Foreign Minister Takes Over as Germany's Vice Chancellor

Long known as a behind-the-scenes politician, Frank-Walter Steinmeier is the new Germany’s Vice Chancellor.

Steinmeier, a Social Democrat, took over from party colleague Franz Müntefering, who resigned last week to take care of his wife in her battle against cancer.

A trained lawyer, Steinmeier has a reputation as a political pragmatist capable of mediating between differing views. He was also considered the closest advisor to Gerhard Schröder, Merkel's Social Democratic predecessor, and a major architect of Schröder's stance against the US-led war in Iraq.

Still, Steinmeier's assumption of the new position, in addition to his serving as Germany's foreign minister, can only bolster his public profile and solidify his role within the grand coalition.

The job of labor minister -- the other position vacated by Müntefering -- has been given to Social Democrat Olaf Scholz.

Several members of the EAPC, who attended the 2005 World Conference of our brother Association, the IAPC, had the honor to be welcomed to the Chancellor Office by Frank Steinmeier at the time when he was chief-of-staff of the Federal Chancellery under Schröder, a position he held from 1999 to 2005.

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Board Meeting in Copenhagen

The EAPC Board has met in Copenhagen to prepare the next conference in May and to plan the work for the next months till the new Board will be elected in Copenhagen. Board Member and Conference Chairman Jan Juul Christensen presented the Conference theme “Public affairs in a Changing Environment” as well as a preliminary program and PR-activities to promote the Conference. On October 1 a website will be launched for the Conference with information about the Conference and about the lovely City of Copenhagen. In the meantime you can find a small summary on our website at Next meeting. But this was not the only point on the Agenda. The Board agreed on a working plan to modernize and improve the Association. A group is going to work on the modernization of the web and another group is preparing a plan of action for the future till the Conference in May. If you are considering becoming a member of the EAPC this is for sure the moment to join us.

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