View source for Hermann Otto Solms

{{Short description|German politician (born 1940)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-suffix    = [[Member of the German Bundestag|MdB]]
| name                = Hermann Otto Solms
| image               = 2018-05-10 Hermann Otto Solms-7546 (cropped).jpg
| image_upright       = 1.1
| office1             = [[Presidium of the Bundestag|Vice President of the Bundestag]]<br /><small>(on proposal of the FDP-group)</small>
| term_start1         = 26 October 1998
| term_end1           = 22 October 2013
| predecessor1        = [[Burkhard Hirsch]]
| successor1          = [[Wolfgang Kubicki]] {{small|(2017)}}
| office2             = Leader of the [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] in the [[Bundestag]]
| term_start2         = 15 January 1991
| term_end2           = 26 October 1998
| predecessor2        = Wolfgang Mischnick
| successor2          = [[Wolfgang Gerhardt]]
| office3             = [[Member of the German Bundestag|Member]] of the [[Bundestag]] <br /> for [[Hesse]]
| term_start3         = 24 October 2017
| term_end3           = 26 October 2021
| constituency3       = Free Democratic Party List
| term_start4         = 4 November 1980
| term_end4           = 22 October 2013
| constituency4       = Free Democratic Party List
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1940|11|24|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Lich, Hesse|Lich]], [[Nazi Germany|German Reich]]
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]]
| alma_mater          = [[Goethe University Frankfurt|University of Frankfurt]]<br />[[University of Giessen]]<br />[[Kansas State University|Kansas State University, Manhattan]]
| spouse              = Christiane Meyer zu Eissen
| children            = 3
| website             = {{url|hermann-otto-solms.de|Official website}}
| caption             = Solms in 2018
}}
'''Hermann Otto Solms''' (born '''Hermann Otto Prince zu [[Solms-Hohensolms-Lich]]'''; 24 November 1940) is a German politician of the [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] (FDP).

Between 1980 and 2013, he was a member of the [[Bundestag]], from 1991 to 1998 as Chairman of the FDP parliamentary party and from 1998 to 2013 as Vice President of the Bundestag. Since 2017 he has again been a member of the Bundestag.

==Early life==
Solms was [[posthumous birth|born posthumously]], the third son and fifth child of Hermann Otto Hereditary Prince zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (1902–1940).<ref name=ggh>Gothaisches Genealogisches Handbuch der Fürstlchen Häuser, Band I. Verlag des Deutschen Adelsarchivs. Marburg. 2015. pp. 471–476. (German). {{ISBN|978-3-9817243-0-1}}.</ref> His father was the heir to the fortune and legacy of the [[Fürst|Princes]] zu [[Solms-Hohensolms-Lich]], a noble family known in Germany since 1129, whose [[Imperial count]]y was made a principality of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] in 1792, but [[German mediatisation|mediatized]] under the sovereignty of the [[Grand Duchy of Hesse]] in 1806.<ref name=ggh/> Hermann Otto's father died while serving as a lieutenant in the [[Luftwaffe]] at [[Neuruppin]] on 3 July 1940.<ref name=ggh/> His mother, ''née'' Baroness Gertrude von Werthern-Beichlingen (1913–1987), was remarried in 1950 to Hans Joachim Sell of [[Neustettin]].<ref name=ggh/>

After completing his secondary education ([[Abitur]]) in 1960, Solms carried out his obligatory military service and then completed a commercial apprenticeship in 1964. He studied [[Economics]] in [[Goethe University Frankfurt|Frankfurt am Main]] and [[University of Giessen|Giessen]], [[Germany]] and [[Kansas State University|Kansas]], USA, finishing in 1969 with an economics degree and in 1975 with a [[doctoral degree]] in [[agriculture]] (''Dr. agr.'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bundestag.de/abgeordnete/biografien/S/523724-523724|title=Deutscher Bundestag - Dr. Hermann Otto Solms}}</ref>

In 1970 he began working as a researcher at the Institute for Environmental Management Studies at [[University of Giessen]] and in 1973 he became the personal advisor of [[Bundestag]] vice president [[Liselotte Funcke]]. Since 1976 he has been an independent consultant.

==Political career==
Since 1971, Solms has been a member of the [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|FDP]], holding the post of Treasury Secretary from 1987 to 1999. After the death of his successor, [[Günter Rexrodt]], Solms was again appointed Secretary of the Treasury in the middle of 2004, confirmed on 5 May 2005 in [[Cologne]] by a majority of 90.6%.

===Member of Parliament, 1980–2013===
Solms was a member of the [[Bundestag]] (MdB) between 1980 and 2013, serving as Deputy Chairman from 1985 to 1991, and as Chairman of the FDP Bundestag parliamentary group from 15 January 1991 to 26 October 1998.

Following the [[1998 German federal election|1998 elections]] Solms was selected to serve as Vice President of the Bundestag, under the leadership of President [[Wolfgang Thierse]]. In his capacity as vice president, he was also a member of the parliament's [[Council of Elders of the Bundestag (Germany)|Council of Elders]], which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigns committee chairpersons based on party representation. He was selected for this office again in 2002, 2005 and 2009.

In the negotiations to form a [[coalition government]] with the Christian Democrats – both the [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU) and the [[Christian Social Union in Bavaria]] (CSU) – following the [[2009 German federal election|2009 federal elections]], Solms led the FDP delegation in the working group on taxes, national budget, and financial policy; his counterpart from the CDU was [[Thomas de Maizière]]. He did not run for a parliamentary seat in the [[2013 German federal election|2013 elections]] after having failed to be selected for the first position on the Hesse FDP state list in December 2012. His term as Member of Bundestag expired on 22 September 2013.

===Member of Parliament, 2017–2021===
In the [[2017 German federal election|2017 federal elections]], Solms was again elected to the Bundestag. At the age of 76 years, he opened the parliament's first session.<ref>Melissa Eddy (24 October 2017), [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/world/europe/german-parliament-far-right.html Far Right Upsets Tradition of Consensus in New German Parliament] ''[[New York Times]]''.</ref> In the (unsuccessful) negotiations to form a coalition government with the CDU/CSU and the [[Alliance 90/The Greens|Green Party]] following the elections, he was part of the FDP delegation. Since 2018, he has been serving as deputy chairman of the Berlin-Taipei Parliamentary Circle of Friends.

In late 2019, Solms announced that he would not stand in the [[2021 German federal election|2021 federal elections]] but instead resign from active politics at the end of the parliamentary term.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.giessener-allgemeine.de/kreis-giessen/lich-ort848773/hermann-otto-solms-sehe-landkreis-giessen-dauer-keine-zukunft-12157920.html|title = Hermann Otto Solms: »Sehe für die AfD im Landkreis Gießen auf Dauer keine Zukunft«| date=9 April 2019 }}</ref>

==Other activities==
===Corporate boards===
* [[Deutsche Vermögensberatung]] (DVAG), Member of the Advisory Board
* Piper Deutschland AG, Member of the Supervisory Board

===Non-profit organizations===
* Deutsche Stiftung Eigentum, Chairman of the Board of Trustees
* [[Friedrich Naumann Foundation]], Member of the Board of Trustees
* Herbert Giersch Stiftung, Member of the Advisory Board<ref>[http://www.herbert-giersch-stiftung.de/de-de/diestiftung/stiftungsbeirat.aspx Advisory Board] Herbert Giersch Stiftung.</ref>
* Peace of Westphalia Prize, Member of the Jury<ref>[https://www.wirtschaftliche-gesellschaft.de/int-preis-des-westfaelischen-friedens/jury/ Members of the Jury] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721162220/https://www.wirtschaftliche-gesellschaft.de/int-preis-des-westfaelischen-friedens/jury/ |date=21 July 2018 }} Wirtschaftliche Gesellschaft für Westfalen und Lippe.</ref>
* Association of German Foundations, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board (2009–2013)
* [[German Institute for International and Security Affairs]] (SWP), Member of the Council (2002–2005)

==Personal life==
From 1969 to 1971 Solms was married to Margit Mayer (born 1944), by whom he had no children. In 1989 he married Christiane Meyer zu Eisen (born 1955), with whom he had three daughters.<ref name=ggh/>

==Awards==
* {{flag|Taiwan}}: [[Order of Propitious Clouds]] with Grand Cordon (2019).<ref name="officeofthepresident">{{cite web|url=https://english.president.gov.tw/Page/103|title=Decorations of the Republic of China (Taiwan)|access-date=4 April 2020|website=Office of the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan)|quote=2019-2-27 Federal Republic of Germany Order of Propitious Clouds with Grand Cordon German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Vice Chairman Dr. Hermann Otto Solms}}</ref>

==References and notes==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{citation |editor-last=Feldkamp |editor-first=Michael F. |title=Der Bundestagspräsident. Amt - Funktion - Person: 16. Wahlperiode |year=2007 |location=Munich |isbn=978-3-7892-8201-0 |editor-link=Michael F. Feldkamp }}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Solms, Hermann Otto}}
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alterspräsidents of the Bundestag]]
[[Category:German Lutherans]]
[[Category:House of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich|Hermann Otto]]
[[Category:Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:Members of the Bundestag for Hesse]]
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[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Propitious Clouds]]
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[[Category:Vice presidents of the Bundestag]]