Dr. Lamers studied law and political science at the Westphalian Wilhelm University in Muenster. He obtained a doctorate in law and is a practising lawyer since 2000. He was a Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. As a senior civil servant (Ministerial Counsellor) in the Parliament of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg he worked as Head of the office of the President and was  responsible for fostering international relations. He has been a Member of CDU (Christian Democratic Party) since 1975 and the German Bundestag since 1994. As Member of the German Bundestag, Dr. Lamers has been the Deputy Chairman of the Defence Committee since November 2006  and Substitute Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs since 1998. He was Chairman of the Sub-Committee “Development of Internal Leadership” of the Defence Committee from 2003 to 2007 and Chairman of the Group of Rapporteurs for Future Air Defence of the Defence Committee between 1995 and 1998. He has also been a Member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (PA) since 1998. He was Vice-President of the NATO PA from 2006 to 2008 and currently serves as the Head of the German Delegation. He has been the Chairman of the Political Committee since November 2008.