BERLIN : New President

Germany’s first president elected since the unification of the former East and West in 1990 will be sworn in Friday.

Roman Herzog of the Christian Democratic Union, viewed as a conservative intellectual, was chief justice of Germany’s highest court until he was selected as president in May by an electoral college. He is replacing the popular Richard von Weizsaecker in the largely ceremonial post.

Many Germans wonder whether Herzog will be as skillful as his predecessor in soothing the bitterness that has followed reunification. Commentators were disappointed that in his acceptance speech in May, Herzog failed to mention one of his country’s most worrisome social problems: the scapegoating of many foreigners living in Germany, who are blamed for high unemployment and have been targets of racist attacks.