New president sworn in

Berlin (dpa) - Frank-Walter Steinmeier was sworn in on Wednesday as Germany's 12th president, taking over the largely ceremonial post from Joachim Gauck. The former German foreign minister took the oath of office at a joint session of both houses of parliament before giving his inaugural speech. The 61-year-old Social Democrat, who was replaced in his prior post by Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel earlier this year, also served as chief of staff under former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the late 1990s and passed a package of economic and welfare reforms in 2003.

Described as a man of the political centre by Chancellor Angela Merkel, Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been a natural diplomat as German foreign minister. His skills will be put to the test as president. "I would like as federal president to be something of a counterweight to the current tendency towards boundless simplification," the 61-year-old said before his election in late February.

Steinmeier was elected head of state by an overwhelming majority of a specially constituted Federal Convention, comprising members of the country's national and state parliaments as well as community representatives. Germany's major parties and Chancellor Merkel, leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, all endorsed the former top diplomat. Merkel said he would be "an excellent president" while noting that he came to power "in difficult times."

During a tour of Germany to promote his candidacy, the former foreign minister emphasized mutual respect, strengthening democracy, taking a broader view, tolerance and solidarity as the ideas that will inform his presidency. Steinmeier may be changing office, but there will be no need for him to change his style, which has always tended to the unifying, the key quality required of the German presidency.

Few politicians have earned as much respect across party lines. He is also regularly voted Germany's most popular politician in opinion polls. Both aspects will be useful in his new post, which he will occupy for five years, with the option of serving at most two terms. Democracy is central to Steinmeier's worldview. "What is the glue that keeps a society together, transcending all the divisions? This is the essential question for democracy," he says. "I would like to instil courage, because I am firmly convinced that democracy will not tolerate resignation," Steinmeier says.

The son of a carpenter, Steinmeier studied law and politics at Giessen University. He is married to Elke Buedenbender, a judge, and they have one adult daughter. In 2010, he absented himself from politics for a few weeks to donate a kidney to his wife.