Olav Gutting (born 14 October 1970) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as 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 ...

since 2014.

Early life and education

Gutting was born 1970 in the West German town of

Bruchsal Bruchsal (; orig. Bruohselle, Bruaselle, historically known in English as Bruxhall; South Franconian: ''Brusel'') is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, ...

and studied

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

at the

University of Mannheim The University of Mannheim (German: ''Universität Mannheim''), abbreviated UMA, is a public research university in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1967, the university has its origins in the ''Palatine Academy of Sciences'', ...

Political career

In 2001 Gutting entered the CDU and became already in 2002 nominee of his party in the electoral ward of

Bruchsal – Schwetzingen Bruchsal – Schwetzingen is an electoral constituency (German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 278 ...

. He has been a member of the Bundestag since the 2002 elections, representing Bruchsal – Schwetzingen. In parliament, Gutting has been serving on the Finance Committee. In this capacity, he is his 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 the so-called solidarity surcharge ( or ). Within 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, Gutting has been part of the leadership since 2013, under successive chairmen

Volker Kauder Volker Kauder (born 3 September 1949) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as parliamentary group leader of the ruling CDU/CSU faction in the German ''Bundestag'' from 2005 to 2018, during which h ...

(2013-2018) and

Ralph Brinkhaus Ralph Brinkhaus (born 15 June 1968) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as parliamentary leader of the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag from 2018 to 2022. Education and early career Brinkhaus was born on 15 J ...

(since 2018). He was one of the MPs who voted for Brinkhaus to oust Kauder in 2018. Later that year, he ran for the post of deputy chairman but lost against

Andreas Jung Andreas Jung (born 13 May 1975) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg since 2005. Since 2022, Jung has been one of five d ...

Other activities

Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund The Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund (german: Fonds zur Finanzierung der kerntechnischen Entsorgung) is a German federal fund to manage the financial endowment for long-term nuclear waste storage sites. The fund is organised as a trust and falls into th ...

(KENFO), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) *

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 bank, investment and Development finance institution, development bank, based in Frankfurt ...

, Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (since 2019) * German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2022)

Political positions

Within the CDU, Gutting is regarded as critic 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 Oppo ...

's decision to enter into 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 ...

with the center-left

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SPD) after the

2017 elections The following elections occurred in 2017. Africa * 2017 Somali presidential election 8 February 2017 *2017 Gambian parliamentary election 6 April 2017 * 2017 Algerian legislative election 4 May 2017 *2017 Lesotho general election 3 June 2017 *2 ...

. In June 2017, he voted against Germany's introduction of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

. In early 2020, he co-founded an informal cross-party group of MPs from the CDU, CSU and FDP parties who opposed a potential coalition government between CDU/CSU and the

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 ...

. 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 ...

, Gutting publicly endorsed in 2020

Friedrich Merz Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (born 11 November 1955) is a German lawyer and politician, serving as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 31 January 2022 and as leader of the Union parliamentary group as well as the Leader of ...

to succeed

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (; Kramp; born 9 August 1962), sometimes referred to by her initials of AKK, is a retired German politician who served as Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2021 and as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from ...

as the party's chair; he later also expressed support for a candidacy of

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 ...

Controversy

In March 2021, Gutting and other members of the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

parliamentary group came under criticism for their lobbying activities for the authoritarian

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

i president

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev ( az, İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, ; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003. The son and second child of the former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, ...

. The controversy became known under the name of "Aserbaidschan-Affäre" in Germany and is related to the earlier "

Caviar Diplomacy Caviar diplomacy is a lobbying strategy of Azerbaijan, consisting of costly invitations to foreign politicians and employees of international organizations to Azerbaijan at the expense of the host country. Caviar diplomacy also includes expensive ...

" corruption allegations in the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutting, Olav 1970 births Living people People from Bruchsal Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany