Norbert Lammert

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Norbert Lammert
Parliamentary State Secretary
in the Ministry for Economic Affairs
In office
17 November 1994 – 15 May 1997
ChancellorHelmut Kohl
MinisterGünter Rexrodt
Preceded byReinhard Göhner
Succeeded byHeinrich Leonhard Kolb
Parliamentary State Secretary
in the Ministry for Education and Science
In office
21 April 1989 – 17 November 1994
ChancellorHelmut Kohl
MinisterHeinz Riesenhuber
Matthias Wissmann
Preceded byIrmgard Karwatzki
Succeeded byBernd Neumann
Member of the Bundestag
for North Rhine-Westphalia
In office
4 November 1980 – 24 October 2017
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded bymulti-member district
Personal details
Born (1948-11-16) 16 November 1948 (age 75)
Bochum, British occupation zone, Allied-occupied Germany (now North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
Political partyChristian Democratic Union (1966–)
SpouseGertrud
Children4
Alma materRuhr University Bochum
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Academic
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website

Norbert Lammert (born 16 November 1948) is a German

Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the 12th president of the Bundestag
from 2005 to 2017.

Early life and education

The son of a baker,

modern history. He went on and obtained his doctorate (Dr. rer. soc.) from the Ruhr University Bochum
in 1975.

Political career

Having joined the CDU in 1966, he was deputy chairman of the Bochum branch of the CDU. From 1978–1984, he was deputy leader of a part (Westfalen-Lippe) of the

Junge Union, the CDU youth organization. In the 1980 national elections, he was elected to the Bundestag and had kept his mandate continuously until stepping down in 2017. During his tenure in the Bundestag he served (as usual for all MPs) on several committees.[2]

Norbert Lammert in the German Bundestag, 2014

Following the

Die Linke Gregor Gysi
.

In the negotiations to form a

CSU) and the SPD following the 2013 federal elections, Lammert was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on cultural and media affairs, led by Michael Kretschmer and Klaus Wowereit
.

When Federal President Joachim Gauck announced in June 2016 that he would not stand for reelection, Lammert was soon mentioned by German and international media as likely successor.[3][4]

In October 2016, Lammert announced that he would not stand in the 2017 federal elections and resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[5]

Later career

In 2018, Lammert took on the role of chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS).

Since 2022, following an appointment by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Lammert has been serving on a three-member panel (alongside Krista Sager and Andreas Voßkuhle) to assess potential conflicts of interest, requiring senior German officials from the chancellor to deputy ministers to observe a cooling-off period if they want to quit the government for a job in business.[6]

Political positions

Role of the parliament

Throughout his tenure, Lammert has not shied from speaking out against the government about potential threats to parliament's role.

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.[9] He has insisted that members of parliament be consulted fully on the bailout schemes for the euro zone debt crisis.[10]

European integration

In 2012, Lammert said he wants a financial transaction tax to be introduced in as many countries as possible, “at least” in the Eurozone.[11] Later that year, he demanded that the EU not take in new members for the time being because of the European debt crisis and also expressed doubts that Croatia was ready to join;[12] Croatia eventually joined the EU in 2013.

Human rights

Following the Charlie Hebdo shooting in 2015, Lammert criticized Saudi Arabia for condemning the Paris attacks as a violation of Islam, "then two days later letting the blogger Raif Badawi be flogged in public in Jeddah for insulting Islam".[13] Ahead of Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's first official visit to Germany in June 2015, Lammert announced that he would not meet the former army chief, citing "an unbelievable number of death sentences".[14]

In February 2016, Lammert 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.[15]

In June 2017, Lammert voted against Germany’s introduction of same-sex marriage.[16]

Controversy

Party financing

In December 2010, Lammert imposed on the CDU a fine of 1.2 million euros ($1.6 million) for breaching party donation rules, for party funding violations in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the time of the regional election in 2006.[17]

Plagiarism allegations

In July 2013, an anonymous internet blogger, using the name of Robert Schmidt, accused Lammert of having plagiarized other works when writing his dissertation.

German Green Party underlined that there should be no condemnation(s) in advance.[19]
In November 2013 the university finished a thorough investigation and came to the conclusion that, although the dissertation contained "avoidable shortcomings in the citations", those did not constitute plagiarism.[20]

Other activities

Corporate boards

  • RAG AG, Member of the Supervisory Board
  • RAG-Stiftung, Member of the Board of Trustees (2017–2022)[21][22][23]
  • Evonik Industries, Member of the Supervisory Board (2005-2007)
  • RTL Television
    , Member of the Program Committee (1998-2007)

Non-profit organizations

Recognition

Personal life

Lammert is member of the Catholic Church.[29] He is married to Gertrud and has four children.

Literature

  • .

References

  1. ^ Stefan Wagstyl (6 June 2016), German presidency jostling begins as Gauck prepares to quit Financial Times.
  2. ^ "Norbert Lammert profile on the Bundestag website". 15 November 2013. Archived from the original on 10 December 2010.
  3. ^ Stefan Wagstyl (6 June 2016), German presidency jostling begins as Gauck prepares to quit Financial Times.
  4. ^ Kate Connolly (6 June 2016), Headache for Angela Merkel as German president Joachim Gauck steps down The Guardian.
  5. ^ Margarete von Ackeren (17 October 2016), Norbert Lammert kandidiert nicht mehr für den Bundestag Focus.
  6. ^ Christoph Schult (1 April 2022), Voßkuhle, Lammert, Sager: Neue Besetzung bei Karenzzeitwächtern Der Spiegel.
  7. ^ Stephen Brown and Madeline Chambers (17 February 2012), Possible candidates for German presidency Reuters.
  8. ^ Stefan Wagstyl (6 June 2016), German presidency jostling begins as Gauck prepares to quit Financial Times.
  9. ^ Jon Hemming (17 March 2011), Germany dismisses legal doubts on nuclear closures Reuters.
  10. ^ Stephen Brown and Madeline Chambers (17 February 2012), Possible candidates for German presidency Reuters.
  11. ^ Allison Connolly (20 January 2012), Bundestag President Wants Euro-Area Transaction Tax, Welt Says Bloomberg.
  12. ^ Andreas Rinke (9 November 2012), Macedonia's EU talks could start without name resolution Reuters.
  13. New York Times
    .
  14. ^ Andreas Rinke (3 June 2015), Merkel tells Egypt's Sisi: death penalty is wrong but let's trade Reuters.
  15. ^ Bundestagspräsident Lammert besucht deutsche Truppen in Incirlik und reist zu Gesprächen nach Jordanien und Kuwait Deutscher Bundestag, press release of 5 February 2016.
  16. ^ Diese Unionsabgeordneten stimmten für die Ehe für alle Die Welt, 30 June 2017.
  17. ^ Rainer Buergin (23 December 2010), Merkel's CDU Party Fined $1.6 Million for Donations Violation in Rhineland Bloomberg News.
  18. ^ "Unregelmäßigkeiten in Doktorarbeit?: Hat auch Norbert Lammert abgekupfert?" [Irregularities in the doctoral thesis? Did Norbert Lammert also copy?]. FOCUS Online (in German). 29 July 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  19. ^ Schmoll, Heike (30 July 2013). "Opposition verteidigt Lammert gegen Plagiatsvorwurf" [Opposition defends Lammert against allegations of plagiarism]. FAZ (in German). Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  20. ^ "Kein Plagiatsverfahren gegen Lammert" [No plagiarism proceedings against Lammert]. FAZ (in German). 6 November 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  21. ^ Daniel Delhaes (1 June 2022), Grüne missachten die Frauenquote im Bahn-Aufsichtsrat Handelsblatt.
  22. ^ Dietmar Student (26 May 2022), Jürgen Großmann bangt um zentrales Ruhr-Amt Manager Magazin.
  23. ^ Ulf Meinke (31 May 2022), Armin Laschet wieder im Kuratorium der Essener RAG-Stiftung Westfälische Rundschau.
  24. ^ Senate Deutsche Nationalstiftung.
  25. ^ Konrad Adenauer Prize: Advisory Board City of Cologne.
  26. ^ Board of Trustees Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz (KHI).
  27. ^ Boards Goethe-Institut.
  28. ^ Elena Ubrig (14 October 2019), Bochumer CDU-Politiker Lammert erhält Hans-Ehrenberg-Preis Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
  29. ^ "Lammert, Dr. Norbert". Deutscher Bundestag. Archived from the original on 25 April 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2010.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by President of the Bundestag
2005–2017
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation
2018–present
Incumbent