Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker ( Winkelmeier, born 15 September 1962) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the

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 ...

from

Rhein-Sieg-Kreis I Rhein-Sieg-Kreis I is an electoral constituency (German language, German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as const ...

in the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

since 2005. From 2019 to 2021, Winkelmeiner-Becker also served Parliamentary State Secretary at the

Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (german: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz, ), abbreviated BMWK (was BMWi), is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was previously known as ...

under Minister

Peter Altmaier Peter Altmaier (born 18 June 1958) is a German lawyer and CDU politician who served as Acting Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2018 and as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy from 2018 to 2021. He previously served as Federal Mi ...

in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

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 Oppo ...

Political career

Winkelmeier-Becker first became a member of the Bundestag in the

2005 German federal election Federal elections were held in Germany on 18 September 2005 to elect the members of the 16th Bundestag. The snap election was called after the government's defeat in a state election, which caused them to intentionally lose a motion of confide ...

. In parliament, she has served on the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection (2005–2019); the Committee on Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (2005–2013); and the Parliamentary Advisory Board on Sustainable Development (2005–2009). In the negotiations to form a ''

Grand Coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are t ...

'' of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social Un ...

) and the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

following the 2013 federal elections, Winkelmeier-Becker was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on families, women and equality, led by

Annette Widmann-Mauz Annette Widmann-Mauz ( Widmann; born 13 June 1966) is a German politician of the Christian Democrats who has been serving as a member of the German (the German federal parliament) since 1998, representing the electoral district of Tübingen. In ...

and Manuela Schwesig. In similar negotiations following the 2017 federal elections, she was part of the working group on internal and legal affairs, led by

Thomas de Maizière Karl Ernst Thomas de Maizière (; born 21 January 1954) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2018, as well as Federal Minister of Defence f ...

, Stephan Mayer and Heiko Maas. In 2018, Winkelmeier-Becker joined the parliamentary body in charge of appointing judges to the Highest Courts of Justice, namely the

Federal Court of Justice The Federal Court of Justice (german: Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) is the highest court in the system of ordinary jurisdiction (''ordentliche Gerichtsbarkeit'') in Germany, founded in 1950. It has its seat in Karlsruhe with two panels being situat ...

(BGH), the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG), the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH), the Federal Labour Court (BAG), and the Federal Social Court (BSG). From 2019 to 2021, Winkelmeier-Becker served as Parliamentary State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Energy. In this capacity, she was also the ministry's Special Coordinator for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Following the

2021 elections Many elections occurred in 2021. The National Democratic Institute maintains calendar of elections around the world * 2021 United Nations Security Council election * 2021 national electoral calendar * 2021 local electoral calendar Africa * 2021 ...

, Winkelmeier-Becker became the chairwoman of the Committee on Legal Affairs. In the 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 ...

under the leadership of

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 po ...

Hendrik Wüst following the 2022 state elections, Winkelmeier-Becker was part of her party’s delegation.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (2020–2022) *

German Investment Corporation Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) is a Development Finance Institution (DFI) and a subsidiary of KfW Group. It was founded in Cologne in September 1962 as a federally owned company by the former Federal President Walter ...

(DEG), ex-officio Member of the Supervisory Board (2018–2021)

Non-profit organizations

* German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) * Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation, Alternate Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) *

Haus der Geschichte Haus der Geschichte (officially ''Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland'', i.e. "House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany") is a museum of contemporary history in Bonn, Germany. With around one million visitors ever ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022)

Political positions

In June 2017, Winkelmeier-Becker abstained from a parliamentary vote on Germany's introduction of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

. In 2019, Winkelmeier-Becker joined 14 members of her parliamentary group who, in an open letter, called for the party to rally around Merkel and party chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer amid criticism voiced by conservatives Friedrich Merz and Roland Koch.Jens Schneider (30 October 2019)
Machtkampf in der CDU: Abgeordnete nennen parteiinterne Kritik "extrem schädlich"
''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

''.

References

External links