Rainer Brüderle (; born 22 June 1945) is a German politician and member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He served as Minister of Economics and Transport of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

from 1987–1998. On 28 October 2009, he was appointed Federal Minister for Economics and Technology in the second cabinet of

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 Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

. Following his election in May 2011 as chairman of his party's parliamentary group, Brüderle resigned as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Technology.

Early life and education

Brüderle was born 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 ...

, and grew up in

Landau Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...

. He was an exchange student in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. Brüderle holds a

Diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from ) is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

. He also earned a doctorate and worked at the university until he entered politics, first at the municipal level and then at the state level, for Rhineland Palatinate.

Political career

Brüderle (right) in 1993 Brüderle in 2018 Brüderle served 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 ...

between

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. At the 2009 election he unsuccessfully contested the

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

constituency, but was elected to the Bundestag for the Rhineland-Palatinate land list.

Minister for Economic Affairs and Technology, 2009–2011

Petrol prices In May 2008, Brüderle said, for two-thirds of every gas station bill supported by the State responsibility. He demanded to abolish the road tax in addition to the eco-tax, it is sufficient if "only the real consumption" will be touched by mineral oil from the Treasury. Neither he as economy minister in the federal government since 2009 nor the FDP voiced these demands again. State aid for Opel On 9 June 2010 Brüderle refused a request from Opel Germany to 1.1 billion euro in the form of state aid. On the same day Chancellor Angela Merkel gave Opel vague hope of a bailout stating: "The last word on the future of Opel is still out." "The state is not the better entrepreneur" was a justification Brüderle for his vote. The state aid would have resulted in his opinion, to serious distortions of competition in the industry. However, a government decision, there was not, as General Motors and Opel / Vauxhall in Europe applied for no more state aid . Unbundling law This would allow the State to dismantle dominant corporations (even without concrete reason) when the competition can not otherwise be made. The German power companies then turned against such a bill. In May 2010 Brüderle defused the bill. Financial crisis On 14 September 2011, Brüderle announced that an article written for the newspaper ''

Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...

'' by Vice Chancellor Philipp Rösler, about the possible benefits of a Greek

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

for the rest of the euro zone, confirmed the opinion of a number of European finance ministers.

Chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, 2011–2013

During his time in office, Brüderle mainly focused on European policy issues as a result of the continent's sovereign debt crisis. By 2012, in the face of growing criticism of the Merkel government's policies, he publicly stated that Germany "could reach the stage at which a referendum on Europe becomes necessary." In January 2013, party chairman Philipp Rösler offered to the party leadership to step down in favour of Brüderle, then the favoured choice of many FDP members to lead the party into that year's national election. Brüderle declined, and both agreed that Rösler would stay on as party leader, while Brüderle would be the face of the FDP's election campaign.

Other activities

State agencies

* Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Posts and Railway (BNetzA), Member of the Advisory Board (1998–2009) * Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz, Member of the Board of Guarantors (1998–2008)

Corporate boards

* KfW, Ex-officio Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (2009–2011) *

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

, Member of the Advisory Board (1998–2009) * Provinzial Rheinland Versicherung AG, Member of the Supervisory Board (2005-2006) * IVA Valuation & Advisory AG, Member of the Supervisory Board (2005–2009; since 2011) * RSBK Strategie Beratung Kommunikation AG, Member of the Advisory Board (2005–2009; since 2013)

Non-profits

* ''

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

'', Member of the Broadcasting Board * Center of Market-Oriented Product and Production Management (CMPP), Member of the Advisory Board * Stiftung Auge, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2009) * German-Israeli Business Association, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 200?) * Rationalisierungs- und Innovationszentrum der Deutschen Wirtschaft, Member of the Board of Trustees (2009–2013)

Controversy

In the magazine ''

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

'' in January 2013, journalist published an article about alleged advances towards her from the politician during a January 2012 political gathering at a bar in Stuttgart. The advances included asking her for a dance and mainly the suggestive comment that she "could also fill a

dirndl A dirndl () is a feminine dress which originated in German-speaking areas of the Alps. It is traditionally worn by women and girls in some Alpine regions of Austria, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.Anette Dralle & Christiane Ma ...

" with a look at her breasts, which she interpreted as

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...

, sparking a media-wide debate.

Personal life

Brüderle lives in

. He maintains a holiday residence in Lehigh Acres, Florida.Rainer Brüderle
''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'', December 6, 2010.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruderle, Rainer 1945 births Living people Politicians from Berlin Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Economy ministers of Germany German economists Members of the Bundestag for Rhineland-Palatinate Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni Members of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 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 Free Democratic Party (Germany)