Bernd Althusmann

Bernd Althusmann (German pronunciation: [ˈbɛʁnt ˈalthʊsman]; born 3 December 1966 in Oldenburg) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Since November 2017, he has been serving as Deputy Minister-President and State Minister for Economic Affairs in the government of Minister-President Stephan Weil.

Bernd Althusmann
Deputy Minister-President of Lower-Saxony
State Minister for Economic Affairs
Assumed office
22 November 2017
Minister-PresidentStephan Weil
Preceded byOlaf Lies
Personal details
Born (1966-12-03) 3 December 1966
Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, West Germany
(now Germany)
Political partyChristian Democratic Union (CDU)
Military service
Allegiance Germany
Branch/service Bundeswehr
Years of service1986 - 1994
UnitArmy (Heer) / Panzertruppe

Career

From 1994 to 2009, Althusmann was Member of the Landtag of Lower Saxony. He served as State Minister of Education in the cabinets Wulff II and McAllister from 27 April 2010 until 19 February 2013.

In July 2011 it was reported that Althusmann had taken over texts or literal texts in several places in his dissertation.[1] The University of Potsdam has not confirmed the plagiarism allegations, despite deficiencies.[2]

Between 2013 and 2016, Althusmann headed the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's office in Windhoek, Namibia.

Althusmann was the CDU's leading candidate for the 2017 Lower Saxon state election.[3]

On the national level, Althusmann served as a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2010,[4] 2012[5] and 2017. In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, he co-chaired the working group on urban development; his counterparts were Kurt Gribl and Natascha Kohnen.[6]

Other activities

Regulatory agencies

Corporate boards
  • Volkswagen, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2017)
  • Deutsche Messe AG, Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2017)[8]
  • JadeWeserPort, Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2017)
  • Niedersachsen Ports GmbH & Co. KG (NPorts), Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2017)

Political positions

During his election campaign, Althusmann publicly favored someone from outside the auto industry to succeed VW chief executive Matthias Müller and wanted to cede one of the state’s two board seats to a non-political expert.[9][10] But when his party lost the 2017 state elections to the SPD, he claimed the economy minister’s right to join VW’s supervisory board alongside Minister-President Weil.[11]

Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2021, Althusmann publicly endorsed Armin Laschet to succeed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as the party’s chair.[12]

References
  1. Spiewak, Martin (2011-07-07). "Bernd Althusmann: Trübe Quellen". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  2. "Plagiatsaffäre - Alle Fälle von A-Z | Business And Science" (in German). Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  3. "CDU in Niedersachsen » Bernd Althusmann führt CDU in Niedersachsen als Spitzenkandidat zur Landtagswahl". cdu-niedersachsen.de. 2016-11-28.
  4. Ordentliche Mitglieder der 14. Bundesversammlung Bundestag.
  5. Ordentliche Mitglieder der 15. Bundesversammlung Bundestag.
  6. Members of the Coalition Talks with CSU and SPD CDU.
  7. Advisory Board Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (BNetzA).
  8. Supervisory Board Deutsche Messe AG.
  9. Andreas Cremer (August 8, 2017), German state conservatives take tougher line on VW oversight Reuters.
  10. Connor Murphy and Joshua Posaner (August 8, 2017), German parties call for tougher VW oversight after Lower Saxony scandal Politico Europe.
  11. Andreas Cremer (November 22, 2017), Lower Saxony's new government says will keep Volkswagen stake Reuters.
  12. Althusmann: Laschet soll neuer Parteichef werden Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, February 27, 2020.
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