Rainer Brüderle

Rainer Brüderle
Minister for Economics and Technology
In office
28 October 2009 – 12 May 2011
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Preceded by Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg
Succeeded by Philipp Rösler
Personal details
Born (1945-06-22) 22 June 1945
Berlin, Allied-occupied Germany
(now Germany)
Political party Free Democratic Party
Alma mater University of Mainz
Signature

Rainer Brüderle (born 22 June 1945 in Berlin)[1] is a German politician and member of the FDP. He served as Minister of Economics and Transport of Rhineland-Palatinate from 1987–1998.[1] On 28 October 2009, he was appointed Federal Minister for Economics and Technology in the second Merkel cabinet. Following his election in May 2011 as chairman of his party's parliamentary faction, Brüderle resigned as Federal Minister for Economics and Technology.

Rainer Brüderle holds a Diplom in Economics from the University of Mainz.[1] He has been a member of the German Bundestag between 1998 and 2013.[1] At the 2009 election he unsuccessfully contested the Mainz constituency, but was elected to the Bundestag for the Rhineland-Palatinate land list.

Minister for Economics and Technology

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, Rainer Brüderle announced that an article written for the newspaper Die Welt by Vice Chancellor Philipp Rösler, about the possible benefits of a Greek bankruptcy for the rest of the euro zone, confirmed the opinion of a number of European finance ministers.

Other engagements

Brüderle is a member of the board of the German television network ZDF.[1]

Sexism allegation

In the magazine Stern in January 2013, the journalist Laura Himmelreich 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" with a look at her breasts, which she interpreted as sexism, sparking a media-wide debate.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Rainer Brüderle, FDP". Biography. Deutscher Bundestag. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
  2. ↑ "Leading German Politicians Accused of Inappropriate Advances". Spiegel.de. 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
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