Karl-Josef Laumann (born 11 July 1957) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Since 2017, he has been the State Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs 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 state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

, an office he previously held between 2005 and 2010.

Background and personal life

Laumann grew up with his parents and two brothers on a farm in

Birgte Birgte is a small village at the north edge of the Teutoburger Wald and is as such part of Riesenbeck which is part of the town Hörstel is a town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated near the ju ...

. After attending school he was apprenticed as a machinist. After some military service, from 1978 to 1990 he gained experience at the Niemeyer company in Riesenbeck. As a member of

IG Metall IG Metall (; IGM; German: ''Industriegewerkschaft Metall'', "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of Ge ...

, he was for many years on the

works council A works council is a shop-floor organization representing workers that functions as a local/firm-level complement to trade unions but is independent of these at least in some countries. Works councils exist with different names in a variety of re ...

. Karl-Josef Laumann is married and has three children. His eldest daughter is now secretary of the

Junge Union The Junge Union Deutschlands (''Young Union of Germany'') or JU is the joint youth organisation of the two conservative German political parties, CDU and CSU. Membership is limited to individuals between 14 and 35 years of age. Junge Union clai ...

in his home community of Riesenbeck.

Political career

Karl-Josef Laumann started his political career at the Junge Union in the district of

Steinfurt Steinfurt (; Westphalian: ''Stemmert'') is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Steinfurt. From roughly 1100-1806, it was the capital of the County of Steinfurt. Geography Steinfurt is situated nort ...

, as an honorary chairman, a position he still holds. Since 1974 he has been a member of the CDU and since 1977, a member of the Christian Democratic Employees' Association (CDA). Since 2005 he has been National Chairman of the CDA. For several years, Laumann has been active in the Catholic Workers Movement (KAB). In April 1998 he was appointed chairman of the KAB for North Münsterland. From 1990 until 28 June 2005, Laumann 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 Comm ...

. He worked in the Labor and Social Affairs and Labor Economy of the Working Group of 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 groups. He was successively elected to represent the constituency Steinfurt II in North Rhine-Westphalia in the German Bundestag.

State Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, 2005–2010

After the 2005 state elections, on 23 June 2005, Laumann was appointed State Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs in the government led by Minister-President

Jürgen Rüttgers Jürgen Rüttgers (born 26 June 1951) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as the 9th Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2005 to 2010. Education Rüttgers was born in Cologne. He holds degree ...

of North Rhine-Westphalia. 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 ...

of the Christian Democrats and the FDP following the 2009 federal elections, Laumann was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on social affairs and labor policy, led by Ronald Pofalla and Dirk Niebel.

State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health, 2013–2017

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 ...

'' of the 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 ...

) and the SPD following the 2013 federal elections, Laumann was part of the CDU delegation in the working group on health policy, led by

Jens Spahn Jens Georg Spahn (born 16 May 1980) is a German politician who served as Federal Minister of Health in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he has been ...

and

Karl Lauterbach Karl Wilhelm Lauterbach (; born 21 February 1963) is a German scientist, physician, and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has served as Federal Minister of Health since 8 December 2021. He is professor of health eco ...

. He was subsequently appointed State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health under the leadership of minister Hermann Gröhe in the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

government of

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 this capacity, he also served as the Federal Government's Commissioner for Patients' Affairs. Laumann 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 ...

State Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, 2017–present

Following the 2017 state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Laumann was part of the CDU team in the negotiations with Christian Lindner’s FDP on a coalition agreement. He led his party's delegation in the working group on economic affairs and energy policy; his co-chair of the FDP was Johannes Vogel. Since July 2017, Laumann has been serving as State Minister for Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs in the government 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. I ...

Armin Laschet Armin Laschet (; born 18 February 1961) is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 June 2017 to 26 October 2021. He served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 22 January 2021 to 3 ...

. As one of his state's representatives at the Bundesrat, he serves on the Committee on Labour, Integration and Social Policy, the Committee on Health and the Committee on Family and Senior Citizen Affairs. In the negotiations to form a fourth coalition government under Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Laumann led the working group on social affairs, alongside Barbara Stamm and

Andrea Nahles Andrea Maria Nahles (born 20 June 1970) is a former German politician who has been the director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) since 2022. Nahles is best known for having served as leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from April ...

. Ahead of the Christian Democrats’

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

in 2018, he publicly endorsed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Merkel as the party’s chair.

Other activities

* Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2013) * Aktionsbündnis Patientensicherheit, Member of the Board of Trustees * August Schmidt Foundation,

IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie The IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie (IG BCE) is a trade union in Germany. It is one of eight industrial affiliations of the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB). History and structure The IG BCE was created in 1997 from the merger of the Ch ...

, Member of the Board of TrusteesBoard of Trustees
August Schmidt Foundation,

. *

, Member

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laumann, Karl-Josef 1957 births Living people People from Hörstel Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Members of the Bundestag 1990–1994 Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany