An unusually gentle politician

Date: 29/02/1996

WHEN Noel Coward, in one of his pre-war hits, sang about a “mild and gentle man”, he must have been thinking of somebody like Werner Hoyer.

Indeed, should you meet the German foreign office's softly-spoken junior minister at a party in Brussels or Bonn, the last thing you would put him down as is a successful politician.

And yet that is precisely what this unassuming economist turns out to be.

Unlike many of his peers, Hoyer shows no need to bolster his self-confidence by attracting immediate attention upon entering a room.

No one who has worked his way up to the top of the pushy world of politics could be more reluctant to raise his voice. No one can better convey the impression that he is listening to you with patience and the utmost attention.

The opposite of a populist crowd-pleaser, the 44-year-old Hoyer, aides say, has climbed up the ladder of his smallish liberal party through a combination of stamina, hard work and sharp intellect.

His polite attention and kindly manner hide an analytical brain which carefully appraises your every word.

Unsurprisingly, Hoyer's dislike of easy soundbites (which, admittedly, does little for his media presence) and his ability to master highly-technical dossiers quickly have made him an instant hit with most of the German diplomats who work with or under him.

But they also make for a sometimes uneasy relationship with his boss, Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel. Kinkel, who as erstwhile Freie Demokratische Partei (FDP) leader presided over a dramatic decline in the party fortunes, is acutely sensitive to the widespread internal criticism of his handling of the ministry's top job.

“It is a relief to finally come across a politician who understands complex matters,” says one diplomat. Immediately after joining the foreign ministry in November 1994, “he made sure that he knew what he talked about”.

Hoyer's grasp of technicalities, coupled, diplomats say, with an unusual ability not to lose sight of the big picture, means that he often gets his way without needing to speak out loudly. “Once he has made up his mind, he is not easily swayed,” says one close observer.

In his ministry, Hoyer, while generally acting as Kinkel's deputy, bears special responsibility for all matters relating to European cooperation. This gives him the important privilege of attending cabinet meetings.

After participating in the Reflection Group which prepared the ground for the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference, Hoyer has also been designated as the government's representative at the IGC - and, as the nominee of the country which has long been in

the vanguard of EU development, his role will be a crucial one.

His (federalist) European credentials, observers say, are impeccable.

“His approach to Europe is less emotional than the Chancellor's,” says an aide. “Hoyer belongs to the

post-war generation and his European convictions are the fruit of analysis. But he is deeply convinced that Europe must unite if it is to prosper in an increasingly competitive world.”

While a member of the Reflection Group, Hoyer also established a close working relationship with his French counterpart Michel Barnier.

“I think they really like each other. In some ways, they are a bit similar,” says one close observer. “They are both unusually gentle for politicians.”

As one who for ten years held a junior teaching position at the distinguished economics faculty of Cologne University, Hoyer takes a keen interest in even the most technical aspects of monetary union. While occasionally critical of some of the finance ministry's dictatorial pronouncements on how best to go about it, he firmly backs EMU as a goal. In his opinion, it is necessary both for economic and political reasons.

Oddly enough, Hoyer owes his foreign ministry job to the one big mistake of his political career. As the liberals' secretary-general, he took political responsibility for a draft party programme which defined the FDP as “the party of the better paid”.

This undiplomatic expression of a widely-acknowledged truth raised a storm of protest both within and without the party ranks and cost Hoyer his job - but as compensation, the party nominated him for his present position.

Yet with his appointment to the foreign ministry, Hoyer, who has been a member of the Bundestag since 1987, might well have found his ideal political calling.

“He enjoys travelling and has a genuine talent for languages,” says a diplomat. While English is his best language, his French is good enough to deliver speeches and participate in debates. And without having attained true speaking proficiency, he has managed to master the rudiments of Dutch and even Russian.

To balance his gruelling 16-hour days, Hoyer likes to keep fit by using the swimming pools and gyms of the many hotels he stays in. “He is always very disappointed when there is no pool,” says a diplomat.

And despite his decidedly unmilitary appearance, Hoyer, is also a trained navigator and a reserve captain of the German airforce.

Finding the best route to travel is also a private passion: Hoyer is one of those people for whom railway and airport timetables hold endless fascination. If he can, he personally sees to it that his staff chooses the best plane connections to get him to his destinations.

He has also been known to give fellow participants of the Reflection Group sound travelling advice, once rescuing the Swedish member from spending an extra night in Spain after a meeting in Toledo.

On hearing from Gunnar Lund that he had not found a good connection to get him back to Stockholm, Hoyer, having consulted his booklet on Lufthansa plane connections, offered his Swedish colleague a lift to Cologne in his own Luftwaffe plane.

He then told the pilot to have a taxi waiting for his plane in Cologne to whisk Lund to Frankfurt Airport. “He was grinning all over when he heard that his Swedish colleague had made the flight,” says a diplomat.

“He did not ask any aide to work out the flight number and the connection, he took real pleasure in doing it himself.”

Hoyer, who is married but has no children, is seen by some diplomats as one of the natural long-term candidates for the job of foreign minister, should the embattled FDP survive as a political force in Germany. Yet while stressing his intellectual and human qualities, some close observers concede that Hoyer finds it difficult to sell himself to the general public.

“Sometimes, he does not make quite the impact you might expect,” says one. “His whole personality is not really suited to a media age where everybody is loudly vying for attention.”