Roland Koch
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Roland Koch (born March 24 1958 in Frankfurt am Main) is a German politician and Minister-President of Hesse. He took office on April 7 1999, immediately becoming President of the Bundesrat completing the term began by his predecessor Hans Eichel.
In 1979 Koch became the youngest person to hold the office of chairmain of the CDU in Main-Taunus county. From 1983 until 1987 he was vice-chair of the federal youth organization of the CDU. In 1985 he completed his studies to become a lawyer.
Until 1993 Koch was a city council member in his hometown of Eschborn. He was also a member of the Main-Taunus district council and parliamentary leader of the local CDU group from 1989 until 1997. In 1987 he got elected to the legislature of Hesse, where he became vice-chair of the CDU parliamentary group in 1991 and in 1993 its chair. Since 1998 he has also been chair of the Hessian state party.
Koch is seen as a rhetorically gifted politician, whom critics have accused him of populism[citation needed]. In the state elections in 1999, the CDU began collecting signatures to document the resistance in the population to plans of the federal government to make dual citizenship easier for foreigners to obtain. Because some people viewed this action as "collecting signatures against foreigners", they viewed the campaign as xenophobic[citation needed]. Koch was able to win the election and displace the incumbent, Hans Eichel.
In early 2000 the Hessian CDU made headlines with a money laundering scandal dating back to 1983[citation needed]. Koch promised "the most brutal investigation possible" but tarnished his public image when it was discovered that he had not disclosed a back-dated loan agreement the party made[citation needed]. His party and its coalition partner, the FDP, ensured that he survived a vote of no confidence, despite the outrage in the media and the public over this affair[citation needed].
In November 2006 Koch was elected vice-chairman of the CDU.
His father Karl-Heinz Koch was also a politician in Hesse. Koch and his wife Anke have two sons. He is Roman Catholic.[1]
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| People's State of Hesse (est. 1918) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Nazi period (1933–45) | ||
| Greater Hesse (1945–46) | ||
| Modern Hesse (since 1946) | ||