René Röspel (born 9 July 1964) is a German biologist and politician of the

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 Fo ...

(SPD) who 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 Common ...

from the state 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 ...

from 1998 to 2021.

Political career

Röspel first became a member of the Bundestag in the

1998 German federal election Federal elections were held in Germany on 27 September 1998 to elect the members of the 14th Bundestag. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) emerged as the largest faction in parliament for the first time since 1972, with its leader Gerhard Schr� ...

. Throughout his time in parliament, he served on the Committee for Education, Research and Technology Assessment. 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 Eur ...

on health research. From 1998 until 2005, he was also a member of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. In addition to his committee assignments, Röspel was part of the German Parliamentary Friendship Group with the Baltic States. In the negotiations to form a '' Grand Coalition'' of Chancellor

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 ...

's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the SPD following the 2013 federal elections, Röspel was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on education and research policy, led by

Johanna Wanka Johanna Wanka (''née'' Müller; born 1 April 1951) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Minister for Education and Research in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013 until 2018. ...

and

Doris Ahnen Doris Maria Ahnen is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Minister for Finance in the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate since 2014. Prior to that she served as the Minister for Education, Re ...

Other activities

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion The Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC) is a research institute of the Max Planck Society. It is located in the German town of Mülheim. Research The MPI CEC investigates fundamental chemical processes in energy transfo ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Member of the Board of Trustees *

University of Hagen The University of Hagen (german: link=no, FernUniversität in Hagen, informally often referred to as FU Hagen) is a public research university that is primarily focused on distance teaching. While its main campus is located in Hagen, North R ...

, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board * ''

Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie (Against Oblivion – For Democracy) is a German organization promoting diversity, tolerance and democratic participation, and opposing racism, prejudice and right-wing and left-wing extremism. It focuses in ...

'', Member *

Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (german: Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren) is the largest scientific organisation in Germany. It is a union of 18 scientific-technical and biological-medical research centers. ...

, Member of the Senate (2006–2021) * German European Security Association (GESA), Member of the Political Advisory Board (2013-2017) *

Center of Advanced European Studies and Research The Center of Advanced European Study and Research (CAESAR) was founded in 1995 as part of the compensatory actions under the Berlin/Bonn law, which were intended to support structural change in the region of the former capital. In 2022, the inst ...

(CAESAR), Member of the Foundation Board (2002-2007)

Personal life

In Berlin, Raspel shared an apartment with

Willi Brase Willi Brase (born 10 October 1951 in Petershagen, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, SPD. Willi Brase is married with two children and is a Protestant. Brase attended elementary sch ...

.Vinzenz Greiner (1 July 2015)
Parlament und Pumpernickel
''

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

’'.

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
1964 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia 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 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany {{Germany-SPD-politician-stub