Jakob von Weizsäcker
Jakob von Weizsäcker (born 1970) is a German politician and economist. In 2014, he was elected as Member of the European Parliament for the social democrats (SPD) representing Thuringia.
Education
After attending Atlantic College in Wales, he studied at Bonn University and worked for Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste in Poland instead of military service. He completed his university studies in France at ENS Lyon and what is today known as the Paris School of Economics, graduating with a Maîtrise in physics and a Diplôme d'études approfondies in economics.
Professional career
Weizsäcker started work as a research fellow with Jean-Charles Hourcade at CIRED in Paris and then with Hans-Werner Sinn at the Center for Economic Studies in Munich. After stints at a venture capital firm and as a visiting scholar at the MIT Department of economics, he joined the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs (Berlin) in 2001 as Private secretary to Siegmar Mosdorf. In 2002, he was recruited by the World Bank in Washington DC as economist. 2005-2010 he was a resident fellow of the think-tank Bruegel in Brussels. With his work on migration policy, he coined the term Blue Card for a European scheme to attract high-skilled immigrants.[1] From 2010 to 2014, he headed a department at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Thuringia.[2]
In 2013, Weizsäcker joined Henrik Enderlein, Marcel Fratzscher, Clemens Fuest and others in founding the Glienicker Gruppe, a group of pro-European lawyers, economists and political scientists.[3]
Political career
In the 2014 European elections, Weizsäcker was elected to the European Parliament[4] where he is a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. On the committee, he is the rapporteur on virtual currencies and the shadow rapporteur on structural reform of the EU banking sector.[5] In addition, he is a member of the parliament’s delegation for the relations with India[6] and of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Western Sahara.[7]
Other activities
- Berlin Institute for Population and Development, Member of the Board of Trustees (-2014)
Personal life
Weizsäcker is married, with four children. A member of the prominent Weizsäcker family, he is the son of environmentalist and politician Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, grandson of the physicist and philosopher Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and grandnephew of former German president Richard von Weizsäcker.
References
- ↑ "Welcome to Europe". Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- ↑ "Jakob von Weizsäcker's CV" (PDF). Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- ↑ Mobil, gerecht, einig Glienicker Brücke.
- ↑ "Der Bundeswahlleiter". Retrieved 31 January 2015.
- ↑ Jim Brunsden (October 29, 2015), Banks fume at EU move to strengthen break-up powers Financial Times.
- ↑ "Jakob von Weizsäcker (information provided by the European Parliament)". Retrieved 31 January 2015.
- ↑ Members European Parliament Intergroup on Western Sahara.