Ralph Brinkhaus

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Ralph Brinkhaus
MdB
File:2019-11-23 Ralph Brinkhaus CDU Parteitag by OlafKosinsky MG 5882.jpg
Brinkhaus at the 2019 CDU party congress
Leader of the Opposition
In office
8 December 2021 – 15 February 2022
Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Preceded by Alexander Gauland
Alice Weidel
Succeeded by Friedrich Merz
Leader of the CDU/CSU Group in the Bundestag
In office
25 September 2018 – 15 February 2022
First Deputy Alexander Dobrindt
Chief Whip Michael Grosse-Brömer
Thorsten Frei
Preceded by Volker Kauder
Succeeded by Friedrich Merz
Member of the Bundestag
for Gütersloh I
Assumed office
27 October 2009
Preceded by Hubert Deittert
Personal details
Born (1968-06-15) 15 June 1968 (age 56)
Wiedenbrück, West Germany (now Germany)
Political party Christian Democratic Union (1998–)
Spouse(s) <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Elke Tombach (m. 2010)
Residence Gütersloh
Alma mater University of Hohenheim
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Auditor
  • Businessman
Website <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Military service
Allegiance  Germany
Service/branch 23x15px Bundeswehr
Unit German Army (Heer) /
Self-propelled artillery (Panzerjägertruppe)

Ralph Brinkhaus (born 15 June 1968) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as parliamentary leader of the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag from 2018 to 2022.

Education and early career

Brinkhaus was born on 15 June 1968 in Wiedenbrück, North Rhine-Westphalia, and grew up in Rietberg. After completing vocation training at Bosch and military services at Field Marshal Rommel Barracks, Augustdorf, he studied economics at the University of Hohenheim. He holds a degree in Economics and is a qualified tax advisor.

Early in his career, Brinkhaus worked at Deloitte in Hannover; Babcock Borsig in Oberhausen; as well as at Medion in Essen and Mülheim. In 2004, he eventually settled down as a tax adviser in Gütersloh.

Political career

Brinkhaus was elected member of the city council of Gütersloh in 2004, a position he held until 2012. From 2004 to 2009 he was the party group leader. In 2004 he became a member of the executive committee of the CDU at district level.

Brinkhaus has been a member of the German Bundestag since the 2009 elections, succeeding Hubert Deittert.[1] From 2009 until 2013, he served on the Finance Committee, where he was his parliamentary group’s rapporteur on banks and insurances. From 2014, he was part of the group’s leadership under chairman Volker Kauder. In this capacity, he was the group's main spokesman for budgetary and financial issues.[2]

In addition to his committee assignments, Brinkhaus chaired the German-Indian Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2014 until 2017. He has since been serving as the group’s deputy chairman.

From 2016 to 2021, Brinkhaus also served as the deputy head of the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, under the leadership of chairman Armin Laschet.[2][3] In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Brinkhaus was part of the CDU delegation.[4]

Brinkhaus was elected CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader on 25 September 2018, with 125 votes from the parliamentary group members against incumbent Volker Kauder's 112 votes;[5][6][7] at the time, the chairs of both CDU and CSU, Angela Merkel and Horst Seehofer, as well as Armin Laschet had already endorsed Kauder.[2] Brinkhaus subsequently led the group with his co-chair from the CSU, Alexander Dobrindt.

Since 2022, Brinkhaus has been a member of the Committee on European Affairs and the Parliamentary Advisory Board on Sustainable Development.[8]

Other activities

  • Institut Finanzen und Steuern, Member of the Board of Trustees

Political positions

In June 2017, Brinkhaus voted against Germany’s introduction of same-sex marriage.[9]

Personal life

Since 2010, Brinkhaus has been married to fellow economist and American Express manager Elke Tombach. He supports the 1. FC Köln football club.[10][1]

References

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External links

Preceded by Chairman of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group
2018–2022		 Succeeded by
Friedrich Merz

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Guy Chazan (25 September 2018), Merkel ally’s defeat highlights growing CDU hostility Financial Times.
  3. ↑ Julian Dorn and Vincent Büssow (23 October 2021), Machtwechsel der CDU in NRW: Hendrik Wüst zu Armin Laschets Nachfolger gewählt Frankfurter Rundschau.
  4. ↑ Members of the Coalition Talks with CSU and SPD CDU.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Helmut Kleebank leitet den Beirat für nachhaltige Entwicklung Bundestag, press release of 16 March 2022.
  9. ↑ Diese Unionsabgeordneten stimmten für die Ehe für alle Die Welt, 30 June 2017.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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