From 2009–2011, Westerwelle also served as the Germany’s Deputy Chancellor. An attorney by training, he was Secretary General of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 1994 to 2001 and served as its chair from 2001 to 2011. He was a member of the German Bundestag from 1996–2013. From 2006 to 2009, he was president of the FDP parliamentary group and leader of the opposition. Westerwelle founded the Westerwelle Foundation for International Understanding in 2013