On 13 May 2023, at the age of almost 92, the former State Secretary at the Federal Foreign Office Dr Jürgen Trumpf, our long-time President and friend of Institut für Europäische Politik, passed away in Bonn.
He was a European by conviction.
For many decades, he was actively involved in shaping the European unification. First as deputy, then as head of the European Communities Policy Unit at the Federal Foreign Office in Bonn, then as envoy and later as ambassador of the Permanent Representation to the European Community in Brussels. During this time, he played a decisive role in the negotiations on the Maastricht Treaty and the founding of the European Union.
As State Secretary at the Federal Foreign Office, he was responsible for European policy in 1993/1994. At that time, the Department of European Affairs was established. It was and is a close partner of the IEP. For five years, Jürgen Trumpf was then Secretary General of the Council of the European Union. Even after his term of office, he remained connected to European integration and the IEP.
From 1999 to 2012 he was President of the IEP, our President. With advice and action and his wealth of experience, he followed and accompanied the activities of the Institute. We thank him for all his help.Now he has left us. We have lost a friend and supporter. We remember him with melancholy and mourn him with his relatives.
We will honour his memory.
