Gernot Erler (born 3 May 1944 in

Meißen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrech ...

) is a German politician (

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

) who was member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the German Federalism, federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representat ...

, the German parliament, from 1987 to 2017.

Early life and education

Erler studied history, Slavic studies and political science in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

and

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

from 1963 to 1967.

Political career

Erler first became a member of the German

in the 1987 national elections. Following the 1994 national elections, he joined the SPD parliamentary group's leadership around chairman

Rudolf Scharping Rudolf Albert Scharping (born 2 December 1947) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD). He was from 1991 to 1994 the 6th Minister President of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate ...

. From 1994 until 1998, he served as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. In the negotiations to form a coalition government with the Christian Democrats under

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Op ...

following the 2005 federal elections, Erler led the SPD delegation in the working group on foreign affairs; his counterpart from the CDU/CSU was

Friedbert Pflüger Friedbert Pflüger (born 6 March 1955) is a former German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was a Member of the German Bundestag (1990–2006). He was Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry of Defence (2005–2006), an ...

. Under the leadership of minister

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Ch ...

, he subsequently served as

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

(alongside Günter Gloser) at the

Federal Foreign Office , logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg , logo_width = 260 px , image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg , picture_width = 300px , image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building , headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...

from 2005 to 2009. When the SPD returned into the opposition from 2009 until 2013, Erler served as deputy chairman of his parliamentary group, again under Steinmeier's leadership. From 2014 until 2017, Erler served as the German government's Coordinator for Inter-Societal Cooperation with Russia, Central Asia and the Eastern Partnership Countries at the Federal Foreign Office. From 2015 until 2016, he assumed the position of Special Representative of Germany for the country's chairmanship of the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

(OSCE) in 2016, in addition to his other responsibilities.

Other activities

* Development and Peace Foundation (SEF), Member of the Advisory Board *

European Leadership Network European Leadership Network (ELN) is a pan-European think-tank focusing on European foreign, defence and security issues based in London, United Kingdom. The ELN's Director is Sir Adam Thomson, former UK Permanent Representative to NATO. Histo ...

(ELN), Member of the Advisory Board * , Member *

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württe ...

, Member of the Advisory Board * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member

Sources

External link