Born on the 5th of November 1972 in Georgsmarienhütte (Northern Germany) he finished high school 1992 at Gymnasium Carolinum Osnabrück. A year of freelance work for a local newspaper was followed by studies in history, philosophy and economic policy in Münster, Bonn and at the American University in Washington, DC. Alongside, he wrote features, critiques und news reports for German and American agencies and papers. His thesis about the history of the “Inter-American Development Bank” was 2000 succeeded by two years as a reporter for the economic section of the German daily “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (FAZ). Afterwards, he worked one and a half years for the editorial section oft the “Financial Times Deutschland” focussing on foreign policy and economic affairs. Along the way, he did courses on journalism for journalists in Afghanistan. 2004 he returned to the FAZ as EU correspondent based in Brussels covering mainly economic issues like trade, Brexit, the digital union climate and energy.