Armin Laschet

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Armin Laschet (2021) Signature of Armin Laschet

Armin Laschet (born February 18, 1961 in Aachen , Burtscheid district ) is a German politician ( CDU ). He has been a member of the German Bundestag since October 26, 2021 .

From June 27, 2017 until the constituent session of the 20th German Bundestag, he was the eleventh prime minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and from January 22, 2021 to January 22, 2022 the ninth federal chairman of the CDU.

In North Rhine-Westphalia he led a black and yellow state government ( Cabinet Laschet ). From 2005 to 2010 he was the state's integration and family minister in Rüttger 's cabinet . He led the CDU state association from 2012 to 2021. In the 2017 state election , the CDU emerged as the strongest party under Laschet.

Laschet ran as the Union ’s candidate for Chancellor in the 2021 federal election . The alliance of CDU and CSU achieved its worst election result in history with 24.1% and for the first time since 2005 does not represent the strongest parliamentary group in the German Bundestag . Laschet was elected to the Bundestag via the North Rhine-Westphalian state list of the CDU, of which he had been a member from 1994 to 1998. From 1999 to 2005 he was a member of the European Parliament .

Life

Laschet grew up with three younger brothers in a middle -class Roman Catholic family in the Burtscheid district of Aachen. His mother Marcella Laschet (née Frings, 1933–2013) was a housewife, his father Heinrich (“Heinz”) Laschet (b. 1934) a foreman at the Anna mine of the Eschweiler Bergwerks-Verein in Alsdorf . After a pedagogical retraining ( as " Mikater " ) he became head of an Aachen elementary school . The Laschet family hails from what is now the Wallonia region of Belgium . His grandfather Hubert Laschet (1899–1984) moved to Aachen in the 1920s from Hergenrath , a German-speaking town in the East Belgian municipality of Kelmis , which belonged to Prussia from 1815 and to Germany until 1920 under international law. His grandmother Hubertina Laschet (nee Wetzels, 1900-1979) was born in Aachen. Her parents had recently moved there from Welkenraedt , one of the Low German communities of East Belgium.

School career, studies and job

As a teenager, Laschet was a voluntary supervisor in the Catholic youth work of St. Michael in Burtscheid. From 1971 to 1976 he attended the Rhein-Maas-Gymnasium Aachen , where he failed to reach the 9th grade target. Since he could not repeat the school year at this school because of his choice of foreign languages ​​( English and Latin ), Laschet switched to the Bishop's Pius-Gymnasium Aachen for the 1976/77 school year , at that time still an all - boys school . There he passed the Abitur exams in 1981 with the advanced courses in English and History and thus acquired the general university entrance qualification. Subsequently, Laschet, who did not have to do military service for health reasons , studied law and political science in Munich and Bonn . In 1987 he passed the first state examination in law . His university education was supported by a grant from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation . During his studies he joined the Catholic student fraternities KDStV Aenania Munich and KDStV Ripuaria Bonn , both in the Cartellverband of Catholic German student fraternities .

From 1987 to 1988 Laschet worked as a trainee journalist at the radio station Radio Charivari and then worked as a freelance journalist for Bavarian television and other Bavarian radio stations until 1994. In 1988 Laschet worked as a speechwriter in the team of Bundestag President Philipp Jenninger (CDU) until he had to resign because of his commemorative speech on the November pogroms of 1938 . Laschet then wrote a book in which he defended Jenninger. He also became scientific advisor to the then President of the German Bundestag, Rita Süssmuth . From 1991 to 1994, at the suggestion of his father-in-law Heinz Malangré , who was influential in the diocese of Aachen , he was editor-in-chief of the KirchenZeitung Aachen . From 1995 to 1999, Laschet was the publishing director of the Catholic Einhard Verlag, whose managing partner was his father-in-law.

Teaching activity at the RWTH Aachen

From 1999 to 2015, Laschet had a teaching position at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH Aachen), which he returned after exams he had to correct in the master's subject in political science "got lost in the post" and he used his notes to " reconstructed". Among other things, this approach was noticed by the fact that some students received a grade even though they had not taken part in the exam. The university took the logical consequence of only allowing him to offer courses in the form of additional courses without examinations. Laschet subsequently gave up his 15-year teaching position. In the run-up to the 2021 federal elections , several media reported that he had not stated this teaching activity in his official CV.

St. Michael in Aachen-Burtscheid, home church for Laschet

Private and Catholic Church

Laschet met his future wife Susanne Laschet (née Malangré, * 1962) when he was still in elementary school in a children's and youth choir in Burtscheid. Her father Heinz Malangré, a brother of Aachen Lord Mayor and Opus Dei member Kurt Malangré , conducted the choir. Like Laschet's family, the Malangrés are originally from the Wallonia region , albeit from the French-speaking part . The two married in 1985. They still live in the Burtscheid district of Aachen and have three adult children, two sons and a daughter. Of these, Johannes "Joe" Laschet has achieved national fame as an influencer for fashion, but avoids political statements.

Laschet is a practicing Catholic and has been a parish member of the parish of St. Michael in Aachen-Burtscheid since his baptism in 1961 , where he was an altar boy until 1977 and married his wife Susanne in 1985. After he changed school, like numerous other students at the Pius-Gymnasium, including his brother Remo, the school’s religion teacher, the then Aachen Cathedral Vicar Hans-Günther Vienken, won him over as a cathedral acolyte and served at the altar in the Aachen Cathedral in the immediate vicinity of Bishop Klaus hemmerle . About his Catholic faith, Laschet stated that the family was " Rhenish Catholic ". Since his youth he has had close contacts and relationships within the Catholic Church in West Germany , particularly in the dioceses of Aachen and Cologne . His closest personal advisor and head of the North Rhine-Westphalian State Chancellery, Nathanael Liminski , is considered to be well connected in conservative Catholic circles.

Political career

Laschet at the 31st party conference of the CDU in Hamburg (2018)

Mandates in the Aachen city council, in the German Bundestag and in the European Parliament (1989-2005)

In 1989, Laschet, who joined the CDU in 1979 as an 18-year-old, became the youngest councilor for the CDU at the time and became a member of the Aachen City Council , of which he remained a member until 2004.

In the 1994 federal election , he won the direct mandate for the constituency of Aachen-Stadt , which he lost again in the 1998 federal election .

In 1999 he was elected MEP . He was a member of the European Parliament until 2005 , where he was primarily involved in foreign and security policy, international cooperation and budgetary policy.

Minister in North Rhine-Westphalia (2005–2010)

On June 24, 2005, Laschet was appointed Minister for the newly tailored Ministry for Generations, Family, Women and Integration in Rüttger's cabinet . Laschet advocated an integrative policy of promoting education and opportunities, Germany needs immigration and must become a republic of climbers, including for those 38 percent of children under the age of six who have an immigrant background. From March 8, 2010, he also acted as acting Minister for Federal Affairs, Europe and the Media of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia . His term of office ended together with Rüttger's cabinet on July 14, 2010.

A few days before the federal elections in 2009 , Laschet published the non-fiction book Die Aufsteigerrepublik: Immigration as an opportunity , for the content of which he enlisted the support of ministry employees. He donated the fee to a youth welfare association, but deducted the donation from private tax without citing the fee as income. This was criticized in several media as contradictory, especially since Laschet emphasized that the book was about an "official activity" in public office. The outstanding taxes have been paid.

From 2005 to 2010 he was a deputy member of the Bundesrat as state minister , and from 2017 to 2021 he was a member of this body again.

Chairman of the CDU state association of North Rhine-Westphalia (2012-2021)

After his defeat in the 2010 state elections , the previous incumbent, Jürgen Rüttgers , also resigned as chairman of the CDU state association in North Rhine-Westphalia. Laschet applied for the successor alongside Norbert Röttgen . In a member survey in October 2010 with a turnout of 52.8% of the approximately 158,000 CDU members, Röttgen was elected with 54.8% by postal vote or voting in one of the 139 polling stations. After he had lost the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2012 as the top candidate and then resigned, a special CDU party conference elected Laschet on June 30, 2012 with 77% of the delegate votes as the new chairman of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia.

Regardless of the outcome of the 2021 federal election, Laschet, as a CDU candidate for chancellor, announced that he would move to Berlin. On October 5, 2021, he submitted a proposal for his successor to the CDU state board and recommended Hendrik Wüst as his successor. On October 23, 2021, Wüst was finally elected to succeed Laschet as state chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalia CDU.

Member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia (2010–2021)

Laschet on the evening of the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on May 14, 2017 in Düsseldorf

In the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on May 9, 2010 , he was elected to the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia for the first time . From 2010 to 2012 he was Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU parliamentary group. In the early state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on May 13, 2012 , Laschet entered the state parliament again via the state list (5th place). On December 18, 2013, the CDU parliamentary group elected him with 64 votes as their chairman and thus as leader of the opposition . In the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on May 14, 2017 , he won the direct mandate for the Aachen II constituency .

Armin Laschet had declared in the run-up to the 2021 federal election that he was going to Berlin “without a return ticket” – even if he didn’t become chancellor. Laschet gave up his NRW state parliament mandate on October 27, 2021. Rainer Spiecker replaced him in the state parliament.

Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia (2017–2021)

On June 27, 2017, Laschet was elected eleventh Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia with the votes of a black-yellow coalition of CDU and FDP in the first ballot with an absolute majority (100 out of a total of 199 MP votes) in the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament . Laschet's style of government as prime minister was described by Spiegel in June 2021 as moderating and reserved. As head of government, he also gives the ministers of his coalition government opportunities to distinguish themselves and present their achievements in a way that is effective for the public.

In the course of his move to federal politics, Laschet proposed the then NRW Transport Minister Hendrik Wüst as his successor. Since the NRW constitution prohibits members of the government from being a member of the Bundestag at the same time, Laschet resigned from his office on October 25, 2021 and remained in office for one day - until the constitutive session of the 20th German Bundestag .

Federal Chairman of the CDU (2021–2022)

In 2008 he was elected to the CDU federal executive board and was one of five deputy chairmen of the CDU from 2012 to 2021.

After Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced on February 10, 2020 that she would resign as CDU party leader in the course of 2020 and not stand as a candidate for chancellor in the 2021 federal election, Laschet announced on February 25, 2020 before the federal press conference that she would run for the office of the CDU -Federal chairman to apply with Jens Spahn as vice chairman. He competed against Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen . The election, postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic , took place at the 33rd party conference of the CDU Germany on January 16, 2021. In an online voting by the delegates, he was able to win 53% of the votes in the second ballot. In the postal ballot that followed, which was required under the party law, he was the only candidate and was elected the new party leader of the CDU with 83% of the valid votes cast.

After the lost federal election in 2021, Armin Laschet paved the way for a new CDU leadership. A realignment at the top of the CDU is necessary. To do this, you also have to “take unconventional paths”. In a member survey, a clear absolute majority voted for Friedrich Merz as the future CDU chairman.

During Laschet's term of office, the executive committees of the CDU and CSU recommended that Frank-Walter Steinmeier ( SPD ) be re-elected in the election of the Federal President on February 13, 2022 in the Federal Assembly . Laschet justified this on January 5, 2022 by saying that in a time of social centrifugal forces, especially in the debate about Corona, Steinmeier was a credible voice at the head of the state who brought together different perspectives.

With the election of Friedrich Merz as his successor, his term as federal chairman of the CDU ended on January 22, 2022.

Chancellor candidate of the CDU for the 2021 federal election

Armin Laschet welcomes supporters of the Junge Union in front of the TV studio in Berlin on September 12, 2021

On April 11, 2021, both Laschet and the Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU chairman Markus Söder declared their willingness to stand as the Union ’s candidate for chancellor in the 2021 federal election. On the evening of April 19, the CDU federal executive board voted in a secret vote in favor of Laschet as candidate for chancellor. Söder gave up his candidacy on April 20, which meant that Laschet was nominated as the Union’s (CDU and CSU) candidate for chancellor. Until then, Laschet's nomination in the Union was controversial because, according to opinion polls, he seemed to have significantly worse chances of success than Söder. Laschet pointed to his similar initial poll situation at the time of the 2017 North Rhine-Westphalia state election campaign: the SPD Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft , who was in office at the time, had led in polls, but Laschet and the CDU NRW won the election.

At the state party conference of the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate in May 2021, Laschet called for the election campaign to focus primarily on the Greens as political opponents. The goal must be to prevent a majority for red-red-green .

Unlike the other two chancellor candidates , Annalena Baerbock and Olaf Scholz – unlike Angela Merkel during her chancellorship – Laschet did not stand as a candidate for a direct mandate in the Bundestag constituency where he lived ( 87 Aachen I ). He said that he did not want to take away his Bundestag mandate from the previous CDU candidate in the constituency, Rudolf Henke .

As of June 2021, several plagiarism checkers such as B. Martin Heidingsfelder on Laschet's book The Rising Republic. Immigration as an opportunity (2009), they found several plagiarized text passages, including ones from Wikipedia. Laschet apologized for this and said he wanted to have the book checked for other such defects.

The so-called "Laschet laugh" on July 17, 2021 during the speech by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the flooded area in North Rhine-Westphalia had a significant impact on the election campaign. The polls for the CDU/CSU for the federal election then plummeted.

The press office of the Düsseldorf State Chancellery invited interested media representatives to a photo session at the polling station in the kath. elementary school at the Römerberg. Due to incorrectly folded ballot papers, the votes cast by Laschet and his wife could be seen in photos, which were then distributed by several media. This had no consequences for the validity of the vote.

Member of the German Bundestag (since 2021)

After the 2021 federal election, Armin Laschet entered the Bundestag via the North Rhine-Westphalian state list of the CDU.

Other offices

From January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021, Laschet was the Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany for Cultural Affairs under the Franco-German Cooperation Treaty . Laschet is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts . From 1996 to 2009 he was a member of the Executive Board and has since been a member of the Executive Committee of the German Society for the United Nations (DGVN).

From 2014 to 2016 he was a member of the board of directors of missio Aachen and since 2017 he has been a foundation ambassador for the pro missio foundation . Until 2016 he was a member of the General Assembly of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Adalbert Foundation .

trivia

In 2018, Laschet became an honorary senator in the Cologne Carnival . In 2020, Laschet made a cameo appearance in the 1115th episode of the crime scene . He played himself.

Since June 8, 2020, Laschet has been satirized with Karl Lauterbach in the radio comedy Laschi und Lauti on WDR 2 . The texts are written and spoken by Tobias Brodowy (Laschi) and Uli Winters (Lauti). The format remained unaffected by the real people, but will be referred to as Die Ampel-WG from January 2022 .

political positions

Clearing of the tree houses in the Hambach Forest

Oaktown tree houses after the eviction

The NRW state government under Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) instructed the city of Kerpen and the district of Düren in 2018 to clear the tree houses in the Hambach Forest . In September 2019, in a post that was briefly available in the WDR media library and then deleted, Armin Laschet said that in 2018 he needed a "pretext" - namely fire protection regulations - for the controversial clearing of the forest occupied by activists. The Administrative Court of Cologne later declared the eviction illegal . However, the judgment is not yet final. On September 12, 2021, Armin Laschet announced that he wanted the OVG to review the verdict.

Acting during the Corona Pandemic

In 2020, Laschet took the view that the restrictive measures should not only take into account life protection, but also the costs in the health system and economic development. The linguist Friedemann Vogel considers it likely that Laschet tried to gain media attention as a "taboo breaker" by ignoring expert opinions and to distinguish himself from his competitors for the CDU's chancellor candidacy.

On March 30, 2020, Laschet wanted to enforce an epidemic law with far-reaching rights of access and special rights in an urgent procedure. Among other things, the draft law called for the forced recruitment of doctors in North Rhine-Westphalia, which the medical profession vehemently opposed.

After Laschet had advocated easing the restrictive measures in spring 2020, he became significantly more cautious in autumn/winter 2020/2021 and advocated restrictions. In February 2021, Laschet then advocated easing again and emphasized that his decisions should not depend solely on virologists. In April 2021, he turned around again, proposing a “bridge lockdown” for the period “until a large part of the population is vaccinated”.

mask affair

In April 2020, to contain the COVID-19 pandemic , the state government bought protective equipment from the textile company Van Laack without a prior tender . The state government placed an order worth 38.5 million euros. Two further orders for 1.25 million masks each for a total of four million euros from the North Rhine-Westphalia police followed. In December 2020 there was criticism that Laschet's son Johannes Laschet, who works for Van Laack as an influencer, had made contact with the state government. Laschet defended the procedure with the emergency situation at the time: "We called our hands sore" in search of missing masks, gloves, protective suits. A subsequent reinterpretation is "indecent". Neither his son nor he himself received any fees for establishing contacts.

Laschet had previously criticized Georg Nüßlein and Nikolas Löbel at an online event of the Handelsblatt and said that he could not have imagined such a low moral inhibition threshold. "But I can rule out that Germany's CDU, that the leadership, that 400,000 members have anything to do with these crooked paths of some colleagues," said Laschet, according to dpa .

After the second contract for the supply of masks to the North Rhine-Westphalia police was initially to be reversed due to a complaint from a competitor, van Laack was awarded the contract again in May 2021, now at a price of EUR 0.49 instead of EUR 1.30 per mask Piece. The masks were not of the FFP2 standard , but fabric masks. The SPD member of parliament Christian Dahm also criticized the order quantity of the equivalent of 31 masks per police officer as inadequate.

European policy

Laschet wants to strengthen the European Union on issues such as fighting international terrorism and organized crime, as well as energy policy. He calls for the direct election of the President of the European Commission by European voters.

During the euro crisis , Laschet advocated an "open discussion" about a comprehensive solution to the debt crisis, with eurobonds as a building block. He argued that a Greek exit from the eurozone could trigger unwanted upheaval in southern Europe: “(An exit) could lead to instability in a NATO member state. Russia stands ready with billions to help Greece in such a scenario.” In October 2011 he signed an open letter from George Soros calling for a stronger role for the European Union in solving the euro crisis.

In 2020 alone, Laschet met French President Emmanuel Macron three times . Jens Spahn and Armin Laschet were invited to take part in the 2020 National Day celebrations in Paris as a token of gratitude that French intensive care patients were treated quickly and unbureaucratically in German clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. In addition, Macron received Laschet at the Élysée Palace . Laschet supports Macron's reform proposals for the eurozone.

integration policy

Laschet expressed understanding that Christians and Muslims make themselves heard when they see their faith violated by jokes, for example, but "the organized abuse of such feelings for political purposes must be prevented". He also spoke out in favor of a headscarf ban for teachers.

In order to improve the integration of immigrant families, in 2006 Laschet, as Minister of Integration in North Rhine-Westphalia, called for better opportunities in education to be created and language skills to be promoted. State funds should be made available for this purpose. He described education and language as the "key to integration".

family and educational policy

As Minister for Family Affairs, Laschet was involved in 2006 in converting day- care centers in North Rhine-Westphalia into family centers which, in addition to childcare, also meet parents' growing need for advice and support in carrying out their educational and child-raising tasks, and offer offers for health care, language training and leisure activities . Laschet stated that "the family centers should become 'control centers' for social design processes in the district" and that the aim was "by bundling the existing offers (to) improve the possibilities of preventive action, and also families from socially disadvantaged and educationally disadvantaged classes and to make the offers more accessible to them.”

In 2018, the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia decided as one of the education-promoting measures to set up 60 so-called "talent schools" from 45 general education schools and 15 vocational schools in districts with major social challenges, which would have 20 percent more teaching positions and better equipment.

Before its introduction in July 2017, Laschet rejected the equality of same-sex marriages with conventional marriages . In an interview in May 2021, however, he emphasized that the CDU accepts sexual minorities. In this context, Laschet also commented on the blessing of same-sex couples in the Roman Catholic Church with the words "I thought that was okay."

labor market policy

In January 2019, the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia, together with the employers' associations , trade unions , municipal umbrella organizations, voluntary welfare organizations and the Federal Employment Agency , agreed on a joint declaration on the implementation of the so-called "Participation Opportunities Act", which will create 15,000 jobs for the long-term unemployed that are subject to social security contributions from 2019 onwards should. In January 2020, the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Labor Karl-Josef Laumann reported that "almost 12,000 of the people who had been unemployed for a long time were still working in the newly created jobs". The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung wrote in January 2020 that "in its first year the funding program reached around 13,000 people in NRW" and "around 6,000 new jobs have been created in the Ruhr area alone".

In May 2021, Laschet said that he saw no need to change the design and level of the standard rates of Hartz IV (in contrast to the other candidates for the chancellorship in the 2021 federal election). He said: "[...] it is not socially just to increase Hartz 4, but to help someone who is on Hartz 4, especially the children, that in the future, unlike their parents, they might do it themselves create.” In 2014 he was critical of paying out Hartz IV to unemployed immigrants from other EU countries; he rejected the concept of a “European social union”. Instead, only those who have paid into unemployment insurance should be paid something.

Laschet describes the pension introduced in 2014 at 63 at the family business meeting in 2021 as a mistake because it sets the wrong incentives. With increasing life expectancy, the working life must also increase. However, he did not want to name a specific retirement age: "However, I would not say today, it has to be 70," said Laschet.

economic policy

In January 2021, Laschet presented a "5-point plan" for his economic policy . In this he advocates strengthening digitization (establishment of a digital ministry and digitization as a subject), support for start-ups through more state venture capital , as well as tax cuts for companies in structurally weak regions and a " moratorium on burdens " for companies that prevent further taxes and levies target. According to Laschet, corporate taxes should be limited to a maximum of 25 percent.

Laschet firmly rejects a relaxation of the debt brake , as his party colleague Helge Braun had called for in 2021 . He said: “The Union has always been the party of sound public finances. [...] That's why we reject tax increases, and that's why the debt brake must remain in place." He considers the debt brake to be "one of the great achievements that has enabled us to act now in the crisis ."

Energy, climate and transport policy

In September 2012, Laschet and the FDP politician Christian Lindner jointly wrote a guest article for the Rheinische Post entitled "Away with the planned energy economy". In 2013, Laschet spoke out against the infrastructure charge ( car toll ) and explained: “Today, drivers are already the milk cow of the nation. They pay more in mineral and vehicle tax than the state spends on infrastructure.”

In 2018, Laschet initially rejected the levy planned by Sigmar Gabriel for old coal-fired power plants. In the summer of 2018, Laschet supported RWE boss Rolf Martin Schmitz in his plan to clear the Hambach forest for energy supply . After a ruling by the Higher Administrative Court of Münster on October 5, 2018, the clearing of the forest was stopped because RWE could not prove that this was necessary to maintain the power supply. Laschet then signaled his willingness to talk to the critics of the opencast lignite mines for the first time. According to the Rheinische Post , given the good results of the Greens in the European elections, the "Fridays for Future" protests and the increasing civil protests, Laschet became "driven" in terms of climate protection and species protection. Since May 2018 he has been one of the CDU politicians who support the proposal for a CO 2 tax .

In spring 2019, Laschet said on the talk show Anne Will : "For some reason, the climate issue - I think also very connected to Greta - has become a global issue." The historian Susanne Götze evaluates this as an "almost Freudian slip", the show that Laschet does not take climate protection seriously enough and is "stuck in the thinking of the 20th century", like many other politicians from the CDU. Laschet's attempt to refer to his climate policy commitment in the 1990s in the Aachen city council is unbelievable. Laschet is on a “climate policy ghost ride” with his election program for the 2021 federal election, which relies on “immature technologies” instead of “tackling the energy transition boldly”.

At the beginning of 2021, the climate researcher Volker Quaschning , the economist Claudia Kemfert and the activist Luisa Neubauer assessed both Laschet's climate concept and that of his opponents Merz and Röttgen as inadequate.

Andreas Knie describes Laschet as a "man of compromises" and misses his ability to "shape things and set priorities - even when it hurts". On the one hand, Laschet is committed to coal , but is also in favor of renewable energies . He would like to promote vehicles with alternative drives , but is also in favor of the expansion of roads and the commuter allowance .

At the beginning of July 2021, Laschet spoke out against a speed limit of 130 km/h on motorways. He gave the reason that an electric vehicle would not cause any CO 2 emissions and could therefore also drive faster than 130 km/h. The WDR pointed out that of the 48 million passenger cars currently registered in Germany, around 309,000 are electric vehicles and that electricity in Germany continues to come from non-regenerative sources.

In response to the European Commission 's "Fit for 55" program , Laschet positioned himself against a fixed date for phasing out combustion engines. Laschet took the view that that would happen.

domestic policy

In terms of domestic policy, the Laschet government is pursuing the largely critically received project of the first version of a NRW assembly law , which, drafted more restrictively than the model assembly law, has been criticized in particular by the editor of the criminal investigation department, Hartmut Brenneisen, for running counter to a desirable harmonization of sector-specific law.

foreign policy

In 2013, Laschet criticized Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle 's support for the Syrian opposition in the civil war in Syria : "It is absurd that the same people are being supported in Syria that we are fighting in Mali . It is the Qatari- and Saudi- funded terrorist groups al-Nusra and al-Qaeda that are introducing Sharia courts and fighting Syria's religious diversity." In 2013, Laschet also criticized Westerwelle's call for the release of former President Mohammed Morsi after the 2013 overthrow in Egypt , since minorities and Christians in particular had suffered under Morsi. Laschet himself was then criticized by parts of the CDU and FDP.

Attitude to the Roman Catholic Church

Laschet is quoted as follows on his Christian conviction and the resulting understanding of natural law : "We have to make it clear that the core of the brand of the Christian Democratic Union is not conservative, but that the Christian image of man is above everything." Compared to the Roman Catholic Church , he - former editor of the Aachener Bistumsblatt and until 2016 member of the plenary assembly of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) - has a friendly attitude. Laschet certified that the incumbent Pope Francis was “tackling difficult projects, even internally”; The Pope is not hesitant to make changes and also has "a very positive impact in the world". "My personal impression from my meeting with him is that he is very approachable, well prepared and responds to arguments very specifically."

So far, Laschet's attitude towards clarifying cases of sexualised violence by clergy has been characterized on the one hand by reserved commitment and on the other hand by trust in the church when dealing with the matter. Laschet was reprimanded by the vicar general of the diocese, Karlheinz Collas , for reporting in the Aachener Kirchenzeitung on the conviction of a pastor for the sexual abuse of minors and the mention of the long-standing cover-up of the case by his church superiors : He prohibited the newspaper from publishing important church-political reports without his countersignature . In 2019, Laschet saw the Catholic Church "dealing intensively with clarifying the abuse crisis". She reacted to the events "quickly, professionally and consistently". On the occasion of the criticism of the processing of cases of sexualized violence by the Archdiocese of Cologne , Laschet said in 2020: "Child abuse is an offense that must be clarified in every respect. I respect how the churches do it.”

honors and awards

cabinets

publications

literature

documentaries

web links

Commons : Armin Laschet  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

itemizations

  1. ^ Obituary Notice , retrieved July 7, 2021.
  2. Duel in NRW: power against Laschet. In: RP Online . 14 May 2017, retrieved 12 July 2018 .
  3. a b c Armin Laschet: Mein Leben ( Memento of November 27, 2020 in the Internet Archive ). Online publication on the personal homepage, as of: November 2020.
  4. Bernhard Willems: The former landlords of the area of ​​Eupen. Ostbelgische Chronicle, Volume 2, 1949.
  5. a b Tobias Blasius, Moritz Küpper : The power human. Armin Laschet. The biography. Klartext, Essen 2020, ISBN 978-3-8375-2335-5 , pp. 27–29.
  6. Stefan Marx: Armin Laschet. Konrad Adenauer Foundation, accessed June 10, 2021 .
  7. Stefan Marx: Armin Laschet - History of the CDU , Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, retrieved on January 13, 2021.
  8. Merkel's faithful - Armin Laschet is the new CDU leader DW | 01/16/2021. In: Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 11 July 2021 .
  9. Laschet, the book. In: WDR/state parliament blog. September 18, 2020, retrieved July 11, 2021 .
  10. Armin Laschet - The state portal. In: land.nrw. Retrieved May 14, 2020 .
  11. a b c Wolfgang Michal : The most catholic of them all . In: The Friday . No. 45/2019 , 12 November 2019 ( online [accessed 19 January 2021]).
  12. Deutschlandfunk: Armin Laschet and the missing exams , from June 9, 2015; last accessed June 8, 2021
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