25.10.2005
Germany's New Government:
Franz Josef Jung A Man of "Hesse's Clique" in Berlin
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Simon Araloff, AIA European section, Freiburg im Breisgau
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The new Minister of Defense of Germany, Franz Josef Jung |
The new Minister of Defense of Germany, Franz Josef Jung, is not a remarkable figure by himself. He is a usual party functionary of the Christian Democratic Union from Hesse, and there are many like him in Germany. However, behind him stands a much more influential political figure - the head of the government of the German state of Hesse, Roland Koch.
From Lawyer to Politician
Franz Joseph Jung's biography is a standard for the overwhelming majority of functionaries of the middle echelon of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was born on March 5, 1949 in the small town of Erbach, in the Rheingau-Taunus district, the federal state of Hesse. His father, as well as the majority of local men at that time, was a wine maker. At the end of the forties, as well as today, Christian Democrats ruled Erbach. There the annual autumnal assemblies of the party were held, during which rivers of the well-known local wine, "Rheingauer Riesling", were drunk. Subsequently, Franz Josef Jung, already a known party functionary on the local scene, annually took part in these autumn party holidays in which the management of the CDU from all over the country gathered.
Jung came to politics very young; in the sixties he joined the lines of the youth organization of Christian Democrats "Junge Union". Due to his inborn leader's qualities, in 1973, at the age of 24, he was already a part of the national leadership of this organization. In parallel, in the seventies Jung was making great progress in his studies in the Faculty of Law of Mainz University. He graduated with a lawyer's diploma (Rechtsanwalt) and a scientific degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence. In 1983, after two years as vice-chairman of the national board of the "Junge Union", his work in the leadership of the organization had come to an end, and a career as a member of the local Parliament (Landtag) of Hesse began. Since then and to this day, for more than two decades, Franz Joseph Jung has served in the Landtag. Probably, he would have remained simply a member of the provincial parliament to the end of his political career. However, destiny prepared him for something else. In 1991 he met with a rising star of the Christian Democratic party, Roland Koch.
The Tandem from Hesse
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| Roland Koch and Franz Joseph Jung |
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Roland Koh is 9 years younger than Jung: he was born in March, 1958 in one of the largest German cities, Frankfurt am Main. However, his youth, as well as Jung's, was passed in the Rheingau-Taunus district, where in 1979, at the age of 21, he became the youngest, up to that moment, leader of the local branch of the "Junge Union". Both politicians met on this ground for the first time. Later, in 1983, Koch replaced Jung in the position of vice-chairman of the national board of the organization. However, the present fruitful cooperation between them, and also their strong friendship, started only in the beginning of the
nNineties. In 1991 Roland Koch (whose father at that moment held the post of Minister of Justice of Hesse from the CDU) was elected to the post of vice-chairman of the CDU faction in the Hesse Parliament. Two years later he became its chairman (Vorsitzender der CDU-Landtagsfraktion). From the very beginning of his work in Landtag his right hand was Jung, who since 1987 became the office manager of the faction (Parlamentarischer Geschaftsfuhrer der CDU-Landtagsfraktion).
In 1998 Koch was elected as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union of Hesse (Landesvorsitzender der CDU in Hessen). Jung received the post of his assistant, and a year later also acquired the post of Minister on Affairs of Federation and Europe (Minister fur Bundes-und Europaangelegenheiten) in the government of Hesse and the post of Chief of the Office of the Head of the government of this federal state (Chef der Staatskanzlei.)
A Swindle Without Punishment
The financial scandal around the million strong donations for the benefit of the CDU/CSU from the weapons dealer, Karlheinz Schreiber, (the scandal received the name "CDU-Spendenaffare" or "Schwarzgeldaffare", became a serious test for both politicians and their relations in 2000. The main figures in the scandal were former chancellor Helmut Kohl and the chairman of the CDU, Wolfgang Schauble. However, the heads of the local branch of the Christian Democrat Union of Hesse, Koch and Jung became also involved in the scandal. It is remarkable that in the official biography of Jung this period of his life was omitted (http:// www.franz-josef-jung.de/person.html). As the German press asserted then, at the beginning of the nineties several million marks flowed to the so-called "party's black cash register" of the CDU in Hesse as the inheritance of the "wills" ("Vermachtnis") from various persons ostensibly sympathetic to the party. That was a huge swindle and both politicians, Koch and Jung, were seriously suspected of participation in the illegal financial frauds. However, surprisingly, both of them managed to avoid court. And although Jung had to refuse a ministerial portfolio and the post of Chief of Office of Hesse's head of the government, Koch promised that he would take care of the prompt rehabilitation of his friend and political colleague.
Rehabilitation of an Old Friend
The first attempt to rehabilitate Franz Jung, was undertaken by Roland Koch in 2002. He offered his name as a nominee to be the chief of the pre-election staff of the candidate for the Chancellor's post, Edmund Stoiber. However, Stoiber, the CSU leader from Bavaria, rejected the offer. A year later, in 2003, the Christian Democrats gained a resounding victory in the elections to the Landtag of Hesse. The "CDU-Spendenaffare" case was quickly forgotten. And in April, 2003 Jung received the post of chairman of the CDU faction in Landtag. Since then his prestige in the party has increased considerably. Despite doubtful moments in his biography, Jung is a member of the national leadership of the Christian Democrats, and also of the influential "Andenpakt" party club.
After nominating Jung as a candidate for the post of Defense Minister of Germany, in the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union, the rumors started that in this way Roland Koch promoted his protégé to the future government. Koch, who applied for Chancellor, but conceded to Angela Merkel in the inner-party struggle, decided to wait for better times in Hesse. Nevertheless, the people closely acquainted with a history of the mutual relations of the Koch - Jung tandem have no doubts at all that Hesse's leader of the Christian Democrats will actively influence the behavior of Franz Jung in his ministerial post.
Read in the next article: Roland Koch's connections with the Russian leadership and his economic interests in Moscow.
Related items:
Schauble against Russian, Chinese and Iranian Intelligence (19.10.2005)
The Curator of Germany's Secret Services Will Shape his Country's Foreign Policy (14.10.2005)
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