Edmund Rudiger Stoiber was born on 28 September 1941 and is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union between 1999 and 2007.
24 Facts About Edmund Stoiber
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Edmund Stoiber attended the Ignaz-Gunther-Gymnasium in Rosenheim, where he received his Abitur in 1961, although he had to repeat one year for failing Latin.
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Edmund Stoiber then studied political science and law at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen.
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Edmund Stoiber received a doctorate in jurisprudence, and then in 1971 passed the second state examination with distinction.
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In 1971, Edmund Stoiber joined the Bavarian State Ministry of Development and Environment.
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Edmund Stoiber was widely regarded a central figure in building one of Europe's most powerful regional economies, attracting thousands of hi-tech, engineering and media companies and reducing unemployment to half the national average.
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Edmund Stoiber's extensive campaigning on this stance was widely seen as swinging the election to the SPD in the weeks running up to the election.
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Between 2003 and 2004, Edmund Stoiber served as co-chair of the First Commission on the modernization of the federal state, which had been established to reform the division of powers between federal and state authorities in Germany.
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Edmund Stoiber had ambitions to run again for the chancellorship, but Merkel secured the nomination, and in November 2005 she won the general election.
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Edmund Stoiber was slated to join Merkel's first grand coalition cabinet as Economics minister.
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Edmund Stoiber was first appointed in 2007 as a special adviser to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to chair the "High level group on administrative burdens", made up of national experts, NGOs, business and industry organizations.
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Edmund Stoiber was re-appointed in December 2014 by Jean-Claude Juncker to the same role, from which he resigned after one year in late 2015.
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Edmund Stoiber was a CSU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2017.
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In 2002, Edmund Stoiber publicly expressed support for the United States in their policy toward Iraq.
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Edmund Stoiber attacked German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer for his criticism of the US position.
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Edmund Stoiber is known for backing Vladimir Putin and there have been comparisons to Gerhard Schroder.
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Edmund Stoiber has been said to be skeptical of Germany's decision to adopt the euro.
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Edmund Stoiber is a staunch opponent of Turkey's integration into the European Union, claiming that its non-Christian culture would dilute the Union.
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Edmund Stoiber enjoys considerably more support in his home state of Bavaria than in the rest of Germany, where CDU chairwoman Angela Merkel is more popular.
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In 2005, Edmund Stoiber successfully lobbied Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group, to move the headquarters of its Sandoz subsidiary to Munich, making it one of Europe's highest-profile corporate relocations that year as well as a significant boost to Edmund Stoiber's attempts to build up Bavaria as a pharmaceuticals and biotechnology center.
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When Germany's Federal Constitutional Court decided in 1995 that a Bavarian law requiring a crucifix to be hung in each of the state's 40,000 classrooms was unconstitutional, Edmund Stoiber said he would not order the removal of crucifixes "for the time being", and asserted that he was under no obligation to remove them in schools where parents unanimously opposed such action.
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Edmund Stoiber has been a staunch advocate of changes in German law that would give more power to owners of private TV channels.
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However, when European Commissioner for Competition Karel van Miert unveiled ideas for reforming the rules governing the financing of public service broadcasters in 1998, Edmund Stoiber led the way in rejecting moves to reform established practice.
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Football legend, former FC Bayern president and DFB vice president Franz Beckenbauer showed his support for Edmund Stoiber by letting him join the Germany national football team on their flight home from Japan after the 2002 FIFA World Cup.