Eichel, Hans

Autor: Eichel, Hans
Rok: 1941-

Hans Eichel is a German politician (SPD) and the co-founder of the G20. As of July 2015, he is Germany's second longest serving Minister of Finance after WWII reconstruction.Eichel was chairman of the G7 in 1999 and chairman of the G20 in 2004. Before that, Eichel served eight years as Premier of Hesse, home to Frankfurt and the European Central Bank and Germany's wealthiest state per capita with an economy larger than Finland, Vietnam and Pakistan.During his time in office, Eichel played a very important role in two landmark reforms - the far reaching reform of German society and economy (also known as Agenda 2010) and the creation of the G-20 to reflect the rebalancing of world power. Agenda 2010 helped turn Germany from the 'sick man of Europe' into the best performing major Western economy in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. It is widely regarded as the most successful economic reforms in Germany in over half a century, and the most successful economic reforms in any G7 country in 30 years.As chairman of the G7, Eichel initiated the creation of the G20 together with then US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and hosted its inaugural meeting in Berlin. The G20 rapidly grew to become the most influential economic body in the world. Eichel went on to serve as chairman of the G20 in 2004, when he pressed for the reforming of the international financial architecture and establishing a code of conduct on preventing financial crises.Eichel currently leads the expert group on sustainable structural development for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the world's oldest and largest foundation to promote democracy and political education.