Brian Cowen

Brian Cowen (2008)

Brian Cowen ( Irish Brian Ó Comhain ; born January 10, 1960 in Tullamore , County Offaly ) is an Irish politician and was the Prime Minister ( Taoiseach ) of Ireland from May 7, 2008 to March 9, 2011 and from 2008 to January 22 2011 chairman of the ruling Fianna Fáil party.

Brian Cowen studied law at University College Dublin , was admitted to the bar by the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland in Dublin and practiced as a lawyer. From 1984 to 2011 he was a deputy ( Member of Dáil Éireann ) for the constituency of Laois-Offaly.

He was Minister of Labor from 1992 to 1993, Minister of Energy in 1993, Minister of Transport, Energy and Communications from 1993 to 1994, Minister of Health and Children from 1997 to 2000, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2004 and Minister of Finance from 2004 to 2008. In the first half of 2004, Cowen was also President of the Council of the European Union . From June 14, 2007 to May 7, 2008, he was acting Vice-Prime Minister ( Tánaiste ) .

On April 4, 2008, after the resignation announcement by Bertie Ahern on May 6 , 2008, Cowen formally declared his candidacy for the party chairmanship of Fianna Fáil and the post of Irish Prime Minister; on April 9, he was elected party chairman of Fianna Fáil and appointed as the successor of Ahern as Prime Minister-elect of Ireland. Cowen assumed both offices on May 7, 2008. inside.

Cowen's government lost enormous popularity in the wake of the Irish banking crisis. Cowen is now considered the least popular politician of all time in Ireland. Among other things, Cowen is accused of having failed to contain the banking crisis and of having decisively hurt the country's pride by fleeing under the EU rescue package . Ireland's vote against the Lisbon Treaty is interpreted as a protest against the policies of the Cowen government. In November 2010, Cowen announced early elections after a vote of confidence . The date of the new elections was only set for March 11, 2011 two months later, under pressure from the coalition partner, and was then brought forward to February 25. On January 22, 2011, he resigned from the position of party chairman because of the ongoing criticism within the Fianna Fáil. He was succeeded by Micheál Martin , who had resigned as foreign minister a few days earlier on January 19 in protest against Cowen's policies. Cowen therefore held the post of foreign minister until the new election.

Cowen is married and has two daughters.

Web links

Commons : Brian Cowen  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

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1. ^ ^{A b} Brian Cowen: Announcement by the Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen TD, on the Leadership of Fianna Fáil. (No longer available online.) January 22, 2011, archived from the original on January 27, 2011 ; accessed on January 23, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ The Irish Times : "Tánaiste formally declares for leadership of Fianna Fáil" , April 5, 2008 (English)
3. ↑ The Irish Times: "Brian Cowen to be next Taosieach" , April 5, 2008 (English)
4. ^ DLF : DLF-Nachrichten , report from April 9, 2008, 1 p.m.
5. ↑ The Irish Times: "Brian Cowen's acceptance speech" of April 9, 2008 (audio clip) (English)
6. ↑ Irish Prime Minister announces new elections , Spiegel Online from November 22, 2010
7. ^ Page on Brian Cowen ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the Fianna Fáil website