Thomas Rachel
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Thomas Rachel
Thomas Walther Rachel (born 17 May 1962) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 1994. From 2005 until 2021, he also served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. He has represented the Düren (electoral district) since 2005. Early career From 1986 until 1987, Rachel worked as parliamentary assistant to Matthias Wissmann. Political career Rachel first became a member of the Bundestag in the 1994 German federal election. From 1994 until 2005, he served on the Committee for Education, Research and Technology Assessment. In addition to his committee assignments, he also served as deputy chaiman of the German-Greek Parliamentary Friendship Group from 1997 until 2005. Since 2003, Rachel has been chairing the Evangelical Working Group of the CDU/CSU (EAK). From the ...
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Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (, ) in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany and thus it is the historical successor to the earlier Reichstag. The members of the Bundestag are representatives of the German people as a whole, are not bound by any orders or instructions and are only accountable to their electorate. The minimum legal number of members of the Bundestag (german: link=no, Mitglieder des Bundestages) is 598; however, due to the system of overhang and leveling seats the current 20th Bundestag has a total of 736 members, making it the largest Bundestag to date and the largest freely elected national parliamentary chamber in the wo ...
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Grand Coalition (Germany)
Grand coalition (german: Große Koalition, , shortened to: german: Groko, ) is a term in German politics describing a governing coalition of the parties Christian Democratic Union (CDU) along with its sister party the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), since they have historically been the major parties in most state and federal elections since 1949. The meaning of the term may change due to the growth of some formerly minor parties in recent years. If the coalition also includes the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), it is called "Germany coalition" (german: (Deutschland-Koalition), with the party colors matching the flag of Germany: black for CDU/CSU, red for SPD and yellow for FDP. Weimar Republic (1919–1933) In the Weimar Republic of 1919 to 1933, the term "grand coalition" was used for a coalition that included the Social Democratic Party, SPD, the Catholic Centre Party and the liberal parties Democratic Party, DDP and Pe ...
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Evangelical Church In Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany (german: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated EKD) is a federation of twenty Lutheranism, Lutheran, Continental Reformed church, Reformed (Calvinism, Calvinist) and united and uniting churches, United (e.g. Prussian Union of churches, Prussian Union) Protestantism, Protestant Landeskirche, regional churches and Christian denomination, denominations in Germany, which collectively encompasses the vast majority of Protestants in that country. In 2020, the EKD had a membership of 20,236,000 members, or 24.3% of the German population. It constitutes List of the largest Protestant churches, one of the largest national Protestant bodies in the world. Church offices managing the federation are located in Herrenhausen, Hannover-Herrenhausen, Lower Saxony. Many of its members consider themselves Lutherans. Historically, the first formal attempt to unify German Protestantism occurred during the Weimar Republic era in the form of the German Evangeli ...
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Die Tageszeitung
''Die Tageszeitung'' (, “The Daily Newspaper”), is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. taz is stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a cooperative-owned German daily newspaper administrated by its employees and a co-operative of shareholders who invest in a free independent press, rather than to depend on advertising and, these days, pay-walls. Founded in 1978 in Berlin as part of an independent, progressive and politically left-leaning movement, it has focused on current politics, social issues such as inequality, ecological crises both local and international, and other topics not covered by the more traditional and conservative newspapers. It mostly supports the alternative green political sphere and the German Green Party, but ''Die Tageszeitung'' has also been critical of the SPD/Greens coalition government (1998–2005). It is being described as alternative-left and critical ...
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Rheinische Post
''Rheinische Post'' is a major German regional daily newspaper published since 1946 by the ''Rheinische Post Verlagsgesellschaft GmbH'' company, and headquartered in Düsseldorf. The Post is especially dominant in the western part of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Post's online platforms are called RP ONLINE and Tonight.de. History and profile ''Rheinische Post'' is one of the allied new foundations in the post-World War II era. NSDAP-opponents Karl Arnold, Anton Betz, Erich Wenderoth and (soon resigned) Friedrich Vogel received a British newspaper license. The newspaper was established in 1946 and belongs to the Arnold, Betz, Droste, Alt and Ebel families. It is part of the ''Rheinische Post Mediengruppe'' which also owns newspapers like the ''Saarbrücker Zeitung'', the ''Lausitzer Rundschau'' or the ''Trierischer Volksfreund''. The core distribution area stretches from the Bergischen Land to the Dutch border. There are 31 local editions, among them other regional newspapers, li ...
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2022 North Rhine-Westphalia State Election
The 2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 15 May 2022 to elect the 18th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Hendrik Wüst. The CDU remained the largest party with 36% of votes, a small increase from 2017, while the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) declined to 27%. The Greens almost tripled their vote share to 18%. The FDP fell sharply to 6%, and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) also slipped to 5%. Overall, the incumbent coalition lost its majority, though the opposition SPD and Greens also fell short of victory. Possible governing arrangements include CDU–Greens, as well as a traffic light coalition of the SPD, Greens, and FDP. Election date The Landtag is elected for five years, with its term commencing when the new Landtag first meets. Elections must take place in the last three months of the legislative period. ...
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Hendrik Wüst
Hendrik Josef Wüst (born 19 July 1975) is a German politician currently serving as Minister-President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is a member of the Christian democratic and liberal-conservative CDU. In October 2021 he succeeded Armin Laschet as state chairman of his party. Under Wüst's leadership, his party won the highest vote share in the 2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election. Early life and education Wüst was born in 1975 in the town of Rhede in North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1995, having obtained his ''Abitur'', he began reading law at the University of Münster, qualifying as a lawyer in 2003. Political career Beginnings At the age of 15, Wüst co-founded the local branch of Junge Union (JU), the youth wing of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), in his hometown. In 1994, he was elected to the city council of Rhede. He served as chairman of the JU in North Rhine-Westphalia from 2000 until 2006, which made him part of the CDU leadership in the state un ...
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Minister-President Of North Rhine-Westphalia
The Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Ministerpräsident des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen), also referred to as Premier or Prime Minister, is the head of government of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (''NRW''). The position was created in 1946, when the British administration merge the Prussian province of Westphalia and the northern part of the Prussian province of the Rhine (North Rhine) were merged to form the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1947 the state was expanded with including of the state of Lippe. The current Minister-President is Hendrik Wüst, heading a coalition government between the Christian Democratic Union and the Free Democratic Party. Wüst succeeded Armin Laschet following his resignation in 2021. The office of the Minister President is known as the State Chancellery (german: Staatskanzlei), and is located in the capital of Düsseldorf, along with the rest of the cabinet departments. Title The German title ''Ministerp ...
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Alliance 90/The Greens
Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Germany in 1990). The Greens had itself merged with the East German Green Party after German reunification in 1990. Since January 2022, Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour have been co-leaders of the party. It currently holds 118 of the 736 seats in the Bundestag, having won 14.8% of votes cast in the 2021 German federal election, 2021 federal election, and its parliamentary group is the third largest of six. Its parliamentary co-leaders are Britta Haßelmann and Katharina Dröge. The Greens have been part of the federal government during two periods: first as a junior partner to the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democrats (SPD) from 1998 to 2005, and again with the ...
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Coalition Government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in nations with majoritarian electoral systems, but common under proportional representation. A coalition government might also be created in a time of national difficulty or crisis (for example, during wartime or economic crisis) to give a government the high degree of perceived political legitimacy or collective identity, it can also play a role in diminishing internal political strife. In such times, parties have formed all-party coalitions (national unity governments, grand coalitions). If a coalition collapses, the Prime Minister and cabinet may be ousted by a vote of no confidence, call snap elections, form a new majority coalition, or continue as a minority government. Coalition agreement In multi-party states, a coalition agreeme ...
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2017 German Federal Election
Federal elections were held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 overhang and leveling seats determined thereafter. The Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria ( CDU/CSU), led by incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, won the highest percentage of the vote with 33%, though it suffered a large swing against it of more than 8%. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) achieved its worst result since post-war Germany at 21%. Alternative for Germany (AfD), which was previously unrepresented in the Bundestag, became the third party in the Bundestag with 12.6% of the vote, whilst the Free Democratic Party (FDP) won 10.7% of the vote and returned to the Bundestag after losing all their seats in 2013. It was the first time since 1957 that a party to the political right of the CDU/CSU gained seats in the Bundestag. The other parties to achi ...
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