Ingeborg Helen Gräßle (born 2 March 1961) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German

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 wa ...

since the 2021 elections, representing the

Backnang – Schwäbisch Gmünd Backnang – Schwäbisch Gmünd is an electoral constituency (German language, German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag if it elects one member via first-past-the-post voting, which is not automatic anymore since 2023. Under the current ...

district. She previously served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) from 2004 until 2019, where chaired of the Budgetary Control Committee. As the co-

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 ...

for the revision of the

financial regulation Financial regulation is a broad set of policies that apply to the financial sector in most jurisdictions, justified by two main features of finance: systemic risk, which implies that the failure of financial firms involves public interest consi ...

, approved in the plenary in October 2012, Gräßle was instrumental in the negotiation of a compromise between the

European Institutions European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...

. Gräßle is well known within the EU as a strong proponent of increased transparency and

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for the Institutions.

Early life and education

Gräßle was born in 1961 in the town of Großkuchen, located in the Heidenheim district of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

, Germany, where she attended elementary school until 1971. She attended high school at Hellenstein-Gymnasium Heidenheim until 1980, after which she completed a two-year internship with ''

Augsburger Allgemeine The ''Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung'' is a major German regional daily newspaper published since 1945. History From 1807 to 1882, another paper named '' Allgemeine Zeitung'' was published in Augsburg but it is not connected to the later newspap ...

'', where she subsequently worked as an editor from 1982 to 1984. After leaving editorial work in 1984, Gräßle enrolled at the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart () is a research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany with programs in civil, mechanical, ind ...

, where she earned a master's degree in romance languages, history, and political science in 1989. She spent a year studying at the

Institut d'études politiques An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

in Paris, France, and in 1990, she took a job as the Director of Public Relations for Konrad-Adenauer-Haus (the German national headquarters for the Christian Democratic Union) in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, Germany. In 1994 Gräßle earned her PhD in political science from the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

. Her dissertation, the "Der europäische Fernseh-Kulturkanal ARTE : deutsch-französische Medienpolitik zwischen europäischem Anspruch und nationaler Wirklichkeit", examined the Franco-German television network,

ARTE Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

and explored the relationship between European standards and national realities.

Political career

Beginnings

From 1995 to 1996 Gräßle was the spokeswoman for

Rüsselsheim am Main Rüsselsheim am Main (, ) is the largest city in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is one of seven special status cities (implementing several functions that counties normally provide) in Hessen and is located on t ...

, the largest town in the

Groß-Gerau Groß-Gerau () is the district seat of the Groß-Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hesse, Germany, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area. In 1994, the town hosted the 34th Hessentag state festival. Geo ...

district of the

Rhein-Main region The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: ''Rhein-Main-Gebiet'', ''Frankfurt/Rhein-Main'' or ''FrankfurtRheinMain'', abbreviated FRM), is the third-l ...

. In 1996 Gräßle was elected to the State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg where she served until 2004 when she was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

. Since 1999, Gräßle has served as the Vice-Chair of the CDU Women's Union of Baden-Württemberg, a member of the Heidenheim District Council, and a member of the CDU Bureau in Baden-Württemberg. In 2001 she was appointed as the Deputy District Chair of the CDU in Northern Baden-Württemberg, and the District Chair of the CDU in Heidenheim. Gräßle was a CDU delegate to the

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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 ...

in May 2004.

Member of the European Parliament, 2004-2019

Gräßle was elected to the European Parliament and began her first term on 20 August 2004. She was re-elected in 2009 and 2014. Gräßle acted as the co-rapporteur, along with Crescenzio Rivellini, and lead parliamentary negotiator on legislation which created a new set of rules that govern the implementation of EU funds, known commonly as the financial regulation; the European Parliament acted as co-legislator with the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

for the first time while drafting the new financial regulation that entered into force in January 2013. 2004 *Member of the

Committee on Budgets The Committee on Budgets (BUDG) is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 41 members plus 39 substitute members. The committee's current chair is Jean Arthuis, who has held this position since 7 July 2014.Committee on Budgetary Control The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. with 30 permanent members. It can be seen as the European Union's internal "political watchdog", seeking to identify undesi ...

2007 *

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of the CDU/

CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...

Delegation in the European Parliament *Coordinator of the EPP group in the Committee on Budgetary Control 2009 *Substitute Member of the Delegation to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly *Substitute Member of the

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of employment and social policy, including labour rights, social security, inclusion ...

*Substitute Member of the Delegation for Relations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo 2014 * Chairperson of the

Committee on Budgetary Control The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. with 30 permanent members. It can be seen as the European Union's internal "political watchdog", seeking to identify undesi ...

* Member of the Conference of Committee Chairs * Member of the Committee on Budgets * Member of the Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China * Substitute Member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs During her time on the Committee on Budgetary Control, Gräßle led fact-finding missions to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

in 2011 and 2017 to visit multiple controversial EU-funded projects. Before the 2019 election, Gräßle was listed as number 5 on the local election list by the CDU Baden-Würtemberg. This fifth place made her the first woman on the list. The local CDU could only win four seats, and so all were taken by men. In an interview she spoke of an "old boys" network in the party with no interest in change. In the same interview, she also criticized the fact that there were no MEPs for the CDU of immigrant background. Gräßle was not re-elected in the

2019 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in cou ...

Career in national politics

In September 2020, Gräßle announced that she would run for a parliamentary seat in the 2021 national elections. In the 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 ...

under the leadership of Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg

Winfried Kretschmann Winfried Kretschmann (; born 17 May 1948) is a German politician serving as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg since 2011. A member of the Alliance '90/Greens, he was President of the Bundesrat and ''ex officio'' deputy to the President o ...

following the 2021 state elections, Gräßle was a member of the working group on public finances, co-chaired by Edith Sitzmann and Stefanie Bürkle. Since her election to the German

in 2021, Gräßle has been serving on the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment.

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 ...

in 2018, Gräßle publicly endorsed

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 Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany), Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2021 and as Leader of th ...

to succeed Angela Merkel as the party's chair.

Controversy

In December 2017, the

Committee on Legal Affairs The Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities The main responsibilities of the committee are the interpretation and application of international and European law and the compliance of European U ...

decided to waive Gräßle's immunity after she caused a car accident in which a person suffered a shoulder injury.Report on the request for waiver of the immunity of Ingeborg Gräßle, 8 December 2017 (2017/2220(IMM))

Recognition

* 2013 – Taxpayers Prize of the Tax Payers' Association of Europe (jointly with

Michel Barnier Michel Jean Barnier (; born 9 January 1951) is a French politician who was Prime Minister of France from September to December 2024. A member of a series of Gaullist parties ( UDR, RPR, UMP, LR), Barnier has served in several French cabinet p ...

)

Footnotes

External links

Personal Website
Dr. Gräßle's official website
Member Details

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

profile
MEP Dr. Inge Gräßle

's profile
"Stubborn Reformer"

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biographical article
EU offices around the world 'left empty for months'

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Dr. Inge Gräßle's Facebook page

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.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grassle, Ingeborg 1961 births Living people Christian Democratic Union of Germany MEPs European People's Party politicians Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Members of the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg People from Heidenheim University of Stuttgart alumni Free University of Berlin alumni MEPs for Germany 2004–2009 MEPs for Germany 2009–2014 MEPs for Germany 2014–2019 Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 21st-century women MEPs for Germany Members of the Bundestag 2025–2029