Guenter Verheugen

Member of the European Commission, Enlargement

(Official Website, The Guardian)

Guenter Verheugen was appointed EU Commissioner for Enlargement on 15 September 1999, when the European Parliament voted President Romano Prodi and his team of 19 commissioners the European Commission office.

Verheugen was born on 28 April 1944 in Bad Kreuznach, Germany. After serving for two years as a trainee at the Neue Rhein-Neue Ruhr-Zeitung newspaper, he studied history, sociology and politics in Cologne and Bonn from 1965 to 1969.

In his early career, Verheugen was head of the public relations divisions at the Federal Ministry of the Interior from 1969 to 1974. Then he was appointed head of the Analysis and Information Task Force at the Federal Foreign Office, a position he held until 1976.

From 1977 to 1978 Verheugen was Federal Party Manger of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), and from 1978 to 1982, General Secretary of the FDP.

In 1982 he left the FDP to join Germany's centrist Social Democratic Party (SPD). From 1983 to 1999 he was a member of the German Bundestag, and as such served on many Bundestag committees: the Foreign Affairs Committee (1983-98); Chairman of the EU Special Committee (1992); and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee (1994-97).

As member of the SPD, Verheugen served as spokesman of the SPD National Executive from (1986-87); federal party manager (1993-95); deputy chairman of the SPD, Parliamentary Group for Foreign, Security and Development Policy (1994-97); and a member of the SPD National Executive (1997).

Verheugen also served as editor-in-chief of SPD's Vorwärts newspaper, from 1987 to 1989, and as chairman of Deutsche Welle's Radio Broadcasting Council, from 1990 to 1999.

In 1997, he was elected chairman of the Socialist International Peace, Security and Disarmament Council. In 1998 he was appointed minister of state at the Federal Foreign Office, a position he filled until September 1999, when he was elected member of the European Commission, in charge of enlargement.

According to Verheugen, EU enlargement is a chance for achieving lasting stability and security in Europe and a process that will strengthen European integration. "Closer co-operation in the areas of police, security and defence will make an enlarged EU better equipped against international terrorism and organised crime. Enlargement therefore means first and foremost: increased economic and political stability and increased security for Europe and its citizens," he said.