Marcus Optendrenk (born 1969) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Minister of Finance 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 29 June 2022. He was first elected to the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2012.

Early life and education

Optendrenk was born in 1969 in

Lobberich Lobberich is a German village in North Rhine-Westphalia, situated close to the Dutch border at Venlo. It has a population of around 14,000 inhabitants. Since 1970 the town belongs to the municipality of Nettetal. The art historian Heribert Reiner ...

. From 1988 until 1995 he studied law, history, and English at the universities of

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

and

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

. He obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in history.

Early career

From 1999 until 2005, Optendrenk worked as a policy researcher for his party's group in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, working first on infrastructure and, from 2001, on fiscal matters. From 2005 to 2010, he served as the chief of staff to Helmut Linssen, who was then State Minister of Finance of North Rhine-Westphalia. After holding a posting at the state's ministry of finance for two years,

Political career

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 ...

(CDU), Optendrenk held several leadership positions in the local party association and its youth wing, Young Union, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was elected a member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia in the

2012 North Rhine-Westphalia state election The 2012 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 13 May 2012 to elect the members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The incumbent minority government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens led by Minister-President ...

. 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 CDU and

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 ...

under Armin Laschet following the 2017 state elections, Optendrenk was part of his party’s delegation in the working group on economic affairs, infrastructure und financial policy. According to ''

Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger The ''Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger'' (KStA) is a German daily newspaper published in Cologne, and has the largest circulation in the Cologne–Bonn Metropolitan Region. ''Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger'' has a base of over 100 contributing editors and a wide ...

'', he was considered for a positions in Laschet's cabinet but became deputy chairman of the CDU's parliamentary group instead.

State Minister of Finance, 2022–present

On 29 June 2022, Optendrenk was appointed State Minister of Finance in the second government of Hendrik Wüst. In late 2022, Optendrenk's budget was found to be unconstitutional by the state's auditing authority for reappropriating more than four billion Euro of debt taken on for the purpose of

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

relief.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* NRW.BANK, Ex-Officio member of the Supervisory Board (since 2022)

Non-profit organizations

Aktion Deutschland Hilft Aktion Deutschland Hilft e.V. – Bündnis deutscher Hilfsorganisationen (ADH) (Campaign Germany helps association - alliance of German aid organisations) is a connection of German aid agencies for humanitarian aid, with the target of helping fa ...

(Germany's Relief Coalition), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) * Action Medeor, Member of the Advisory BoardAdvisory Board
Action Medeor.

Personal life

Optendrenk is married and has one son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Optendrenk, Marcus Living people 1969 births Members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia University of Trier alumni Maastricht University alumni Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians People from Viersen (district)