Profiles  

Dr. Richard von Weizsäcker

Fmr. President of the Federal Republic of Germany (1984-1994); fmr. Governing Mayor of West Berlin (1981-1984); fmr. Vice President of the German Parliament (1969-1981); fmr. President of the German Lutheran Church Council; Laureate of the Heinrich Heine (1991) and Leo Baeck Awards (1994)

Selected writings: Der Weg zur Einheit (2009), Was für eine Welt wollen wir? (2005); Drei Mal Stunde Null? 1949–1969–1989 (2001); Vier Zeiten. Erinnerungen (1997); Richard von Weizsäcker im Gespräch (1992); Von Deutschland nach Europa (1991); Die deutsche Geschichte geht weiter (1983). 
 
Born in Stuttgart on April 15th, 1920, married, four children.
Primary and high school education in Berlin and Bern.

  • 1937-1938 Oxford and Grenoble Universities
  • 1938-1945 Military Service
  • 1945-1949 Göttingen University: Law, History
  • 1950-1966 Private Business, Lawyer
  • 1964-1970 and 1979-1981 President of the German Protestant Convention
  • 1967-1984 Member of the Synod and Council of the German Protestant Church
  • 1969-1981 Member of the Bundestag
  • 1979-1981 Vice-president of the Bundestag
  • 1981-1984 Governing Mayor of Berlin
  • 1984-1994 President of the Federal Republic of Germany
  • 1994-1995 Co-Chairman of the Independent Working Group on
    the future of the United Nations Guest professor at the universities of Düsseldorf and Frankfurt/Oder
  • 1999 One of the „Three Wise Men“, who were requested by the president of the European Union, Romano Prodi, to elaborate suggestions for an institutional reform of the European Union to prepare her for the integration of new member states
  • 1999 - 2000 Chairman of the Commission „Common Security and the Future of the German Federal Armed Forces“
  • 2001 Member of the Eminent Persons Group requested by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to write a report “Crossing the Divide, Dialogue among Civilizations”, being also presented to the General Assembly
  • 2002-2004 Chairman of the Committee „Fluthilfe“
    A aid committee for the victims of the tide of the river Elbe requested by Chancellor Schröder 2004 Member of the International Commission on the Balkans
  • 2006 Member of the Board of the Humboldt University Berlin

Uffe Ellemann-Jensen

Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark (1982-1993); He was leader of the Danish Liberal Party (“Venstre”) (1984-1998) and President of the European Liberals (ELDR) (1995-2000).

Born on 1 November 1941 in Haarby on the Island of Funen, married to Alice Vestergaard, journalist, Former Head of the Copenhagen News department of TV-2, Denmark. They have four children. Uffe Ellemann-Jensen took a master’s degree in Political Economy at the University of Copenhagen.

He worked several years as a newspaper journalist and was editor-in-chief of the Danish financial daily “Borsen.” For five years, Uffe was a political and economic commentator and newscaster on Danish TV.

When he left journalism to pursue politics in 1976, he made a rapid ascent through the party ranks.  Elected to parliament in 1977, he was appointed political spokesman for the Liberal Party in 1978, and minister for Foreign Affairs in 1983. He became party leader in 1994. He was president of the European Liberal Party (ELDR) 1994-2000.

After leaving parliament in 2001, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen has divided his time between international activities, as an activist board member in Danish and international companies, and writing. He has authored several books on economics and politics and his “Impressions – not Memoirs” - became an instant bestseller in Denmark.

He was the co-founder of Baltic Development Forum, where he now is a very active chairman, spending most of his time advocating the abolition of borders and obstacles to the fulfilment of his dream, the Baltic Sea Region as a new growth centre in the new Europe and the world.

Mr. Ellemann-Jensen is member of several boards of a number of Danish and international companies in the region. He is chairman of  BankInvest, a Danish investment and venture capital group, and member of the board of The Royal Theatre and Opera, Copenhagen. He is also a trustee of Reuters Founders Share Company in London. Uffe is a board member of the International Crisis Group.

The Danish government appointed him the chairman of a newly formed Danish Center for International Studies and Human Rights in 2002-05. Uffe Ellemann-Jensen received an honorary doctorate from the University of Gdansk. In 1993, he received the Hansa Prize, and in 1987 he was awarded the Robert Schumann Prize. He became Adjunct Professor at the Copenhagen Business School in 2006.