and the media attacked the president with harsh criticism. On January 7, 2012, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the German capital, demanding that the head of state leave.
Information appeared in the press that among the ruling coalition led by Merkel, there are many supporters of the president’s resignation, and he is already preparing for a replacement, but this information was denied by government representatives.
Pressure boost
Throughout January and February, various publications were published in the German press about the facts of Woolf's abuse of his post. In particular, he was blamed for lobbying during the tenure of the Lower Saxogian Prime Minister, producer D. Grenevold. The latter paid the bills of the official for rest in various German hotels for this.
Some journalists wrote that the Audi Q3 car was provided to the president for free rental from the Audi management in the summer months of 2011 even before this model went on sale.
Christian Wulf, his wife, actively used this car for their personal purposes.
On February 16, 2012, according to the results of the inspections, the Hanover prosecutor sent a request to the Bundestag for the deprivation of immunity of the current president.
02.17.2012 Wulf, taking into account the allegations of corruption, announced his resignation.
Opposition actions
02.21.2012 a statement was sent from the SPD faction of the Lower Saxony Landtag to the judiciary regarding the federal government. The latter was charged with the following: in April 2010, the Lower Saxon Cabinet, which was headed by Wulf at that time, misled the parliament, as the fact of providing financial and organizational assistance to the land budget for holding the 2009 private conference “Dialogue between North and South "for Lower Saxon and Baden-Württemberg businessmen.
The opposition believed that this event was held with the knowledge of Wolfe, the organizer was O. Glezeker, who served as spokesperson.
Positions held
Christian Wulf, whose years of rule were indicated above, managed to get a number of international posts. Such, for example, as:
- a cartridge in the German National Society for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis;
- Honorary Senator at the Salzburg Euro-Academy of Science and Art;
- Senator at the Max Planck Society;
- Honorary Doctorate at Shanghai Tongji University.
