Daniel Günther (born 24 July 1973) is a German politician who is a member of the

Christian Democratic Union of Germany The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (german: link=no, Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands ; CDU ) is a Christian democratic and liberal conservative political party in Germany. It is the major catch-all party of the centre-right i ...

(CDU). Since 28 June 2017, he has served as the Minister President of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

. From 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2019, he served as President of the Bundesrat, being succeeded by Dietmar Woidke.

Early life and education

Günther studied politics and psychology at

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

Career

Career in state politics

Günther has been a member of

Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein The Schleswig-Holstein Landtag is the state parliament of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It convenes in the state's capital Kiel and currently consists of 69 members of five parties. The current majority consists of coalition of the ...

. since the 2009 state elections. In parliament, he was a member of the Committee on Education (2009–2014) and the Finance Committee (2009–2012). From 2014 until 2017, he served as chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. In this capacity, he was also a member of the Council of Elders. When

Ingbert Liebing Ingbert Liebing (born 11 May 1963) is a German lobbyist and former politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as a member of the Bundestag from 2005 until 2017, where he represented Nordfriesland – Dithmarschen Nord. From 20 ...

resigned in late 2016 from his role as leading candidate for the 2017 state elections after consistently bad polling results, Günther was elected by the party members to lead the party into the election. After assuming the leadership, Günther led the party to a victory with 30.8% of the vote. He became the Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein on 28 June 2017 and was re-elected in 2022. As one of the state's representatives at the Bundesrat, he also serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Role in national politics

Günther was a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

and 2022. In the – failed – negotiations to form a

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 ...

with the

Christian Social Union in Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German: , CSU) is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democratic ...

(CSU), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

following the 2017 national elections, he was part of the 19-member delegation of the CDU. In the ensuing negotiations with the Social Democrats, he led the working group on transport and infrastructure, this time alongside Thomas Strobl and Sören Bartol. Together with

Bernd Althusmann Bernd Althusmann (; 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 2 ...

Monika Grütters Monika Grütters (born 9 January 1962) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013-2021. She has ...

, Michael Kretschmer and Armin Laschet, Günther co-chaired the CDU’s national convention in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

in February 2018. Daniel Günther was his party's lead candidate for the

2022 Schleswig-Holstein State Election The 2022 Schleswig-Holstein state election was held on 8 May 2022 to elect the 20th Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), The Greens, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), ...

in which the party was the lead vote-getter with 43.4%.

Other activities

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Ex-Officio chairman of the board of Trustees (since 2017) * State Agency for Civic Education, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2012) * Stadtwerke Eckernförde, Member of the Supervisory Board (1998–2005)

Political positions

Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, Günther publicly endorsed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Merkel as the party's chair. For the 2021 leadership election, he later endorsed Armin Laschet, and supported him as the Christian Democrats' joint candidate to succeed

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...

in the 2021 national elections.

Personal life

Günther is married to a

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

. The couple have two daughters.Daniel Günther zum zweiten Mal Vater. Lübecker Nachrichten, 14. Oktober 2018, S. 7.

References

External links

Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein. Daniel Günther
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunther, Daniel Ministers-President of Schleswig-Holstein 21st-century German politicians Presidents of the German Bundesrat Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Members of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein Politicians from Kiel 1973 births Living people Ministers of the Schleswig-Holstein State Government