Dirk Toepffer

Dirk Toepffer, 2018

Dirk Toepffer (born June 6, 1965 in Hanover ) is a German politician ( CDU ). From 2002 to 2019 he was district chairman of the CDU Hannover-Stadt and since 2008 a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament . He has been chairman of the CDU parliamentary group since 2017.

Childhood and family

Dirk Toepffer spent his childhood in the southern part of Hanover . He lives in the Wettbergen district of Hanover.

education and profession

Toepffer attended the Ratsgymnasium Hannover . After graduating from high school in 1985, he worked for two years as a contract soldier in the German Armed Forces. Toepffer is a first lieutenant in the reserve to this day . After his active service, Toepffer began studying law at the Leibniz University of Hanover in 1987 . Toepffer passed his first state examination in law in 1993. He then completed his legal clerkship in Hanover and Bad Nenndorf. In 1995 he passed the second state examination in law and since then has worked as a lawyer and until the beginning of 2018 as a specialist lawyer for family law in his office in Döhren.

Political party

Toepffer's interest in political activities began while he was still at school and in 1982, at the age of 16, he joined the Junge Union , the CDU's student organization. A year later, he joined the CDU. With the start of his studies Toepffer moved to Hannover-Linden in 1987 and became a member of the Linden-Limmer district council in the same year. At the age of 25, Toepffer was elected chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the Linden-Limmer district council and held this office from 1990 to 1993. During this period, he also chaired the Linden-Limmer CDU local association. In 2002 Toepffer took over the chairmanship of the CDU district association Hannover-Stadt from the previous chairman Hanns-Georg Fricke. As chairman of the CDU in the state capital, Toepffer pursued the goal from the beginning to create a modern big city party that offers a political home for citizens of Hanover with different personal backgrounds and should reflect the diversity in urban society. Right from the start it was particularly important to him to inspire women and citizens with a migration background for local politics and to promote mutual understanding. Toepffer received for his statement: "Everyone in the CDU should visit a mosque" in March 2011 numerous so-called "hate mails" from citizens. He received approval for this statement from the Evangelical and Catholic Churches in Hanover, and this commitment was also supported by the ranks of Hanover city politics. At the beginning of his tenure as district chairman, he put an end to the internal party wing battles and initiated a restructuring of the party finances. Toepffer ran for election as Lord Mayor of Hanover in September 2006 as a candidate for the current minister-president of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, following an internal party call from the CDU, but failed against the SPD candidate. In May 2019 Toepffer handed over the district chairmanship to his incumbent successor Maximilian Oppelt.

MP

Toepffer was nominated on February 5, 2007 as a CDU direct candidate for the Lower Saxony state parliament in constituency 24, Hanover-Döhren, and obtained his state parliament mandate for the CDU parliamentary group in the election on January 27, 2008. He has been a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament since February 26, 2008. In the 2013 state elections Toepffer was able to successfully defend his direct mandate in his constituency against Doris Schröder-Köpf (SPD) and thus move back directly to the state parliament. In the early state elections on October 15, 2017, he entered the Lower Saxony parliament for the third time via the state list.

At the beginning of his parliamentary activity, Toepffer was chairman of the committee for law and constitution from 2008 to 2010 and was a member of the state parliament committee for science and culture during the same period. As a member of the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (PUA) "Asse" (August 2009 to 2010), he supported a recovery of the nuclear waste and a sustainable and permanent solution in the final disposal, in February 2010 he spoke out in favor of ending the committee.

From July 2010 to October 2017 Toepffer was deputy chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the Lower Saxony state parliament with responsibility for economics, labor and transport. Federal and European affairs, as well as ports and shipping, fell within his area of ​​responsibility. In the economic field, minimum wages for temporary workers and the elimination of abuses in working conditions were important concerns.

One event that received particular attention in the media was the discovery of the missing files relating to the VW emissions affair, which Toepffer discovered in the state parliament together with FDP member Jörg Bode.

At the beginning of the legislative period of the 18th state parliament, Toepffer was elected as parliamentary group leader of the second largest parliamentary group in the Lower Saxony state parliament, the CDU state parliament group, in November 2017. The CDU parliamentary group governs together with the SPD in a grand coalition in Lower Saxony.

engagement

Toepffer has been a member of the administrative board of Sparkasse Hannover since 2001 and has chaired the economic committee of the administrative board since 2006. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Sparkasse's own Hanover Foundation.

From July 2010 to July 2013 he was a member of the administrative board of the Hannover Student Union .

From 2011 to April 2018 Toepffer was a member of the advisory board of Deutsche Messe AG . He has been on the advisory board of Norddeutsche Landesbank since April 2018 .

Toepffer's particular interest lies in the clubs in Hanover and the surrounding area. Toepffer is involved as a member of the Eisfabrik development association, the citizens' association and the Kirchrode volunteer fire department and the Döhren shooting association. He is also a member of the animal welfare associations in Burgdorf and Hanover.

Web links

Commons : Dirk Toepffer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Member profile in the Lower Saxony state parliament in the 18th electoral term. Lower Saxony state parliament.
• Homepage of Dirk Toepffer

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gabriele Andretta (Ed.), Department for Press, Public Relations, Protocol: Lower Saxony State Parliament. Handbook of the Lower Saxony Parliament of the 18th electoral period. 2017 to 2022 , 1st edition, Hanover: Lower Saxony State Parliament, 2018, p. 168
2. ↑ On the person . In: Dirk Toepffer . ( dirk-toepffer.de [accessed on April 16, 2018]).
3. ↑ Hannoversche Neue Presse of March 10, 2011 http://www.neuepresse.de/Hannover/Meine-Stadt/Hannovers-CDU-Chef-kriegt-Hass-Mails-nach-Islam-Vorstoss
4. ^ "Wiedemann's resignation made the CDU headless", Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, March 1995
5. ↑ "CDU party leader resigns from office", Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, March 1995
6. ^ HANNOVER.DE - portal of the state capital and the Hanover region. Retrieved April 16, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Toepffer, Dirk | CDU FACTION LOWER SAXONY. Retrieved April 16, 2019 . 
8. ↑ http://www.haz.de/Thema/Specials/Landtagswahl/Doris-Schroeder-Koepf-wird-trotz-Niederlage-Abordnunge-im-Landtag
9. ↑ CDU deputy pleads for the end of the Asse committee. Retrieved April 16, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Dirk Toepffer | CDU CSU parliamentary group chairman conference. Accessed April 16, 2019 (German).  
11. ↑ Toepffer: "A market economy and binding minimum wage strengthens collective bargaining". CDU Lower Saxony, October 17, 2010
12. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of February 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), contribution from January 18, 2012 in the shorthand report of the Lower Saxony state parliament, contribution from February 22, 2012 in the shorthand report of the Lower Saxony state parliament, oral question: “What are the consequences of building a distribution center from Netrada for the labor market in Hanover? ”Printed matter 16/4975
13. ↑ VW: Police secure missing files in the state parliament. Retrieved April 16, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Police confiscate missing VW files. Retrieved April 16, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Toepfer wants to urbanize the CDU. Retrieved April 16, 2019 . 
16. ↑ Internet branch - Sparkasse Hannover. Retrieved April 16, 2019 . 
17. ↑ The organs of Sparkasse Hannover: The board of directors and the administrative board introduce themselves. Retrieved April 16, 2019 . 
18. ^ Foundation management of Sparkasse Hannover: Home. Retrieved April 16, 2019 . 
19. ^ Bodies of the Studentenwerk-Studentenwerk Hannover. Retrieved April 16, 2019 .