Friedrich Merz
Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (; ; born 11November 1955) is a German politician serving as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU (Union) parliamentary group as Leader of the Opposition (Germany), Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag from February 2022 to May 2025. Merz was born in Brilon in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in West Germany. He joined the Young Union in 1972. After finishing law school in 1985, Merz worked as a judge and corporate lawyer before entering full-time politics in 1989 when he was elected to the European Parliament. After serving one term he was elected to the Bundestag, where he established himself as the leading financial policy expert in the CDU. He was elected chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in 2000, the same year as Angela Merkel was elected chairwoman of the CDU, and at the time they were chief rivals for the lead ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Member Of The German Bundestag
Member of the German Parliament () is the official name given to a deputy in the Bundestag, German Bundestag. ''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichstag building in Berlin. In German a member is called ' (Member of the Federal Diet (assembly), Diet) or officially ' (Member of the German Federal Diet), abbreviated ''MdB'' and attached. Unofficially the term ''Abgeordneter'' (literally: "delegate", i.e. of a certain electorate) is also common (abbreviated ''Abg.'', never follows the name but precedes it). However, Members of the Bundestag are more commonly referred to as ''Bundestagsabgeordneter'' if the Member of the Bundestag is male or ''Bundestagsabgeordnete'' if the member is female. These terms literally translate to "deputy/delegate of the Bundestag". From 1871 to 1918, legislators were known as Member of the Reichstag and sat in the Reichstag (German Empire), Reichstag of the German Empire. In accordance w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). As chancellor, he led a coalition government of the SPD and Alliance 90/The Greens. Since leaving public office, Schröder has worked for Russian state-owned energy companies, including Nord Stream AG, Rosneft, and Gazprom. Schröder was a lawyer before becoming a full-time politician, and he was Minister President of Lower Saxony (1990–1998) before becoming chancellor. Replacing the longest-ruling chancellor in modern German history, Helmut Kohl (CDU), in the 1998 German federal election, 1998 federal election, he tried to address unemployment and poverty with the Agenda 2010 labour market reform, which increased Hartz IV, welfare benefits. Together with French president Jacques Chirac, in 2003, he did not join the Coalition of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Patrick Sensburg
Patrick Ernst Hermann Sensburg (born 25 June 1971) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and a professor at the University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration in North Rhine-Westphalia in Cologne. He served as a member of the German Parliament from 2009 until 2021, representing the Hochsauerlandkreis constituency in North Rhine-Westphalia. Before joining politics, Sensburg worked as Professor of Public Law and European Law. After he completed his military service Sensburg became lieutenant colonel of the reserve in 2014. 2021 he was promoted to Colonel. Since 2019 Sensburg is president of the Reservist Association of Deutsche Bundeswehr. Education and professional career Sensburg was born in Paderborn. He studied law and political science and graduated with his first state law exam and a master's degree in political science in 1997. In 1999 he completed his Second State Law Examination. He was a research assistant at the University ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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2021 German Federal Election
The 2021 German federal election was held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, chose not to run again, marking the first time that an incumbent Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany did not seek re-election. With 25.7% of total votes, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) recorded their best result since 2005, and emerged as the largest party for the first time since 2002. The ruling CDU/CSU, which had led a grand coalition with the SPD since 2013, recorded their worst ever result with 24.1%, a significant decline from 32.9% in 2017. Alliance 90/The Greens achieved their best result in history at 14.7%, while the Free Democratic Party (FDP) made small gains and finished on 11.4%. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) fell from third to fifth place with 10.4%, a decline of 2.3 percentage points. The Le ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Hochsauerlandkreis (electoral District)
Hochsauerlandkreis 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 146. It is located in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising the district of Hochsauerlandkreis. Hochsauerlandkreis was created for the 1980 federal election. Since 2021, it has been represented by Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Geography Hochsauerlandkreis is located in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. As of the 2021 federal election, it is coterminous with the Hochsauerlandkreis district. History Hochsauerlandkreis was created in 1980. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it was constituency 119 in the numbering system. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 148. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 147. From the 2025 election, it has been number 146. Its borders have not changed since its cre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Michael Glos
Michael Glos (born 14 December 1944) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who served as Minister for Economics and Technology in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 22 November 2005 until 10 February 2009. Early life and career After the secondary school level, Glos made an apprenticeship as miller and became master in 1967. Starting 1968, he managed his parents' flour mill in Prichsenstadt. Political career Career in local politics Glos joined the CSU in 1970. In 1972, he was the first chairman of the CSU-chapter of his hometown Prichsenstadt. From 1975 to 1993, he was chairman of the CSU chapter of Kitzingen. From 1976 he was part of the executive board of the CSU in Lower Franconia. From then he was also part of the CSU leadership. From 1972 to 1978, Glos was member of the district council of Prichsenstadt and, from 1975 to 1993, member of the council of the district (''Kreistag'') of Kitzingen. Career in national politics Glos first bec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Hans-Peter Repnik
Hans-Peter Repnik (27 May 1947 – 5 April 2025) was a German politician. A member of the Christian Democratic Union, he served in the Bundestag from 1983 to 2005. Repnik died in Singen Singen (; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Singe'') is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border. Location Singen is an industrial city situated in the far sout ... on 5 April 2025, at the age of 77. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Repnik, Hans-Peter 1947 births 2025 deaths Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Members of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg Members of the Bundestag 1983–1987 Members of the Bundestag 1987–1990 Members of the Bundestag 1990–1994 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Wü ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Jens Spahn
Jens Georg Spahn (born 16 May 1980) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been a member of the lower house of the federal parliament, the Bundestag (, MdB), for Steinfurt I – Borken I since 2002. Since 2025, he has been leading the joint CDU/CSU (Union) parliamentary group in the 21st Bundestag, making him the majority leader. He served as Federal Minister of Health in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021, including during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. At the time of his first election in 2002, Spahn – at age 22 – was the youngest member of the CDU in the German parliament. He has since been one of the main sponsors of pension reform in Germany. He was a member of the Committee of Health of the 17th Bundestag and the CDU/CSU parliamentary group's spokesperson on health. When Chancellor Angela Merkel stated her intention not to seek re-election for the CDU party leadership in 2018, Spahn announced his ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Alexander Dobrindt
Alexander Dobrindt (; born 7 June 1970) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) who has been serving as the Federal Minister of the Interior in the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz since 2025. From 2017 to 2025, Dobrindt served as the chairman of the CSU Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag. Between 2013 and 2017, he served as Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Previously, he was the secretary general of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria under the leadership of party chairman Horst Seehofer from 2009. Early life Dobrindt was born in Peißenberg, Bavaria. He graduated from the Weilheim Highschool in 1989 and continued his studies in the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, finishing with a Master of Arts in sociology in 1995. After obtaining his degree, Dobrindt worked at an engineering company as a financial director from 1996 to 2001 and as a managing dir ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Thorsten Frei
Thorsten Frei (born 8 August 1973) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Head of the Federal Chancellery of Germany, Head of the Federal Chancellery in the Merz cabinet, government of Chancellor of Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz since 2025. Frei has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg since 2013. Political career Frei became mayor of Donaueschingen in 2004, a position he relinquished when he first became a member of the Bundestag in the 2013 German federal election. From 2013 until 2017, he was a member of the Committee on European Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Subcommittee on Civilian Crisis Prevention. From 2018 to 2021, Frei served as deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, under the leadership of chairman Volker Kauder. In this capacity, he coordinated the group's legislative activities on consume ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Whip (politics)
A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline (that members of the party vote according to the party platform rather than their constituents, conscience vote, individual conscience or donors) in a legislature. Whips are the party's "enforcers". They work to ensure that their fellow political party legislators attend voting sessions and vote according to their party's official policy. Members who vote against party policy may "lose the whip", being expelled from the party. The term is said to be taken from the "wikt:whipper-in, whipper-in" during a hunt, who tries to prevent hounds from wandering away from a hunting pack. The term may more reasonably have been taken from the practice of "keeping discipline" in slaves by cracking a leather whip over their heads. Additionally, the term "whip" may mean the voting instructions issued to legislators, or the status of a certain legislator in their party's parliamentary grouping. Etymology ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany, the other being the German Bundesrat, Bundesrat. It is thus the historical successor to the earlier Reichstag (Weimar Republic), Reichstag. The members of the Bundestag are representatives of the German people as a whole, are not bound by any orders or instructions and are only accountable to their conscience. As of the current 21st Bundestag, 21st legislative period, the Bundestag has a fixed number of 630 members. The Bundestag is elected every four years by German citizens aged 18 and older. Elections use a mixed-member proportional representation system which combines First-past-the-post voting for co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |