GERMANY: Newly-elected President Joachim Gauck arrives at his new residence the Bellevue Palace in Berlin

Record ID: 187125

  • Title: GERMANY: Newly-elected President Joachim Gauck arrives at his new residence the Bellevue Palace in Berlin
  • Date: 20th March 2012
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (MARCH 19, 2012) (REUTERS) VIEW OF BELLEVUE PALACE, RESIDENCE OF THE GERMAN PRESIDENT CLOSE FLAG WITH FEDERAL EAGLE ON TOP OF RESIDENCE MEDIA WAITING IN FRONT OF RESIDENCE FORMER GERMAN PRESIDENT CHRISTIAN WULFF, BAVARIAN STATE PREMIER AND INTERIM PRESIDENT HORST SEEHOFER AND HIS WIFE KAREN WALKING OUT OF PALACE CAR WITH NEWLY-ELECTED GERMAN PRESIDENT JOACHIM GAUCK AND HIS PARTNER DANIELA SCHADT ARRIVING IN FRONT OF BELLEVUE / GAUCK AND SCHADT GETTING OUT OF CAR AND BEING GREETED BY WULFF AND SEEHOFER CAMERAS VARIOUS GAUCK AND SCHADT BEING WELCOMED NEWLY-ELECTED PRESIDENT, HIS PARTNER AND HIS PREDECESSOR GETTING UP STAIRS OF BELLEVUE AND POSING FOR MEDIA STATUES AT BELLEVUE PALACE CLOSE GAUCK GAUCK AND SCHADT POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS GAUCK AND SCHADT WALKING INTO BELLEVUE PALACE FLAG WITH FEDERAL EAGLE WIDE BELLEVUE PALACE
  • Embargoed: 4th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany, Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVABRPNO6ECWF2EE7UBJUSOMQXDD
  • Story Text: Newly-elected German President Joachim Gauck arrived with his partner Daniela Schadt at the Bellevue Palace on Monday (March 19) to take over the residence from his predecessor Christian Wulff and interim President Horst Seehofer.
    Gauck, a former Lutheran pastor and human rights activist from communist East Germany, was elected president of Europe's most powerful country on Sunday, receiving 991 votes in the federal assembly comprising members of parliament and regional delegates that elects German heads of state. His main rival, veteran anti-Nazi campaigner Beate Klarsfeld, got 126 votes.
    Germans hope Gauck, a prominent player in the peaceful protests that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, can restore dignity to the presidency, a post tarnished by financial scandals that toppled Wulff.
    His victory was never in doubt after all the main political parties, including Merkel's centre-right Christian Democrats, threw their weight behind his candidacy.
    Gauck said he hoped to pay his first visit as president to Poland, another important neighbour with which Merkel has forged close political and economic ties within the EU. Merkel and Gauck both hail from old East Germany where her father was also a clergyman. They are said to have a good personal rapport, but she blocked a bid to install him as president in 2010 in favour of the ill-fated Wulff.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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