Georg Fahrenschon (born 8 February 1968) is a German

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, representative of the

Christian Social Union of Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German language, German: , CSU) is a Christian democracy, Christian-democratic and Conservatism in Germany, conservative List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. Having a regionalis ...

. From 2008 to 2011 he served as finance minister in the Bavarian State Ministry of Finance. He was 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 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

until 2007.

Early life and education

Fahrenschon graduated with a

Diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from grc, δίπλωμα ''diploma'') is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus ...

in economics from the

University of Augsburg The University of Augsburg (german: Universität Augsburg) is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 8 Faculties. The University of Augsburg is a relatively you ...

in 1999.

Career

Member of the German Bundestag, 2002-2007

Following the 2002 federal elections, Fahrenschon became a Member of the German Bundestag, where he served on the Finance Committee. Within the Finance Committee, he was the

CDU/CSU CDU/CSU, unofficially the Union parties (german: Unionsparteien, ) or the Union, is a centre-right Christian-democratic political alliance of two political parties in Germany: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Soc ...

parliamentary group’s

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

on Germany's Transparency Directive Implementation Act (''Transparenzrichtlinie-Umsetzungsgesetz'', TUG), among others.

State Minister of Finance, 2008-2011

Following the Bavarian state elections in 2008, Fahrenschon was made State Minister of Finance in the cabinet of

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 or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. It ...

Horst Seehofer Horst Lorenz Seehofer (born 4 July 1949) is a German politician who served as Minister of the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), he served as the 18 ...

. During his time in office, he led the talks with his Austrian counterpart Josef Proell in 2009 about

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

nationalizing Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International, a local unit of

BayernLB Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB; Bavarian State Bank) is a publicly regulated bank based in Munich, Germany and one of the six Landesbanken. It is 75% owned by the Free State of Bavaria (indirectly via BayernLB Holding AG) and 25% owned by the ''S ...

, after heavy losses tied to loans in Southeast and Eastern Europe had driven the overextended lender to the brink of collapse. 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 ...

following the 2009 federal elections, Fahrenschon was a member of the working group on taxes, national budget and financial policy, led by Thomas de Maizière and

Hermann Otto Solms Hermann Otto Solms (born Hermann Otto Prinz zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich; 24 November 1940) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Between 1980 and 2013, he was a member of the Bundestag, from 1991 to 1998 as Chairman of the FD ...

. In 2011, Fahrenschon presented a proposal envisaging tax cuts of 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) for lower- and middle incomes by 2013, the year of the subsequent federal election; this move put him in conflict with federal Finance Minister

Wolfgang Schäuble Wolfgang Schäuble (; born 18 September 1942) is a German lawyer, politician and statesman whose political career has spanned for more than five decades. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he is one of the longest-serving politi ...

, who wanted to delay tax cuts to cut Germany’s budget deficit.

President of the German Savings Banks Association, 2012-2017

In October 2011, it became known that both Fahrenschon and Steffen Kampeter, Parliamentary State Secretary at the

German Finance Ministry The Federal Ministry of Finance (german: Bundesministerium der Finanzen), abbreviated BMF, is the cabinet-level finance ministry of Germany, with its seat at the Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus in Berlin and a secondary office in Bonn. The current Federal ...

would be seeking the presidency of the DSGV after incumbent Heinrich Haasis stepped down. In 2012, Fahrenschon led Germany’s savings banks in helping quash a proposal for Europe-wide deposit guarantees. He later sought to limit the remaining aspects of a European banking union, namely a joint resolution fund and central supervision of all the region’s lenders. Eventually, it was agreed that day-to-day supervision of all but one of the 417 Sparkassen – the largest, the

Hamburger Sparkasse Hamburger Sparkasse AG (Haspa) is one of 5 free public savings banks in Germany based in Hamburg. With a balance sheet total of around 41.9 billion euros and about 5,000 employees, it is the largest savings bank in Germany. It was founded in 1827 ...

is the exception – would remain in German hands. In November 2017, shortly before Fahrenschon was scheduled to stand for re-election for another six-year term, prosecutors in Munich charged Fahrenschon with

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

; he admitted to having filed his tax statements for 2012, 2013 and 2014 too late but denied the allegation and declined to pay a fine. Following internal and public pressure, he resigned from his post.

Personal life

Fahrenschon is married and has two daughters.

Other activities

Regulatory bodies

Federal Financial Supervisory Authority The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (german: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) better known by its abbreviation BaFin is the financial regulatory authority for Germany. It ...

(BaFin), Member of the Administrative Council (2012-2017)

Financial institutions

European Savings Banks Group The European Savings and Retail Banking Group is a European banking association representing around two dozen members from 20 countries (EU and non-EU), comprising approximately 1000 individual savings and retail banks. These institutions operat ...

(ESBG), Member of the Board (2012-2017) * Federal Association of Public Banks in Germany (VÖB), Member of the 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 Supervisory Board, of the Remuneration Committee and of the Audit Committee *

DekaBank DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale is the central provider of asset management and capital market solutions of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. It is registered in both Frankfurt and Berlin, with main operational headquarters in Frankfurt. It traces its ...

, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee *

Helaba Helaba, short for Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen, is a commercial bank with core regions in Hesse and Thuringia, Germany offering financial services to companies, banks, institutional investors and the public sector, both within Germany and interna ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Public Owners * Berlin Hyp, Chairman of the Supervisory Board *

Landesbank Berlin Holding Landesbank Berlin Holding (formerly ''Bankgesellschaft Berlin''; ) is a large commercial bank based in Berlin, Germany. It is the holding company of the Berliner Sparkasse and Landesbank. In 2007, LBB was taken over by the Deutscher Sparkassen- ...

(LBB), Chairman of the Supervisory Board *

Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank is Germany's development agency for agribusiness and rural areas. The bank has its registered office in Frankfurt am Main. In 2019 it will be 70 years since it was founded. With its low-interest loans, Rentenbank p ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board *

Giesecke & Devrient Giesecke+Devrient, also known as (G+D), is a German company headquartered in Munich that provides banknote and securities printing, smart cards, and cash handling systems. History Founded in 1852 by Hermann Giesecke and Alphonse Devrient, the ...

(G&D), Member of the Advisory Board *

, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (2008-2011) * SaarLB, Member of the Supervisory Board (2007-2008)

State-owned companies

Flughafen München GmbH Flughafen München GmbH (FMG), based out of Munich, is the operator of Munich Airport. Jost Lammers has been CEO and Chairman of the Management Board since January 1, 2020. Nathalie Leroy is responsible for Finance and Infrastructure. From November ...

, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (2008-2011) * Messe München GmbH, Member of the Supervisory Board

Scientific institutions

* Medical Center of the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board *

Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry The Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) is a research institute of the Max Planck Society located in Martinsried, a suburb of Munich. The institute was founded in 1973 by the merger of three formerly independent institutes: the Max Planck ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees *

Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology The Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology was a research institute of the Max Planck Society located in Martinsried, a suburb of Munich in Germany. It existed between 1984 and 2022 and merged with the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology to the new, ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance, Member of the Board of Trustees * Munich School of Philosophy, Member of the Board of Trustees *

Ifo Institute for Economic Research The Ifo Institute for Economic Research is a Munich-based research institution. Ifo is an acronym from Information and Forschung (research). As one of Germany's largest economic think-tanks, it analyses economic policy and is widely known for its ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees

Others

* Cultural Foundation of the Federal States, Member of the Board of TrusteesBoard of Trustees
Cultural Foundation of the Federal States. * Deutsche Sporthilfe, Member of the Foundation’s Council *

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 Supervisory Board * '' Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation'' (Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation, SBFIC), Chairman of the Board of Trustees (2012-2017) * ''Hochschule der

Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe The ''Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe'' ("Savings Banks Financial Group") is a network of public banks that together form the largest financial services group in Germany and in all of Europe. Its name refers to local government-controlled savings banks t ...

'' - University of Applied Sciences, Chairman of the Advisory Board (2012-2017) *

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

, Member of the Business and Industry Advisory Board * ''Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft'', Member of the Board of Directors * Market Economy Foundation (''Stiftung Marktwirtschaft''), Member of the Political Advisory Board * ''Forum Kapitalmarktinstrumente – Kapitalmarktfinanzierung'', Member of the Advisory Board * Ludwig Erhard Foundation, Member * Munich Finance Forum, Member * ''Stiftung Brandenburger Tor'', Member of the Board of Trustees * Schloss Neuhardenberg Foundation, Chairman of the Board of Trustees (2012-2017) * ''Graf von Montgelas-Stiftung'', Member of the Board of Trustees * Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Member

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahren, Georg 1968 births Living people University of Augsburg alumni German economists Ministers of the Bavaria State Government Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Social Union in Bavaria