Thomas Kufen (born 5 August 1973, 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 ...

) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Life

Kufen was a member of the

Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia The Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which convenes in the state capital of Düsseldorf, in the eastern part of the district of Hafen. The parliament ...

from

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and again from

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

until 21 October 2015. Between 2005 and 2010, he served as Commissioner for Integration in the state government of

Minister-President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

Jürgen Rüttgers Jürgen Rüttgers (born 26 June 1951) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as the 9th Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2005 to 2010. Education Rüttgers was born in Cologne. He holds degree ...

. Since 2015 Kufen has been Lord mayor of German city

. Kufen has also been part of the CDU leadership in North Rhine-Westphalia under party chairman

Armin Laschet Armin Laschet (; born 18 February 1961) is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 June 2017 to 26 October 2021. He served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 22 January 2021 to 3 ...

since 2014. Following the 2017 state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Kufen was part of Laschet's team in the negotiations with the Free Democrats (FDP) on a coalition agreement. He served in the working group on municipal policy. On the national level, Kufen was a CDU delegate to the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...

for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

in 2004 and 2017.

Other activities (selection)

Corporate boards

RWE RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States. The company is Europe's most climate threatening Company, the world's number two in offsh ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2021) *

Essen/Mülheim Airport Essen/Mülheim Airport , is a minor unscheduled airport located south-west of Essen and south-east of Mülheim, North Rhine-Westphalia. It serves the western Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, the largest urban agglomeration in Germany. Airlines a ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board * Essen Marketing GmbH (EMG), Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board * Essener Versorgungs- und Verkehrsgesellschaft, Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board * Messe Essen, Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board * RAG-Stiftung, Member of the Board of Trustees *

Power AG, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board * Sparkasse Essen, Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board

Non-profits

* Center for Turkish Studies,

University of Duisburg-Essen The University of Duisburg-Essen (german: link=no, Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * European Centre for Creative Economy (ECCE), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees * Johannes-Rau-Forschungsgemeinschaft (JRF), Member of the Board of Trustees *

Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe ) , formation = 1952 , type = '' Eingetragener Verein'' , status = , purpose = Medical care, humanitarian relief, youth programmes , headquarters = Berlin , location = Germ ...

(JUH), Member of the Advisory Board *

Museum Folkwang Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patr ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees *

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (German Zeche Zollverein) is a large former industrial site in the city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The first coal mine on the premises was founded in 1847, and mining activities took pla ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees

Political positions

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 ...

in 2021, Kufen publicly endorsed

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.

Personal life

Kufen is since 2015 married with fellow politician David Lüngen. In December 2017, he officiated the

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

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 bee ...

and Daniel Funke at Borbeck Palace in Essen.Kati Degenhardt (23 December 2017)
Merkels bester Mann: Jens Spahn hat heimlich geheiratet
''

BILD ''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which ...

''.

References

External links

Website by Thomas Kufen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kufen, Thomas Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia Gay politicians LGBT mayors of places in Germany Mayors of Essen 1973 births Living people