Ralf Brauksiepe (born 14 March 1967) 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 ...

of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Between

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and 2018, he served 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 ...

Early life and education

Studying on a scholarship by the

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation (german: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, KAS) is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's headquarters are located in Sank ...

, Brauksiepe earned 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 ...

(1990) and 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 ...

(1995) in economics from the

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

. Between 1996 and 1998 he was a research assistant in Bochum.

Political career

Brauksiepe joined the CDU in 1983. Between 2002 and 2005, Brauksiepe was the CDU/CSU parliamentary group’s senior representative on the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development and the Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Sustainable Development. He also served as Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the States of East Africa between 1998 and 2013.

Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs, 2009–2013

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 (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 Un ...

) and the

Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...

(FDP) following the 2009 federal elections, Brauksiepe was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on labour and social affairs, led by

Ronald Pofalla Ronald Pofalla (born 15 May 1959) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as the Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery and a Federal Minister for Special Affairs from 2009 to 2013, in the second ...

and

Dirk Niebel Dirk Niebel (born 29 March 1963) is a German politician. From 2009 to 2013, he served as Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development. From 2005 to 2009, he was secretary general of the FDP. Early life and career Niebel was born in ...

. From October 2009 to December 2013, he then served as Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs under

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...

Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Defense, 2013–2018

Following the 2013 federal elections, Brauksiepe was part of the CDU/CSU team in the negotiations with the SPD on a coalition agreement. From December 2013 until March 2018, he served as Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Defence, succeeding Christian Schmidt. In this capacity, he focused on the areas covered by the directorates for policy, defense planning, forces policy, and strategy and operations, as well as those covered by the budget directorate. One of his most important tasks was representing the ministry before the Bundestag budget committee. In addition, Brauksiepe served as Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the Maghreb States (

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Mauretania Mauretania (; ) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It stretched from central present-day Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern present-day Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains. Its native inhabitants, ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

). In the coalition talks following the 2017 federal elections, Brauksiepe was part of the working group on social affairs, led by Karl-Josef Laumann,

Barbara Stamm Barbara Stamm (; 29 October 1944 – 5 October 2022) was a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria. She joined the CSU in 1969, was a member of the town council of Würzburg from 1972, and a member of the Landtag of Bavaria fr ...

and Andrea Nahles.

Later career

After leaving government in March 2018, Brauksiepe was appointed to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In addition to his committee assignments, he also served as the government's Commissioner for Patients' Affairs in the Federal Ministry of Health and chairman of the German-Egyptian Parliamentary Friendship Group. In November 2018, he resigned his parliamentary seat. He later joined the board of real estate company Vivawest in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

Other activities

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

, Member of the UEFA Cup 2010 Final Bid Committee * German Atlantic Association, Member of the Board * German-Jordanian Society, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2006) * German Orient Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees * Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE) at the

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2008) * Otto Benecke Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2012) *

German Civil Service Federation The German Civil Service Association (dbb beamtenbund und tarifunion) is a national trade union center in Germany. It has a membership of 1,250,000, and is affiliated with the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions The European C ...

(DBB), Member * Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF), ex-officio Member of the Supervisory Board (2014-2018) * German Foundation for Peace Research, ex-officio Member of the Board (2014-2018) *

Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship The Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship (german: Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, alternatively translated as "(Federal) Foundation for the Study of Communist Dictatorship in East Germany") is a governmen ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (2012-2018) * action medeor, Member of the Advisory Board (2002-2006) * Atlantic Association of Young Political Leaders (AAYPL), President (2007-2009)

Visit to Incirlik Air Base

In June 2016,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

blocked a visit to Incirlik Air Base by Brauksiepe and other German lawmakers in a sign of tense relations between the two NATO allies at the time.Sabine Siebold (June 20, 2016)
Turkey blocking German official's visit to Incirlik base: Germany
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

''.

References

External links