Horst Koehler

Hostkler, the former president of Germany, a widely respected politician and economist, has made many contributions to the economic development of Germany. He was first elected president in 2004 and re-elected in 2009. Koehler was born in Skerbezov during the German occupation of Poland, the seventh of eight siblings. In 1945, he moved with his family to what was then the Democratic Republic of Germany. In 1953, the family moved to a refugee settlement in the Federal Republic of Germany. Koehler was the only one of eight children to receive a higher education, earning a doctorate in economics and political science from the University of Tubingen in 1969. He then entered the Tubingen Institute of Applied Economics as an assistant Research fellow in Economics, where he began his career. In 1976 Koehler left the Institute to join the Federal Ministry of Economics. He joined the Christian Democratic Union in 1981. When Kohl, from the CDU, became chancellor of West Germany in October 1982, Kohler took up a post in the finance ministry and became one of Kohl's most trusted economic advisers. During this period, German politicians assessed Koehler as politically independent, stable, modest and pragmatic. This was the main reason why he was later nominated by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder of the Social Democratic Party to head the International Monetary Fund. He was Deputy Finance Minister of Germany from 1990 to 1993, President of the Association of German Savings Banks from 1993 to 1998, and President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) from September 1998. During this period, Koehler became an international economic heavyweight. He represented Germany in the negotiations on the Maastricht Treaty on European Economic and Monetary Union, was responsible for negotiations with Russia on compensation for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from eastern Germany, and participated on several occasions as Chancellor Kohl's personal representative in the preparations for the G7 summit. Since May 2000, Koehler has served as the eighth Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund. On 23 May 2004, he was elected as the ninth President of the post-World War II German Federation. At the time, most observers thought this would be the pinnacle of Koehler's career. In 2007, Koehler publicly criticized the excessive pay of German executives, and in the summer and fall of 2008, the global financial crisis erupted and spread. As a well-known expert and former senior manager in the field of finance, Koehler has repeatedly criticized the international financial giants for their greed, too mercenary, and the regulatory system of the financial industry is too lax and laissez faire. On March 4, 2009, Koehler resigned as managing director of the International Monetary Fund after accepting his nomination for the presidency, defying predictions that he was ambitious enough to reach new heights. On 23 May 2009, in the first round of voting at the 13th Federal Congress, Koehler defeated the same challenger, Ms. Schwan, and was re-elected president. Koehler announced his resignation on 31 May 2010. After resigning, he went on to hold high-level positions such as the UN Senior Panel of Experts on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Palace Initiative Panel.