Daniel Günther (born 24 July 1973) is a German politician who is a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). Since 28 June 2017, he has served as the Minister President of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

. From 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2019, he served as President of the Bundesrat, being succeeded by Dietmar Woidke.

Early life and education

Günther studied politics and psychology at University of Kiel.

Career

Career in state politics

Günther has been a member of Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein. since the 2009 state elections. In parliament, he was a member of the Committee on Education (2009–2014) and the Finance Committee (2009–2012). From 2014 until 2017, he served as chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. In this capacity, he was also a member of the Council of Elders. When Ingbert Liebing resigned in late 2016 from his role as leading candidate for the 2017 state elections after consistently bad polling results, Günther was elected by the party members to lead the party into the election. After assuming the leadership, Günther led the party to a victory with 30.8% of the vote.

Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein, 2017–present

Günter first became the Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein on 28 June 2017. He was his party's lead candidate for the 2022 Schleswig-Holstein State Election in which the party was the lead vote-getter with 43.4%. As one of the state's representatives at the Bundesrat, Günther also serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Role in national politics

Günther was a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. In the – failed – negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

with the

Christian Social Union in Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria ( German: , CSU) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democra ...

(CSU), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Green Party following the 2017 national elections, he was part of the 19-member delegation of the CDU. In the ensuing negotiations with the Social Democrats, he led the working group on transport and infrastructure, this time alongside Thomas Strobl and Sören Bartol. Together with Bernd Althusmann, Monika Grütters, Michael Kretschmer and Armin Laschet, Günther co-chaired the CDU’s national convention in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in February 2018.

Other activities

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science museum, science and technology museum, technology, with a ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Ex-Officio chairman of the board of Trustees (since 2017) * State Agency for Civic Education, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2012) * Stadtwerke Eckernförde, Member of the Supervisory Board (1998–2005)

Political positions

Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, Günther publicly endorsed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Merkel as the party's chair. For the 2021 leadership election, he later endorsed Armin Laschet, and supported him as the Christian Democrats' joint candidate to succeed

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel in the 2021 national elections.

Personal life

Günther is married to a pediatrician. The couple have two daughters.Daniel Günther zum zweiten Mal Vater. Lübecker Nachrichten, 14. Oktober 2018, S. 7.

References

External links

Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein. Daniel Günther
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunther, Daniel Minister-presidents of Schleswig-Holstein 21st-century German politicians Presidents of the German Bundesrat Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Members of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein Politicians from Kiel 1973 births Living people Ministers of the Schleswig-Holstein State Government