Born in 1947. Hildesheim (Lower Saxony). Ph. D. in physical chemistry. Research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (1972 - 1973) and at the medical school in Hannover (1974-1978). Member of academic staff, Institute for Applied Linguistics (1979-1989) at the University of Hildesheim. Since 2009 Prof. h. c. at the Institute of Social Sciences. Member of regional executive of Lower Saxony and federal executive of the CDU. Quaestor of EP, 1999-2007. EPP Coordinator in the Euro- Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. MEP since 1989.