Erwin Teufel (born 4 September 1939, in

Zimmern ob Rottweil Zimmern ob Rottweil is a town in the district of Rottweil, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The municipality includes the former independent municipalities Zimmern ob Rottweil, Flözlingen, Horgen and Stetten ob Rottweil. Zimmern is located on a ...

) is a German politician of the CDU.

Political career

Teufel was the leader of the CDU parliamentary group in the

Landtag of Baden-Württemberg The Landtag of Baden-Württemberg is the diet of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It convenes in Stuttgart and currently consists of 154 members of five political parties. The majority before the 2021 election was a coalition of the All ...

from 1978 to 1991. Teufel was

Minister President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary system, parliamentary or semi-presidential system, semi-presidential system of government where ...

of Baden-Württemberg and chairman of the CDU state party group from 1991 to 2005, serving as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the Bundesrat in 1996/97. During his time in office, Teufel agreed with

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

on a series of economic and technical cooperation agreements with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, including a high-level joint commission to oversee several institutes in Russia where business administrators, agronomists and scientists will be trained, and also direct a variety of exchange programs. Among other projects, Teufel oversaw the merger of two regional utilities to form

EnBW EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, or simply EnBW, is a publicly-traded energy company headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany. As its name indicates, EnBW is based in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. History Foundation and development EnB ...

in 1997 as well as the creation of regional

public broadcasting Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

corporation

Südwestrundfunk Südwestrundfunk (SWR; ''Southwest Broadcasting'') is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany , specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices ...

(SWR) in 1998. On the European level, Teufel represented Baden-Württemberg on the

European Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

(CoR) from 1994. Between 2002 and 2003, he also represented Germany's federal states in the

Convention on the Future of Europe The Convention on the Future of the European Union, also known as the European Convention, was a body established by the European Council in December 2001 as a result of the Laeken Declaration. Inspired by the Philadelphia Convention that led to ...

. Teufel endorsed

Edmund Stoiber Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the States of Germany, state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, Christian So ...

instead of

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 ...

as their parties' candidate to challenge incumbent

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 ...

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

in the 2002 federal elections. In October 2004, Teufel announced that he was to step down as minister-president and chairman of the Baden-Württemberg CDU, effective 19 April 2005.

Günther Oettinger Günther Hermann Oettinger (born 15 October 1953) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources from 2017 to 2019, as European Commissioner for Digit ...

was elected as his successor by CDU internal party pre-elections. His referendum win – with 60.6 percent of the vote versus 39.4 percent for State Education Minister

Annette Schavan Annette Schavan (; born 10 June 1955) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She was the Federal Minister of Education and Research in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2013, when she resigned foll ...

– was widely seen at the time as a defeat for Teufel, who had promoted Schavan as his preferred successor. He did resign on 19 April 2005, effecting the memorable line in German short news: "Joseph Ratzinger elected

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

. Teufel erman: Devilresigned."

Life after politics

Corporate boards

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) is a universal bank and the Landesbank for some Federal States of Germany (Baden-Württemberg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Sachsen). As of 2018, it is Germany's biggest state-backed landesbank lender. LBBW is a full-serv ...

(LBBW), member of the advisory board *

KfW The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment and development bank, based in Frankfurt. As of 2014, it is the world's largest national d ...

, Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (2002–2007)

Non-profit organizations

* Christliches Jugenddorfwerk Deutschlands (CJD), honorary member of the board of trustees * Christival, member of the board of trustees * donum vitae, member of the board of trustees * International Hugo Wolf Academy, deputy chairman of the board of trustees * Karl Schlecht Foundation, member of the board of trustees *

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation (german: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, KAS) is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's headquarters are located in Sank ...

(KAS), member of the board of trustees *

Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings are annual scientific conferences held in Lindau, Bavaria, Germany, since 1951. Their aim is to bring together Nobel laureates and young scientists to foster scientific exchange between different generations, ...

, Member of the Honorary Senate * Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology (FIIT) at the

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

, member of the advisory board *

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

, member of the advisory board *

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

, honorary senator *

Franco-German Institute The Deutsch-Französisches Institut (DFI) is an independent non-profit organization devoted to research on and documentation of contemporary Franco-German relations. The institute is funded by the German Foreign Office, the regional government ...

, president * Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma, member of the board of trustees *

German Ethics Council German Ethics Council (german: Deutscher Ethikrat) (Precursor from June 2001 to February 2008: National Ethics Council of Germany) is an independent council of experts in Germany addressing the questions of ethics, society, science, medicine and l ...

, member (2008–2012) * Jerusalem Foundation Germany, president (1993–2006) * Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), member (1983–2008) Teufel is an honorary member of A.V. Cheruskia Tübingen, a Catholic student fraternity which is a member of the

Cartellverband The Union of Catholic German Student Fraternities (german: Cartellverband der katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen or ''Cartellverband'' (CV)) is a German umbrella organization of Catholic male student fraternities (Studentenverbindung). ...

Personal life

Teufel is married with Edeltraud and has four children.Newspaper Handelsblatt: Erwin Teufel
/ref>

Publications

* ''Maß & Mitte – Mut zu einfachen Wahrheiten'', Johannis-Verlag Lahr 2006, . * ''Ehe alles zu spät ist: Kirchliche Verzagtheit und christliche Sprengkraft'', Herder Verlag, Freiburg u.a. 2013, .

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teufel, Erwin 1939 births Living people People from Rottweil (district) Presidents of the German Bundesrat Members of the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians German Roman Catholics Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class Ministers-President of Baden-Württemberg