"Frank-Walter Steinmeier (German: [ˈfʁaŋkˌvaltɐ ˈʃtaɪ̯nˌmaɪ̯.ɐ]; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, and Vice-Chancellor of Germany from 2007 to 2009. He was chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2016.
Steinmeier is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), holds a doctorate in law and was formerly a career civil servant. He was a close aide of Gerhard Schröder when Schröder was Prime Minister of Lower Saxony during most of the 1990s, and served as Schröder´s chief of staff from 1996. When Schröder became Chancellor of Germany in 1998, Steinmeier was appointed Under-Secretary of State in the German Chancellery with the responsibility for the intelligence services. From 1999 to 2005 he served as Chief of Staff of the Chancellery." - (en.wikipedia.org 06.07.2020)
