Johann Wadephul

Johann David Wadephul (born 10 February 1963 in Husum) is a German politician. He is a member of the CDU party.

Wadephul completed high school at Meldorfer Gelehrtenschule. Afterwards he studied law in Kiel and became a lawyer specializing in health care law and social law.

Wadephul joined the CDU party in 1982.

From 1993, Wadephul was a member of the leadership of the CDU in Schleswig-Holstein. He served as Secretary General of the CDU in the state from 1997 to 2000, under the leadership of party chairman Peter Kurt Würzbach. From 2000 until 2002, he briefly chaired the party in Schleswig-Holstein, but was soon succeeded by Peter Harry Carstensen. During his time as chairman, he publicly endorsed Edmund Stoiber as the party’s candidate to challenge incumbent Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in the 2002 federal elections.

Following the 2000 state elections, Wadephul also became a Member of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein, where he succeeded Carstensen as chairman of the CDU parliamentary group when the party won the 2005 elections. He did not run for re-election in 2009.

Wadephul has been a Member of the German Bundestag since the 2009 elections. He first served on the Committee on Labour and Social Affairs. Since the 2013 elections, he has been the chairman of the Committee on the Scrutiny of Elections, Immunity and the Rules of Procedure. In addition, he serves as member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and of the parliament’s Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigning committee chairpersons based on party representation.

On the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Wadephul is his parliamentary group’s rapporteur on relations with the Middle East, the Gulf States and Iran. He also covers issues related to Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and the Western Balkans. In addition to his committee assignments, he serves as Deputy Chairman of the German-Belarusian Parliamentary Friendship Group.

• Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Member of the Broadcasting Board
• Hermann Ehlers Foundation, Deputy Chairman of the Board

Wadephul is married and has three children. The family lives in Molfsee.