Thomas Goppel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portrait of Thomas Goppel
Thomas Goppel (2012)

Thomas Goppel (born April 30, 1947 in Aschaffenburg ) is a German politician of the CSU and from 1974 to 2018 a member of the Bavarian State Parliament . The son of the former Bavarian Prime Minister Alfons Goppel was a member of the Bavarian State Government from 1986 to 1998 and 2003 to 2008 in various functions . He is a cousin of the bishop emeritus of Augsburg , Konrad Zdarsa .

Life

education

Goppel started school in 1953 and moved to the Kronberg high school in his hometown of Aschaffenburg in 1957 . After graduating from high school in 1966, he studied between 1967 and 1970 in Würzburg , Munich and Salzburg for teaching at elementary schools . In 1982 he received his doctorate in Salzburg on the subject of comparing the curricula at compulsory schools in Bavaria and Austria from the point of view of the school's educational mandate.

From 1970 to 1974 Goppel was active in the school service.

Membership career

In 1974 Goppel was elected to the Bavarian state parliament for the first time . Since 1978 he has held the direct mandate of the district of Landsberg / Fürstenfeldbruck-West ( constituency of Upper Bavaria ). In 2013 he released the direct mandate for Alex Dorow , only ran for the constituency of Upper Bavaria on the CSU list and moved back to the state parliament. With the state elections in 2018, he left the Bavarian state parliament as Germany's longest-serving member of the state parliament.

Political offices

Thomas Goppel (1990)

After the state elections in 1986, Goppel joined the last cabinet of Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss as State Secretary for Science and Art . In 1990 Goppel became Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs.

In February 1994 Goppel took over the post of State Minister for State Development and Environmental Issues in the field of tension between economic and environmental interests as the successor to the resigned Peter Gauweiler . After leaving the state government in autumn 1998, he became general secretary of the CSU in January 1999 .

In the course of his four and a half years in office, Goppel tried to represent Bavarian interests at the federal level. In the party headquarters he concentrated on the organizational structure and campaign capabilities of the CSU. In elections he achieved the following results: European elections 1999: 64.0%; Federal Parliament election 2002: 58.6%; State election 2003: 60.7%. This record result brought the CSU as the first party in the history of the Federal Republic a parliamentary two-thirds majority in the Bavarian state parliament.

Thomas Goppel in Munich (2005)

After the state elections in 2003, Goppel became Bavarian State Minister for Science, Research and Art. Already in the first days of his term of office he was confronted with violent protests by students and professors against the state government's austerity plans. Goppel was also heavily criticized as one of the most exposed proponents of tuition fees . Bavaria introduced general tuition fees from the 2007 summer semester. His promise that the tuition fees would remain with the universities and thus benefit the students, turned out to be untrue in view of the parallel savings.

Goppel later became chairman of the federal-state commission for educational planning .

After the defeat of the CSU in the elections to the Bavarian state parliament in 2008 and the resignation of Prime Minister Günther Beckstein , Goppel was one of the candidates for the successor to the Prime Minister's office. However, he withdrew his application in favor of Horst Seehofer . When the cabinet was subsequently formed, he was not reappointed and resigned from the state government in October 2008.

Party offices

Thomas Goppel at the party conference of the CSU 2015 in Munich

Thomas Goppel has been a member of the CSU party executive committee since 1991. From 1981 to 2011 Goppel was CSU district chairman in Landsberg am Lech . From 1993 to 2007 he was deputy CSU district chairman in Upper Bavaria . At the party convention of the CSU district association of Upper Bavaria on June 30, 2007, Goppel lost the election for the district chair against Siegfried Schneider . Since October 12, 2013 he has been chairman of the CSU Seniors' Union .

Other engagement

In 1972 Goppel was a co-founder of the action group economy, politics, science e. V. , for whom he still acts as spokesman for the advisory board. Since 1994 he has been chairman of the supervisory board of Kolping - Bildungswerk Bayern and since 1988 he has been on the board of the Alfons Goppel Foundation, which provides development aid in South America.

Since 1998 Goppel has been chairman of the Society for the Promotion of Augustine Research in Würzburg. Goppel has been a member of the General Council of the Catholic Academy in Bavaria since 1994. Until 2003 he was President of the Upper and Lower Bavarian Music Association (since 1998) and the Bavarian Brass Music Association (since 1999).

Since November 2008 he has been President of the Bavarian Music Council . As a representative of the music organizations, he is a member of the Broadcasting Council of Bavarian Radio . In addition, Goppel is a member of the advisory board of the Association Against Forgetting - For Democracy . Since January 2012 he has also been chairman of the state monument council in Bavaria.

Thomas Goppel is a member of student associations K.St.V. Normannia Würzburg and K.St.V. Erwinia Munich in the KV and honorary philistine of the K.St.V. Albertia Munich and the KSSt.V. Alemannia Munich . He has been a member of the Rotary Club Landsberg am Lech since 1980 . He is also a member of the boards of trustees of the Philip Morris Research Foundation and the Eugen Biser Foundation .

Goppel was the spokesman for the Working Group of Engaged Catholics in the CDU (AEK) and is the founder and spokesman for the Christian Social Catholics (CSK).

Political positions

religion

Relationship to Christian Fundamentalism

After the attacks in Norway in 2011 , the assassin was described by many media as a fundamentalist Christian . Goppel had said on this: "There are no fundamentalist Christians, there cannot be". For this view, he was in some cases heavily criticized. René Hartmann, first chairman of the International Federation of Non-Denominational and Atheists, said: "Goppel paints an idealized picture of Christianity that has little to do with global reality."

Blasphemy and freedom of the press

In connection with Pope caricatures in the satire magazine Titanic , Goppel expressed sharp criticism of Titanic's editor-in-chief Leo Fischer in July 2012 . He was quoted as saying that he would personally “revoke the license to write” from journalists such as Fischer, as he was not worthy of the office of editor-in-chief. As a result, Goppel supported Archbishop Ludwig Schick's demand that blasphemy be made punishable in future. The latter had stated that although Section 166 of the Criminal Code did exist, it had been completely forgotten and was hardly ever applied. No mockery and scorn should be allowed against “holy persons, holy scriptures, worship services and prayers as well as holy objects and implements of all religions”. Goppel supported the suggestion with the words: "Those who don't like their decency need a law".

Young freedom

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the conservative weekly newspaper Junge Freiheit, Thomas Goppel promoted the Junge Freiheit in print advertisements and on online banners, alongside Ferdinand von Bismarck , Johanna Countess von Westphalen (both CDU ) and the liberal economist Jörg Guido Hülsmann . When asked by the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Goppel was quoted as saying : “I look more often than at the Bayernkurier, less often than at the Süddeutsche or the Augsburger, ” he says. For him, reading the right-wing weekly magazine is a “supplementary necessity”. In order to form an opinion, you should always check several positions, says Goppel. That is much more well-founded than just reading a newspaper. With this in mind, he wishes in his guest post “Ad multos annos. For many years to come! "

Bavarian Higher Education Act of May 23, 2006

On June 1, 2006, a new Bavarian Higher Education Act (BayHSchG of May 23, 2006) came into force with Goppel's participation, replacing the diploma with the new Bachelor and Master degrees . The law also introduces target agreements between the state and universities, which replace the development plans previously set by the ministry. The law also forms the legal basis for the introduction of tuition fees. Another new feature is the establishment of a university council as a supervisory body for each university, which is made up of equal numbers of external and internal members. Internal members are the eight elected members of the Senate. The eight external members are proposed by the university management. The Senate decides on this proposal, the Ministry appoints the external members.

tuition fee

Thomas Goppel is an advocate of tuition fees . In 2005, he said that for a tuition fee of 500 euros per semester, students only had to “forego something or give two lessons each month for a hundred euros ”. He was heavily criticized for this, especially by student representatives.

In 2005, students from the University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt protested against tuition fees and received Thomas Goppel at a ceremony at the university with applause that lasted for minutes. The minister then accused the students of using Nazi methods. The behavior was "an indication of the intolerance that we complained about in those who got us into a mess at the time," Goppel was quoted in the press.

In the context of the debate about the referendum “No to tuition fees in Bavaria” , he said in January 2013 that he would continue to stand by tuition fees and that they were “internally absolutely correct and important”. Students come to Bavaria precisely because they find good quality universities there because of the contributions. In addition, because of "500 euros per semester [...] nobody would emigrate to Berlin to study for free". However, he will not oppose if Prime Minister Seehofer strives to abolish tuition fees, because he has "learned in his long political career that if the Prime Minister says something, it will be done". This was also the case with his father .

Promotion of the elite

As chairman of the federal-state commission for educational planning in 2005, Goppel and the deputy chairman of the federal minister Edelgard Bulmahn worked out a compromise on promoting the elite at German universities: On June 23, 2005, Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and the state ministers signed the agreement on the Excellence Initiative , which is pooling 1.9 billion euros at German universities in the years 2006–2011 for top project-related research.

Aygül Özkan

Goppel's statement that the home country of the Hamburg-born Lower Saxony Minister for Social Affairs, Women, Family, Health and Integration, Aygül Özkan , was Turkey, was heavily criticized in 2010 by both the German and Turkish press.

Guttenberg plagiarism affair

In the discussion about the Guttenberg plagiarism affair , Goppel had initially speculated about the resignation of his party colleague, only to be outraged a few days later about the lack of solidarity within the Union.

Europe

As Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs, Goppel advocated a Europe of the Regions in Brussels and the federal independence of Bavaria in Bonn .

G8

Goppels’s early proposal to shorten the high school in Bavaria by one year was initially rejected . The so-called G8 has been a reality in Bavaria since 2004, and in 2011 the first graduate class left high school after eight years. Since then, the restructuring has repeatedly met with sharp criticism from the press and many concerned parents.

Homosexuality and equality

In the discussion about the legal equality of registered civil partnerships , Thomas Goppel takes a negative position. When introducing the civil partnership, he spoke out against calling “everything family”, “where there are children”. He accused the openly gay mayor of Berlin , Klaus Wowereit , of wanting to “cheat biology every evening”. In August 2012 he spoke on Facebook of the “completely natural limits” in terms of the equality of living communities, which would already result from the “differences in quality when it comes to securing the existence”. The Federal Managing Director of Lesbians and Gays in the Union (LSU) , Ronny Pohle, then switched on the public prosecutor's office and asked them to check the relevance of this “intellectual failure” under criminal law. He also wrote a protest letter to State Parliament President Barbara Stamm , also CSU.

Remembering National Socialism

In February 2016, in a committee meeting of the Bavarian state parliament, Goppel described National Socialism as "nonsense". During a debate on whether buildings belonging to the state of Bavaria from the time of National Socialism should be identified as such, he said , “ The whole of German history should not depend on the fact that we did nonsense for twelve years. "

Awards

Web links

Commons : Thomas Goppel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heart and mind of the district association . Augsburg General. May 11, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  2. ↑ Projects. In: www.alfons-goppel-stiftung.de. Retrieved April 27, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Bavaria: Goppel heads the State Monument Council. On: sueddeutsche.de, January 31, 2012 ( Memento from April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Club and membership directory of Rotarians in the Federal Republic of Germany 2002/2003
  5. ↑ Fundi-Catholics want to annoy Merkel further . Mirror online. February 27, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  6. ↑ There are no fundamentalist Christians . kath.net. July 26, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  7. ↑ Atheists criticize denial of Christian fundamentalism . IBKA. July 29, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  8. ^ "Titanic" complies with the will of the Pope . Handelsblatt. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  9. ↑ The Pope, the Titanic and the CSU . T-Online. July 12, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  10. ↑ Gossip is prohibited . Southgerman newspaper. August 2, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  11. ↑ Against the mockery of religious values . domradio.de. August 1, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  12. ↑ Blasphemy prohibited . Southgerman newspaper. August 2, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  13. ↑ Thomas Goppel congratulates the ultra-right weekly newspaper on its birthday . Southgerman newspaper. July 15, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  14. ↑ CSU politician advises students to be frugal . Mirror online. January 27, 2005. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  15. ↑ Goppel causes displeasure with Nazi comparison . Mirror online. May 13, 2005. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  16. ^ Goppel on tuition fees: "Nobody emigrates because of 500 euros" . Augsburg General. January 30, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  17. ↑ Turkish press denounces "double standards" in the Özkan case . World N24. April 28, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  18. ↑ How Aygül Özkan is ostracized by Union politicians . The daily mirror. April 28, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  19. ↑ Pre-registration. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. March 1, 2011, accessed on March 5, 2011 : "He must know what he can expect from us"
  20. ↑ Gregor Mayntz and Reinhold Michels: The Guttenberg case - CDU smile drives CSU. (No longer available online.) In: Rheinische Post. March 4, 2011, archived from the original on March 6, 2011 ; accessed on March 5, 2011 : "Thomas Goppel [...] told our newspaper that Lammert and Schavan's behavior defied description." Associated press release: CSU angry about CDU criticism of Guttenberg.
  21. ↑ Thomas Goppel . Facebook. August 25, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  22. ↑ Goppel comment: LSU managing director turns on the public prosecutor . Queer.de. August 29, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  23. ↑ Gay Union calls CSU MPs "intellectual arsonist" . Mirror online. August 31, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  24. ↑ Greens are outraged by Goppel. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . February 24, 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Goppel, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (CSU), MdL, Bavarian Science Minister
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Aschaffenburg , Bavaria, Germany