Bernd Althusmann

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Bernd Althusmann
Deputy Minister-President of Lower-Saxony
In office
22 November 2017 – 8 November 2022
Minister-PresidentStephan Weil
Preceded byStefan Wenzel
Succeeded byJulia Hamburg
Minister for Economics, Labour, Transportation and Digitization of Lower-Saxony
In office
22 November 2017 – 8 November 2022
Minister-PresidentStephan Weil
Preceded byOlaf Lies (Economics, Labour and Transportation)
Succeeded byOlaf Lies
Leader of the Christian Democratic Union of Lower Saxony
In office
12 November 2016 – 21 January 2023
DeputyFritz Güntzler
Lena Düpont
Reinhold Hilbers
Preceded byDavid McAllister
Succeeded bySebastian Lechner
Minister of Education of Lower Saxony
In office
27 April 2010 – 19 February 2013
Prime MinisterChristian Wulff
David McAllister
Preceded byElisabeth Heister-Neumann
Succeeded byFrauke Heiligenstadt
Member of the Landtag of Lower Saxony
for Seevetal
(CDU List; 1994–2009)
Assumed office
14 November 2017
Preceded byNorbert Böhlke (2014)
In office
23 June 1994 – 16 June 2009
Succeeded byElisabeth Heister-Neumann
Personal details
Born (1966-12-03) 3 December 1966 (age 57)
Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, West Germany
(now Germany)
Political partyChristian Democratic Union (CDU)
Military service
Allegiance Germany
Branch/service Bundeswehr
Years of service1986 - 1994
UnitArmy (Heer) / Panzertruppe

Bernd Althusmann (German pronunciation: [ˈbɛʁnt ˈalthʊsman]; born 3 December 1966) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Deputy Minister-President and State Minister for Economic Affairs in the government of Minister-President Stephan Weil from 2017 to 2022.

Career[edit]

From 1994 to 2009, Althusmann was Member of the Landtag of Lower Saxony. He served as State Minister of Education in the cabinets Wulff II and McAllister from 27 April 2010 until 19 February 2013.

In July 2011 it was reported that Althusmann had taken over texts or literal texts in several places in his dissertation.[1] The University of Potsdam has not confirmed the plagiarism allegations, despite deficiencies.[2]

Between 2013 and 2016, Althusmann headed the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's office in Windhoek, Namibia.

Althusmann was the CDU's leading candidate for the 2017 Lower Saxon state election.[3]

On the national level, Althusmann served as a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2010,[4] 2012,[5] 2017 and 2022.[6] In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, he co-chaired the working group on urban development; his counterparts were Kurt Gribl and Natascha Kohnen.[7] Together with Monika Grütters, Daniel Günther, Michael Kretschmer and Armin Laschet, Althusmann co-chaired the CDU’s national convention in Berlin in February 2018.[8]

Since 2022, Althusmann has been chairing – alongside Gitta Connemann – a working group charged with drafting the CDU’s positions on energy policy.[9]

Other activities[edit]

Regulatory agencies[edit]

Corporate boards[edit]

  • Volkswagen, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2017)
  • Deutsche Messe AG, Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2017)[11]
  • JadeWeserPort, Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2017)
  • Niedersachsen Ports GmbH & Co. KG (NPorts), Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2017)

Political positions[edit]

During his election campaign, Althusmann publicly favored someone from outside the auto industry to succeed VW chief executive Matthias Müller and wanted to cede one of the state’s two board seats to a non-political expert.[12][13] But when his party lost the 2017 state elections to the SPD, he claimed the economy minister’s right to join VW’s supervisory board alongside Minister-President Weil.[14]

Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2021, Althusmann publicly endorsed Armin Laschet to succeed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as the party’s chair.[15] For the 2021 national elections, he later also endorsed Laschet as the Christian Democrats' joint candidate to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel.[16]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Spiewak, Martin (7 July 2011). "Bernd Althusmann: Trübe Quellen". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  2. ^ "Plagiatsaffäre - Alle Fälle von A-Z | Business And Science" (in German). Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  3. ^ "CDU in Niedersachsen » Bernd Althusmann führt CDU in Niedersachsen als Spitzenkandidat zur Landtagswahl". cdu-niedersachsen.de. 28 November 2016.
  4. ^ Ordentliche Mitglieder der 14. Bundesversammlung Bundestag.
  5. ^ Ordentliche Mitglieder der 15. Bundesversammlung Bundestag.
  6. ^ Drucksache 18/10450: Niedersächsische Mitglieder der 17. Bundesversammlung am 13. Februar 2022 State Parliament of Lower Saxony.
  7. ^ Members of the Coalition Talks with CSU and SPD CDU.
  8. ^ Protokoll: 30. Parteitag der CDU Deutschlands, 26. Februar 2018, Berlin Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
  9. ^ Daniel Delhaes (3 April 2022), Die CDU beginnt die Suche nach sich selbst Handelsblatt.
  10. ^ Advisory Board Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (BNetzA).
  11. ^ Supervisory Board Deutsche Messe AG.
  12. ^ Andreas Cremer (8 August 2017), German state conservatives take tougher line on VW oversight Reuters.
  13. ^ Connor Murphy and Joshua Posaner (8 August 2017), German parties call for tougher VW oversight after Lower Saxony scandal Politico Europe.
  14. ^ Andreas Cremer (22 November 2017), Lower Saxony's new government says will keep Volkswagen stake Reuters.
  15. ^ Althusmann: Laschet soll neuer Parteichef werden Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 27 February 2020.
  16. ^ Kristina Dunz (April 13, 2021), Althusmann fordert Laschet und Söder zu schneller Lösung auf RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland.