Armin Laschet

Armin Laschet (born 18 February 1961) is a German politician. Since 27 June 2017 he has been the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia. He also serves as one of five deputy chairmen of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and as head of the party in his home state.

Laschet was born in Burtscheid, a suburb of Aachen near the Belgian and Dutch borders, to an observant Roman Catholic family. His father was a supervisor at a black coal mine and later became an elementary school teacher and headmaster. He attended the Pius-Gymnasium in Aachen and studied law at the universities of Bonn and Munich, passing the first state examination in law in 1987. He studied journalism from 1986 to 1988. In Munich he became a member of K.D.St.V. Aenania München, a Catholic student fraternity that is member of the Cartellverband.

Laschet worked as a journalist and in the publishing industry from 1986 until 1991, among other things as Bonn correspondent for Bayerischer Rundfunk. He later served as editor-in-chief of KirchenZeitung Aachen from 1991 until 1994.

Member of the German Bundestag, 1994-1998

Following the 1994 national elections, Laschet became a member of the German Bundestag. He served on the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development and on the Committee for European Union Affairs.

Member of the European Parliament, 1999-2005

As Member of the European Parliament, Laschet served on the Committee on Budgets between 1999 and 2001 and on the Committee on Foreign Affairs between 2002 and 2005. In the latter capacity, he served as the Parliament's rapporteur on relations between the EU and the United Nations.

Role in state politics

Under Minister-President Jürgen Rüttgers in North Rhine-Westphalia, Laschet served as State Minister for Generations, Family, Women and Integration from 2005 until 2010, and as State Minister for Federal Affairs, Europe and Media from 2010. In 2010, he unsuccessfully ran against Norbert Röttgen for the post of CDU chairman in the state. When Röttgen resigned from that office in 2012, Laschet was elected as his successor. On 4 December 2012 he was elected as one of five deputy chairpersons of the national CDU party, serving alongside Volker Bouffier, Julia Klöckner, Thomas Strobl and Ursula von der Leyen.

Laschet currently serves as state MP in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia and also chairs the CDU's state chapter (Landesverband). Since 2014, he has been a member of the North Rhine-Westphalia Commission for Constitutional Reform, led by Rainer Bovermann.

In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) following the 2013 federal elections, Laschet was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on energy policy, led by Peter Altmaier and Hannelore Kraft.

In November 2015, Laschet visited the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan to learn more about the plight of Syrians fleeing the violence in the ongoing Syrian civil war that erupted in 2011. Between March 2015 and January 2016, he chaired the Robert Bosch Expert Commission to Consider a Realignment of Refugee Policy, an expert group convened by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

In November 2016, Laschet was elected leading candidate for the North Rhine-Westphalia state elections in May 2017. He was a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2017.

Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, 2017–present

Since 27 June 2017 Laschet has been the 11th Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia (Cabinet Laschet). As one of his state's representatives at the Bundesrat, he serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Defence Committee.

On European integration, Laschet seeks to strengthen the European Union on issues such as fighting international terrorism and organized crime, as well as energy policy. He also wants to see the President of the European Commission be elected directly by European voters.

During the European debt crisis, Laschet called for an “open discussion” toward a broad solution to the debt crisis, of which Eurobonds could be a part. He argued that a Greek exit from the Eurozone could trigger undesirable upheaval in southern Europe: "(An exit) could lead to instability in a NATO member state. Russia is standing ready with billions to help Greece in such a scenario." In October 2011, he signed George Soros' open letter calling for more Europe in the single currency turmoil.

In 2016, Laschet dismissed proposals for a so-called burqa ban as a “phony debate” and distraction from more pressing issues. However, his party later adopted this policy as a core issue.

In 2018, Laschet, described the treehouses, protesting the destruction of Hambach forest, as "illegally occupied areas" and that RWE had the right to clear the forest. "The state government is there to ensure that the law that applies is enforced," he said during a talk show on German public broadcaster WDR.

While still an MEP and following a 2001 visit to the Middle East, Laschet reignited a controversy over EU funding for anti-Semitic textbooks used in Palestinian schools by comparing them to Nazi propaganda, prompting him to urge for more stringent controls over how funds earmarked for Israel and the Palestinian Authorities are spent.

In 2004, the European Commissioner for Competition Mario Monti publicly rejected claims made by Laschet according to which a ban on German soccer team Alemannia Aachen’s bid to play important UEFA Cup matches in neighbouring Holland is a breach of the Union's anti-trust rules.

In 2018, Laschet cancelled his appearances at the Ruhrtriennale arts and music festival due to the festival allowing supporters of the BDS movement to perform.

Corporate boards

• RAG-Stiftung, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2017)

Non-profit organizations

• Development and Peace Foundation (SEF), Ex-Officio Chairman of the Board of Trustees (since 2017)
• Kunststiftung NRW, Chairman of the Board of Trustees (since 2017)
• North Rhine-Westphalian Foundation for the Environment and Development (SUE), Ex-Officio Chairman of the Board (since 2017)
• Atlantik-Brücke, Member
• Bonner Akademie für Forschung und Lehre praktischer Politik (BAPP), Member of the Board of Trustees
• Campus Symposium of the Business and Information Technology School, Member of the Advisory Board
• Central Committee of German Catholics, Member
• Charlemagne Prize, Member of the Board of Directors
• European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Member
• European Foundation for the Aachen Cathedral, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Policy Fellow
• Karl Arnold Foundation, Member of the Board
• Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Member of the Planning Committee
• Peace of Westphalia Prize, Member of the Jury
• missio, Member of the Supervisory Board
• St. Maria zur Wiese, Member of the Board of Trustees
• United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN), Member of the Presidium
• Theodor Heuss Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (-2015)