Daniel Günther

Daniel Günther (2017)

Daniel Günther (born July 24, 1973 in Kiel ) is a German politician ( CDU ) and since June 2017 Prime Minister of the State of Schleswig-Holstein , he is also Vice President of the Federal Council . Since November 1, 2018, he has been President of the Federal Council for one year . On October 11, he was elected as the first Vice President of the Federal Council for the 2019/2020 financial year, which began on November 1, 2019.

Life and work

After graduating from the Jungmannschule in Eckernförde in 1993, Daniel Günther studied political science , economics and psychology in Kiel and completed his studies with a master's degree in political science. From 1997 to 1999 he worked as a project supervisor at the business development agency "Kieler Initiatives" in Kronshagen . From 1998 to 2005 he was a member of the supervisory board of Stadtwerke Eckernförde , where he was deputy chairman from April 2003 to August 2005.

From June 2000 to September 2005 Günther held the office of managing director of the CDU district associations Rendsburg-Eckernförde and Neumünster. From 2005 up to and including 2012 he was regional manager of the CDU Schleswig-Holstein and from May 2013 to October 2014 manager of the Hermann Ehlers Foundation and the Hermann Ehlers Academy, which is based in Kiel.

Daniel Günther is Catholic , married and the father of two daughters.

politics

During or after his function as district chairman of the Junge Union Rendsburg-Eckernförde from 1994 to 1999 he was deputy district chairman of the CDU from 1998 to 2000 and from 2006 its treasurer for ten years . Günther also represented the CDU local association in Eckernförde as chairman from 2010 to 2016.

From 1998 to 2014 Günther was a member of the council and thus councilor of the city of Eckernförde. From 2003 to 2010 he was also a member of the district council and acted there from 2008 to 2010 as deputy chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. From 2003 to June 2005 he was the first deputy mayor of the city of Eckernförde.

After Ingbert Liebing resigned as the top candidate and state chairman on October 27, 2016, the CDU state party conference elected Günther as the new state chairman with 81.3% of the votes on November 19, 2016. At the following party congress on February 5, 2017, Günther was elected the top candidate of his party for the state election in Schleswig-Holstein on May 7 , 2017 with 89.7% of the votes .

After his party's victory in the Schleswig-Holstein state elections in 2017 , the state parliament elected him Prime Minister of a coalition supported by CDU , Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen and FDP on June 28, 2017 (see Günther's cabinet ). Under his top candidacy, the CDU in Schleswig-Holstein improved its second vote result compared to the previous election by 1.2 percentage points to 32%.

Former Federal Council President Daniel Günther (2019)

From November 1, 2018 to October 31, 2019, he was President of the Federal Council . A year later he handed over this office to the Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke . He has been the First Vice-President of the Federal Council since November 1, 2019 .

When Günther's brother was promoted to Vice Director of the Kiel State Parliament in autumn 2018, criticism of the Prime Minister came up, although the State Parliament decided this on its own and the Prime Minister is not authorized to issue instructions. The criticism continued when the fact that State Secretary Kristina Herbst and her husband, the top candidate of the state CDU for the 2019 European elections , Niclas Herbst , were among Günther's closest friends: He is the godfather of her son.

MP

Günther has been a member of the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag since the 2009 state elections for the 17th electoral term and was directly elected in the Eckernförde state constituency with 37.2% of the votes. From 2009 to 2012 he was a member of the Education and Petitions Committee and university policy spokesman for the CDU parliamentary group.

In the state elections in 2012 he was directly elected again with 35.7%, continued his work in the education committee and also became the church political spokesman for the CDU state parliamentary group. On October 5, 2014, he succeeded Johannes Callsen as chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the state parliament and at the same time a member of the council of elders and the parliamentary unification committee.

In the 2017 state elections, he was again able to win the direct mandate in his constituency, this time with 43.2% of the vote.

Positions

Günther is considered a practicing Catholic, who suggested, among other things, that a reference to God be included in the state constitution. He is the only Catholic MP in the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament.

In March 2016, Günther advocated “that pork will continue to be available in the food supply in public canteens as well as in daycare centers and schools” and justified this among other things. a. with the fact that the consumption of pork belongs to a “healthy and balanced diet” in “our culture”. This move was related to the strong immigration of predominantly Muslim refugees during the refugee crisis in Europe from 2015 . Some public canteens have therefore deleted pork from their menu out of consideration for Islamic dietary regulations. At the end of 2016, he criticized the so-called "one- two-way rule " and named it alongside other CDU politicians as a future campaign topic for the 2017 federal election. In response to Erdogan's victory in the Turkish constitutional referendum, he demanded again in April 2017: "We should return to the option model."

In the election campaign for the state elections in Schleswig-Holstein in 2017, Günther also partly represented socially liberal positions and, for example, advocates same-sex marriage or the right to adopt homosexuals - also against the party line and his previous view . He also calls for agriculture to be greened . He summed up: “The conservative milieus no longer exist. The days of hardliners are over in agricultural policy too ”. In the field of education, he advocates moving away from the so-called “ Turbo Abitur ”. In addition, he expressed himself skeptical about the expansion of wind energy and spoke out in favor of a “hard line” in security policy. On the controversial issue of family reunification of refugees, Günther positioned himself in January 2018 with the words: "It is better to bring families together because it helps integration in our country."

In August 2018, Günther caused a sensation in an interview with the advance that the CDU should look for “reasonable solutions” in East Germany at the state level in the direction of cooperation with the Left Party . If election results do not allow ruling against the left, one must pragmatic efforts to form a government.

Social Commitment

From 2002 to 2006 Daniel Günther was a member of the parish council of the Catholic parish of St. Peter and Paul in Eckernförde.

Furthermore, from 2003 to 2006 he was a member of the administrative board and credit committee of Sparkasse Eckernförde and from 2012 to 2014 both a member of the board of trustees of the State Center for Civic Education Schleswig-Holstein and the board of the State Association of Adult Education Centers Schleswig-Holstein. In addition, Günther was a member of the Caritas Council Schleswig-Holstein from 2014 to 2017 . On January 31, 2019, he was a guest of the 20th Model European Parliament (MEP), where he answered questions from over one hundred young people.

Daniel Günther was also a member of Round Table Eckernförde - RT 80 .

Honors

On September 3, 2019, Daniel Günther was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Dannebrog by the Danish Queen Margrethe II for his special services to German-Danish cooperation.

Web links

Commons : Daniel Günther - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Daniel Günther's website
Daniel Günther in the State Parliament Information System Schleswig-Holstein
Daniel Günther on the website of the CDU Schleswig-Holstein
Matthias Krupa : "Is that what power looks like?" . In: Die Zeit , No. 38, September 14, 2018.