and armed forces members. In the German daily Bild, Westerwelle said that if "registered partnerships have the same responsibilities as married couples then they should have the same rights. It is not weakening marriage but ending discrimination. We do not live in the 1950s." On data-protection In 2001, Westerwelle was one of the first politicians to push for a biometric passport. He opposed Google Street View's automated photography of streetscapes, and stated "I will do all I can to prevent it". In 2013, he announced plans to launch an initiative at the United Nations General Assembly to agree an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that would give greater data protection to internet users. Controversy Westerwelle's party chairmanship saw considerable controversy. Critics inside and outside the FDP accused him of focusing on public relations, as opposed to developing and promoting sound public policy, especially in the election campaign of 2002. Westerwelle himself, who was made party chairman particularly because his predecessor Wolfgang Gerhardt had been viewed by many as dull and stiff, labelled his approach as Spaßpolitik (fun-politics). In 2006, former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder won a court order against Westerwelle who had criticized Schröder for accepting a lucrative job at Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas company, soon after losing the parliamentary election to Angela Merkel. Despite losing, Westerwelle said he would stick to his original assessment that Schröder's appointment as chairman of the North European Gas Pipeline Company was "problematic". On 27 September 2009, at a press conference after the election, Westerwelle refused to answer a question in English from a BBC reporter, stating that "it is normal to speak German in Germany". Critics have noted that this was in part due to Westerwelle's poor command of English. He earned the epithet "Westerwave" (a literal translation of his surname into English) as a consequence of these remarks. Westerwelle made public statements in 2010 about the "welfare state", saying that promising the people effortless prosperity may lead to "late Roman decadence", in reference to a verdict in the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany regarding Hartz IV. In 2010, Westerwelle announced he would not be taking his civil partner Michael Mronz to anti-gay countries. Other official trips as foreign minister included Mronz, an event manager, and Ralf Marohn, a partner in his brother's company, also causing controversy. Westerwelle retorted that it was normal for foreign ministers to