Sherpa (chief negotiator)

As Sherpa in the sense of "chief negotiator of a government" - derived from the name of porters and mountain guides in the Himalayas ( Sherpa ) - the person responsible for preparing the respective head of government for government meetings is named in political jargon. He is best known in the European Union and at meetings of the most important economic nations.

origin

The term comes from mountaineering jargon and comes from the Nepalese ethnic group Sherpas , in particular from Tenzing Norgay , a mountain companion of Edmund Hillary on the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. In a political context, Sherpas were mentioned for the first time during the government negotiations of the European Union.

Sherpas were best known as senior government officials responsible for G-7 summits and acting as chief negotiators for the respective government. Their helpers are then called Sous-Sherpa (Untersherpa). The Sherpas prepare the annual summit, agree the national positions and thus sound out in advance what political leeway there is at the summit. In this way, the Sherpas can ensure a (partial) clarification of (any) different positions in the run-up to the G7 summit.

European Union

The term has found its way into official documents of the European Union. In the Commission's decision of 14 June 2007 on the establishment of a high-level group for the competitiveness of the chemical industry in the European Union, Articles 4 to 6 expressly refer to a “Sherpa sub-group” (also in Decision 2006/77 / EC of December 23, 2005, Articles 3 and 4).

Well-known current Sherpas in the EU

• Uwe Corsepius ( Germany )
• Kare Halonen ( Finland )
• Martin Selmayr ( European Commission )

Federal Chancellery

The Federal Chancellery in particular uses Sherpas to carry out international consultations and contract negotiations. The German Sherpa commissioned by the former Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 2004, who subsequently represented the Federal Government at the world economic summits as chief negotiator, was Bernd Pfaffenbach , from 2005 State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology . Former German Sherpas with a prominent reputation include the former Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Horst Köhler , and the former President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Hans Tietmeyer . Jens Weidmann had been the G8 Sherpa of the Federal Government since December 2009 and had been a Sherpa of the G20 Round since 2006 . His successor was the State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Jörg Asmussen . The current G7 and G20 Sherpa is Lars-Hendrik Röller . For the European Council , the EU department head Uwe Corsepius is a sherpa for the Chancellor. His predecessor is today's ambassador to Paris Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut .

criticism

On the one hand, Sherpas are viewed positively as loyal supporters of their heads of government, because it is emphasized that their bosses continue to bear political responsibility. On the other hand, they form a tight-knit community with their international colleagues, who allow little influence from democratic control bodies. According to the Guardian , they are the key policymakers in the heads of government in large EU countries. The Finnish Sherpa Kare Halonen denies the importance of the Sherpas in an interview with the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat . They only served their bosses. But government agencies also criticize the Sherpas' system. In 2015, the Italian Minister of State Sandro Gozi referred to the system for the first time as Sherpacrazia , a term that was taken up by the President of the European Movement Germany Rainer Wend with the German word "Sherpakratie".

Web links

• Article Abendblatt: The Sherpas for political summits
• Article Guardian: Meet the Euro Sherpas

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 2007/418 / EG: Commission decision of June 14, 2007 on the establishment of a high-level group on the competitiveness of the chemical industry in the European Union . In: Official Journal of the European Union . L, No. 156, June 16, 2007, pp. 34-36.
2. ↑ 2006/77 / EC: Commission decision of 23 December 2005 to set up a high-level group on competitiveness, energy and the environment . In: Official Journal of the European Union . L, No. 36, February 8, 2006, pp. 43-44.
3. ↑ The Sherpa who leads Merkel to the summit . In: world.
4. ↑ Merkel appoints new Super Sherpa . In: Spiegel Online.
5. ^ Nicholas Watt, Natalie Nougayrède, Martin Winter, Carlos E. Cué, and Marco Zatterin: Meet the Euro-sherpas . In: The Guardian . October 17, 2012, ISSN  0261-3077 (English, theguardian.com [accessed August 13, 2017]).
6. ↑ Sherpakracy criticism reaches Finnish media. In: Network EBD. Retrieved on August 13, 2017 (German). 
7. ↑ autore: Dipartimento Politiche Europee: UE Gozi: Stop 'sherpacrazia' occorre nuova governance democratica dell'euro. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 13, 2017 ; Retrieved August 13, 2017 (Italian). 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.  
8. ↑ We need a Federal Minister for European Integration! In: Causa Debattenportal . ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed on August 13, 2017]).
9. ↑ POLITICO Tomorrow Europe: Merkel in Italy - The Power of the Sherpas - EU Commission vs. Apple . In: POLITICO . August 31, 2016 ( politico.eu [accessed August 13, 2017]).