Ralph Brinkhaus

Ralph Brinkhaus (2019)

Ralph Brinkhaus (born June 15, 1968 in Wiedenbrück ) is a German politician ( CDU ). He has been chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag since September 2018 and has also been leader of the opposition since the Scholz cabinet took office on December 8, 2021 .

He was directly elected in the 2009 federal election in the Gütersloh I federal constituency and has been a member of the Bundestag since then . He is chairman of the Ostwestfalen-Lippe district association of the CDU and was chairman of the Gütersloh district association of the CDU until March 2019 . From January 2014 to September 2018, Brinkhaus was the deputy parliamentary group leader responsible for budget , finance and local politics .

life and profession

Brinkhaus grew up in Mastholte (a district of the city of Rietberg ) and graduated from the Gymnasium Nepomucenum Rietberg in 1987 . He then completed a high school diploma program at Robert Bosch GmbH . He did his twelve-month basic military service with the tank destroyers in the Field Marshal Rommel barracks in Augustdorf , then studied economics at the University of Hohenheim and graduated with a degree in economics. He first worked for an auditing company, passed the tax consultant exam and was a consultant and commercial manager in industrial companies. In 2004 he started his own business in Gütersloh as a tax consultant specializing in international accounting.

Brinkhaus has been married to his longtime partner Elke Tombach since 2010 and is a practicing Catholic .

Political party

Brinkhaus at the CDU party conference 2019

Brinkhaus joined the Junge Union in 1984 at the age of 16 and switched to the CDU in 1998 at the age of 30.

From 2004 to March 2019 he was a member of the district executive of the East Westphalian CDU district association in Gütersloh and from 2009 to March 2019 he was district chairman.

From 2004 to January 2012 he was a member of the city council of Gütersloh, from 2007 to 2009 he was chairman of the CDU parliamentary group.

In 2010 he was appointed to the CDU 's Federal Economic Committee . There he chaired the working group on financial market regulation. From 2015 to 2017 he was deputy chairman of the Federal Committee on Finance, Economics and Energy.

He has been chairman of the East Westphalia-Lippe district association of the CDU since May 2016 , and he was also deputy state chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalia CDU from June 2016 to October 2021 .

On September 25, 2018, contrary to general expectations, Brinkhaus was elected the new chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag by winning the vote against the previous incumbent, Volker Kauder , by 125 to 112 votes.

In April 2021, he was brought up by party friends alongside CDU leader Armin Laschet and the Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU leader Markus Söder as another possible candidate for Chancellor of the Union.

Member of Parliament

17th parliamentary term (2009 to 2013)

Ralph Brinkhaus (2011)

In the 2009 federal election , Brinkhaus won the direct mandate in the Gütersloh I constituency and became the successor to Hubert Deittert (1941–2020) in the 17th Bundestag .

In his first term of office, Brinkhaus was a member of the Finance Committee and one of nine members of the Bundestag who belonged to the control body for the Financial Market Stabilization Fund (SoFFin). He was also a deputy member of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety , the Petitions Committee and the Budget Committee .

18th parliamentary term (2013 to 2017)

In the 2013 federal elections , Brinkhaus received 50.2% of the votes in the Gütersloh constituency and thus regained the direct mandate.

In January 2014, Brinkhaus became deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag for budget, finance and local politics.

19th parliamentary term (2017 to 2021)

In the 2017 federal election , Brinkhaus won the direct mandate in the Gütersloh constituency for the third time with 46.55% of the votes – 8.2 percentage points more than the CDU’s second vote in this constituency.

In January 2018, Brinkhaus was re-elected deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag for budget, finance and local politics and became a deputy member of the mediation committee .

20th parliamentary term (2021 to 2025)

In September 2021, Brinkhaus won the direct mandate in the Gütersloh I constituency for the fourth time in a row with 40% of the votes and was thus 10.6 percentage points above the CDU’s second vote result there.

He was confirmed in the office of chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group for a further seven months (until the end of April 2022). With the formation of the traffic light coalition and the resulting move from the Union to the opposition, Brinkhaus is now opposition leader in the Bundestag.

Group leader in the Bundestag (since 2018)

Ralph Brinkhaus at the European Congress of the ASP (2019)

In August 2018 it became known that Brinkhaus had applied for the post of leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. It was widely expected that Brinkhaus would win some votes for his commitment to a more assertive role for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group vis-à-vis the federal government and as a signal against Angela Merkel's policies. A success of the fight candidacy was considered unlikely. In the election on September 25, 2018, he surprisingly won with 125 votes to 112 against the incumbent Volker Kauder , who had been in office since 2005, and was thus elected parliamentary group leader. On January 27, 2022, he announced that he would not run again in favor of future CDU chairman Friedrich Merz .

political positions

Brinkhaus is considered conservative and within his group as "calm and matter-of-fact". During the euro crisis , he was a critic of "too generous" financial aid. Der Spiegel wrote in 2018 that he had good contacts with Jens Spahn and Carsten Linnemann , who advocated a more liberal course in economic policy and were "declared opponents of Merkel's refugee policy".

Brinkhaus said in 2017 that he was open to the introduction of referendums at the federal level. In this context, well thought-out framework conditions such as access thresholds and a balanced information policy before voting are important. In addition, Brinkhaus is critical of pure yes/no decisions, as they do not sufficiently consider alternative solutions.

When voting, Brinkhaus voted mostly loyal to the coalition. He said in 2018 that redistribution was necessary so that differences in society would not become too great. He welcomed the promotion of rural areas and said that for him the Baukindergeld as a form of promoting home ownership was a sign to the "middle of society". With regard to social policy , Brinkhaus said in 2018 that social cohesion cannot be achieved with increased social benefits (“We cannot fill up the rifts in society with budgetary funds”). He spoke out in favor of “talking to those who have turned their backs on us” and taking care of protest voters – namely the AfD – “more than before”.

Brinkhaus is involved in the Stephanuskreis , a non-denominational discussion forum of the Union faction, which advocates tolerance and religious freedom and, according to its own statements, wants to give persecuted Christians in the world a voice in the faction.