Former Federal Minister and former Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia of the Federal Republic of Germany
Wolfgang Clement was born in Bochum on 7 July 1940 and was Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1998 to 2002 and Federal Minister of Economics and Labour from 2002 to 2005. After studying law, Clement was first political editor from 1968, later department head for politics and finally deputy editor-in-chief of the Westfälische Rundschau in Dortmund. From 1986 to 1989 he was editor-in-chief of the Hamburger Morgenpost. From 1981 to 1986, Wolfgang Clement served as spokesman for the federal executive committee and from 1985 to 1986 also as deputy federal executive director of the SPD. In 1989, the then Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Johannes Rau, appointed him Head of the State Chancellery. From 13 July 1990, he held this office with the rank of Minister for Special Tasks, and after the state elections in 1995, he was a member of Rau's cabinet as Minister for Economics and SMEs, Technology and Transport. Wolfgang Clement is a book author and freelance columnist, a member of various supervisory boards, boards of trustees and advisory boards of national and international companies as well as scientific institutions. He is vice-chairman of the Frankfurt Future Council.
Wednesday, 21. November 2012, 18:15 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOL-G-201 (Aula)
De facto, the sovereign debt crisis has affected the entire "Western world", but the euro currency area currently appears to be the most vulnerable because, although there is a common currency here, there is no common economic, labour market and financial policy. It is a question of restoring the capacity to act and competitiveness of the respective member states of the European Monetary Union and, hand in hand with this, the development of a European Political Union that gradually assumes responsibility for a common, sustainable economic, labour market and financial policy that is responsible to future generations.