Martin Bangemann (15 November 1934 – 28 June 2022) was a German politician and a leader of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 1985 to 1988. He was German Federal Minister of Economics and European Commissioner.

Life and career

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1986-0317-027, Berlin, Gespräch Honecker, Bangemann

Bangemann was born on 15 November 1934 in

Wanzleben Wanzleben is a town and a former municipality in the Börde district, in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. Between 2004 and 2010 it was the seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Börde Wanzleben. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Wanzleben-Börd ...

. He studied law in

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, and earned a

Dr. jur. A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

(not equivalent to J.D., but a PhD in law) in 1962 with a dissertation entitled ''Bilder und Fiktionen in Recht und Rechtswissenschaft'' (Imagery and fiction in law and jurisprudence). He qualified as an attorney in 1964. In 1963, he joined the FDP. He worked as a lawyer in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. In 1972, he was elected to 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 ...

and became briefly Secretary General of the FDP. Bangemann was a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

from 1973 to 1984; from 1976 to 1979 he was vice-chairman, from 1979 to 1984 chairman of the Liberal and Democratic Group. From 1978 to 1979 he was vice-chair of the Committee on Budgets. Bangemann was the German Federal Minister of Economics from 1984 to 1988. Problems in his tenure were high unemployment and the steel, coal and shipyard crises. In 1988, Bangemann joined the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

. He was Commissioner for the internal market and industrial affairs in the

Delors Commission The Delors Commission was the administration of Jacques Delors, the eighth President of the European Commission. Delors presided over the European Commission for three terms (though the last one lasted for around a year). The first term lasted ...

from 1989 to 1995. He was then Commissioner for Industrial affairs, Information & Telecommunications Technologies in the

Santer Commission The Santer Commission was the European Commission in office between 23 January 1995 and 15 March 1999. The administration was led by Jacques Santer (former Prime Minister of Luxembourg). The body had 20 members and oversaw the introduction of ...

from 1995 to 1999. As commissioner he led a "high-level group" that drew up the report "Europe and the Global Information Society" in 1994. This document contained recommendations to the European Council on the measures that Europe should take regarding information infrastructure. It became known as the "Bangemann report" and influenced many EU policies. He then moved from European politics to the board of the Spanish group

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

. In addition, Bangemann ran a consulting agency. He was married and had five children. Bangemann died from a heart attack at his home in

Deux-Sèvres Deux-Sèvres () is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a population of 374,878 in 2019.

on 28 June 2022 at the age of 87.

References

Citations

General and cited sources

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bangemann, Martin 1934 births 2022 deaths Economy ministers of Germany German European Commissioners Members of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg MEPs for Germany 1958–1979 Members of the European Parliament for Germany Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Grand Crosses of the Order of Prince Henry Members of the Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (Germany) People from Börde (district)