Roland Koch

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Roland Koch (2010)

Roland Koch (born March 24, 1958 in Frankfurt am Main ) is a German manager , lawyer and former politician ( CDU ). From April 1999 to August 2010 he was Prime Minister of the State of Hesse . From 1998 to 2010 he was also state chairman of the CDU Hessen . From March 1, 2011, he was a member of the Management Board and from July 1, 2011 to August 8, 2014, Chairman of the Management Board of the German construction group Bilfinger . Since November 2017 he has been Professor of Management Practice in Regulated Environments at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management .

Life

education and profession

Roland Koch (2006)

Koch's father Karl-Heinz Koch (1924–2007) was a CDU politician and from 1970 to 1987 a member of the state parliament in the Hessian state parliament; From 1987 to 1991 he was the Hessian Minister of Justice ( Wallmann cabinet ).

After graduation in 1977 at the Eichwald School in Sulzbach (Taunus) made cooking, first from 1977 to 1978 his military service and then studied at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main Law . In 1982 he took the first state examination and 1985 the second state examination . He has been admitted to the bar since 1985 . Specializing in business law and competition law , he practiced this profession in Eschborn until 1999.

Party career

Koch joined the CDU youth organization Junge Union at the age of 14 . In 1979 Koch became the youngest chairman of a CDU district association in the Main-Taunus district. At the beginning of his political career he was one of the “ young savages ” of his party. Since 1979 he was a member of the so-called “ Andean Pact ”, a non-official team of young CDU politicians at the time. From 1983 to 1987 he was Deputy Federal Chairman of the Junge Union . From 1998 to June 2010 he was state chairman of the CDU Hessen. Until November 15, 2010, Koch was also one of the five deputy federal chairmen of the CDU and thus a member of the CDU federal executive committee .

Member of Parliament

Until 1993, Koch was a member of the city council of his hometown Eschborn and also belonged to the district council of the Main-Taunus-Kreis , where he was chairman of the CDU parliamentary group from 1989 to 1997 .

From 1987 to 2010, Koch was a member of the Hessian state parliament as a member of the Main-Taunus I constituency . In 1991 he became deputy chairman of the CDU parliamentary group; In 1993 he became its chairman.

Prime Minister

Roland Koch during an election campaign event (2008)

After the red-green government ( Eichel II cabinet ) under Hans Eichel lost its majority in the state elections in February 1999, the CDU under Koch's leadership formed a coalition with the FDP ( Koch I cabinet ). On April 7, 1999, Koch was elected Prime Minister of the State of Hesse as Eichel's successor. In the state elections in 2003 , the CDU achieved an absolute majority of the seats in the state parliament with 48.8%. Koch was confirmed in office as Prime Minister. In the state elections in 2008 , the CDU lost an absolute majority; Even the CDU and FDP together did not have an absolute majority in the state parliament. Since no prime minister was elected in the constituent session of the new state parliament on April 5, 2008 or in any of the subsequent sessions, Koch continued to manage government affairs. After the early state elections in 2009 , in which the CDU received 37.2% of the vote, Koch was re-elected Prime Minister with the votes of the Union and FDP.

Cabinet Koch I

Citizenship Law

In the election campaign for the state elections in 1999 , the CDU carried out the signature campaign against the reform of German citizenship law against the then red-green federal government. Critics accused Koch of stirring up xenophobia and using it for the election campaign.

Donation affair

In connection with the donation affair of the federal CDU, an affair of the Hessian CDU became known. Among other things, the former Interior Minister Manfred Kanther and the former CDU state treasurer Casimir Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein had booked several illegal party donations as alleged legacies from deceased Jews.

Roland Koch stated that he was not aware of these events and that he promised the "most brutal possible clarification". At a press conference on January 10, 2000, despite repeated inquiries, he kept silent about the backdate of a loan agreement for 2 million D-Marks that was supposed to justify the flow of money in the party accounts.

Supported by the CDU and the FDP Hessen, Koch remained in office despite various requests to resign. The then head of the State Chancellery, Franz Josef Jung , however, resigned, which was interpreted by observers as a pawn sacrifice. The opposition in the Hessian state parliament also particularly criticized the fact that Koch's 1998/1999 election campaign had been partially financed by the black funds, and sued unsuccessfully for the election to be canceled.

Cabinet Koch II

In the state elections in February 2003 , the CDU and Roland Koch won again, this time with an absolute majority. At the end of 2003, Koch and the then North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Peer Steinbrück ( SPD ) drafted a plan to reduce subsidies , the so-called Koch-Steinbrück paper.

State election 2008
Roland Koch (2008)

In 2006 Koch was accused of wanting to “buy” the non-participation of the Free Voters of Hesse in the state elections with financial commitments. This was also the subject of a committee of inquiry .

In December 2007, two foreign youths beat up a pensioner in a Munich subway station after the latter asked them to turn off their cigarettes. The pensioner suffered multiple fractures of the skull. Roland Koch then called for a tightening of juvenile criminal law , spoke out indirectly in favor of deporting criminal foreigners and addressed both of these in his election campaign. "Anyone who doesn't follow our rules as a foreigner is out of place here," he told the Bild newspaper. The General Secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany , Stephan Kramer , accused Koch of being close to the NPD. CDU General Secretary Ronald Pofalla rejected the criticism. The accusation that Koch's election campaign hardly differs from that of the NPD is “no longer to be surpassed in terms of absurdity”. Koch received support for his approach from the White Ring , which alleged that migrant associations were playing down.

Koch also polarized the election campaign with a poster campaign in which he advertised with the slogan “Stop Ypsilanti, Al-Wazir and the Communists!”. He was then accused of deliberately choosing the foreign-sounding names in order to mobilize the votes of voters with xenophobic resentments. The personally hurtful tone of voice towards Tarek Al-Wazir (the top candidate of the Greens) and Andrea Ypsilanti (the top candidate of the SPD) is one of the reasons why coalition negotiations with the Greens and the SPD were unsuccessful after the election. During the coalition negotiations, the SPD and the Greens made it a condition that Roland Koch not become Prime Minister; the CDU rejected this.

Later, Koch was also criticized within the party, for example indirectly in an open letter from 17 prominent Union politicians at the time , who wrote: "Integration policy is so fundamental for the future of our country that it must not be relegated to an election issue." A study by the CDU -nearby Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung criticized Koch's election campaign; the debate about juvenile delinquency harmed him.

In the elections for the 17th Hessian state parliament on January 27, 2008, the Hesse CDU lost 12 percentage points under his chairmanship , but with 36.8% of the vote was just ahead of the SPD (36.7%). The SPD and CDU received the same number of seats in the Hessian state parliament and neither party had an absolute majority with their traditional coalition partners. Since no government was formed, according to the Hessian constitution , Koch remained in office as executive prime minister.

Cabinet Koch III

After the attempt to form a government by the SPD and the Greens, tolerating the party Die Linke, failed due to the resistance of four SPD MPs, among other things, the state parliament was dissolved and a new election took place in January 2009 . Roland Koch was again nominated as a top candidate by the CDU. Koch rejected a television duel with the top candidate of the Hessian SPD Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel . The CDU gained slightly compared to the 2008 election, while the SPD lost 13 percentage points. The CDU was now the strongest parliamentary group in the state parliament, with a clear gap to the SPD, and together with the FDP formed the state government. Koch was re-elected as Prime Minister on February 5, 2009. Four coalition members did not vote for him: one no, one invalid vote and two blank ballot papers.

Withdrawal from politics and switch to business

On May 25, 2010, Koch announced at a press conference that he would resign from his post as Prime Minister on August 31, 2010, resign from his state parliament mandate and give up all party political functions. At the party convention of the Hessian CDU on June 12, 2010, he no longer stood as its chairman, and in November 2010 he was no longer running as one of the four deputy chairmen of his party at the federal level. As a reason for his withdrawal from politics, Koch indicated that he wanted to work in business in the future. At the party congress of the Hessian CDU on June 12, 2010, he was elected honorary chairman of the CDU Hesse with 96% of the votes .

Roland Koch was bid farewell on August 30, 2010 in a ceremony with a military serenade and officially resigned from the office of Prime Minister the following day. The previous Minister of the Interior, Volker Bouffier (CDU), was elected as his successor . At the end of September 1, 2010, Koch also resigned from his state parliament mandate. Christian Heinz became a successor in the state parliament .

On October 29, 2010, the supervisory board of the construction group Bilfinger Berger decided to appoint Roland Koch as a member of the Management Board from March 1, 2011 and as the company's CEO on July 1, 2011. Critics objected that there may be a connection with the award of the contract for the construction of the new northwest runway and other construction projects for Frankfurt Airport , which is owned by the State of Hesse, among others. In 2012, Roland Koch earned 1.5 million euros at Bilfinger.

On November 9, 2010, it was announced that on January 1, 2011, Koch would also become chairman of the supervisory board of the German subsidiary of the major bank UBS . He still holds this position today (as of November 2016).

On August 4, 2014, Bilfinger announced that Koch was leaving the company on August 8, 2014. On the same day Koch announced his resignation; he continued to receive his salary of 2.35 million euros per year until the end of his contract in February 2016. In July, the previous Bilfinger Supervisory Board had accused Holger Timmer Koch of management errors. Despite a slump in profits, Koch himself called the company “unchanged successful” when he stepped down. The general manager of the German Association for Protection of Securities Holdings (DSW), Marc Tüngler , on the other hand, referred to the former chairman of the board at the 2015 annual general meeting as the main person responsible for the corporate crisis .

On February 20, 2018, the Supervisory Board of Bilfinger SE resolved to demand compensation from all members of the Executive Board between 2006 and 2015.

Koch has been a member of the Vodafone Supervisory Board since March 2015 .

In October 2018 it was announced that Opel had used Roland Koch's legal advisor services in 2016. At the time, the exhaust gas cleaning function of the Zafira Tourer only worked to a limited extent. The then Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) then appointed the then Opel boss Karl-Theodor Neumann, who surprisingly had Roland Koch at his side.

In a guest contribution in the FAZ on September 28, 2018, the former Hessian Prime Minister demanded that the state should ensure "not to overreact into a role that both exceeds its competencies and ruins the competitiveness of an important industry." For the Federal Motor Transport Authority “similar questions arose as for the financial supervisory authority a few years ago. A lot of new staff has been hired there, who today strive to always have the same level of knowledge in all individual questions as the controlled industry. "

Other engagement

Since January 1, 2003, Koch has been honorary chairman of the supervisory board of the Hessian state winery Kloster Eberbach .

Koch has been Professor of Management Practice in Regulated Environments at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management since November 2017 .

Together with his wife Anke, Roland Koch has taken on the patronage of Tuberous Sclerosis Germany eV and is also the board member of the German Tuberous Sclerosis Foundation.

Private

Roland Koch is Roman Catholic , married and has two sons.

Political positions

Basic setting

Helmut Kohl was considered to be Koch's political foster father, supporter and advisor. In terms of federal politics, Koch worked on the negotiations to restructure the relationship between the federal government and the states and is considered a finance and economic expert as well as a representative of the conservative Christian wing of the CDU. He was said to have an ambivalent relationship with Angela Merkel . On the one hand, he was called Angela Merkel's “best man”, on the other hand, he was said to have a tense relationship with the Chancellor, which he had as a rival of the Chancellor because of his own political ambitions. He polarizes and therefore often positions himself as a “conservative hardliner”. His biographer Hajo Schumacher wrote in 2004 that he was a “risk politician” and “not a moral politician, but a political economist, a power mathematician”. In November 2013, a newspaper quoted Koch as saying that the “completely nonsensical permanent subsidization” of photovoltaic systems on German roofs can only be stopped if “you throw stones at it”; He later stated that he had been misunderstood as a solar opponent in this matter and that he had criticized more of the type of subsidization.

Educational policy

In December 2003, under Roland Koch, the Hessian state government introduced a law on student credits in the state parliament against major protests . In the 2007/08 winter semester, the Hessian state government under Roland Koch introduced general tuition fees of 500 to 1500 euros per semester. The collection of fees was controversial and, in the opinion of many legal experts, not compatible with the state constitution . Over 78,000 citizens in Hesse signed a public complaint . The opposition parties in the state parliament also filed a lawsuit. On June 11, 2008, the Hessian State Court declared the fee system to be compatible with the state constitution by six votes to five. After the state elections in Hesse on January 27, 2008 , the law was abolished by the state parliament on June 17, 2008.

In 2005 it was decided to introduce the Abitur after twelve school years , and in 2007 the introduction of the Central Abitur . The number of voluntary and compulsory all-day schools as well as childcare options for elementary school students have been increased.

In 2007, Koch supported Karin Wolff's project , which was heavily criticized by the public , to deal with the biblical doctrine of creation in future biology classes. Numerous media saw this proposal as an attempt to establish creationism in Hessian schools, after Wolff had previously stated that they saw no contradiction between the biological theory of evolution and the explanation in the Bible.

Privatizations

In mid-2004 the Hessian state government decided to merge the Central Hessian university clinics in Gießen and Marburg and to sell the newly created University Clinic Gießen and Marburg GmbH to a private operator ( Rhön-Klinikum ). In 2005 the Hessian state parliament passed an autonomy law (TUD law), which made the TU Darmstadt the first university to be granted autonomy. Since then, the TUD u. a. Manage the household and the property themselves and negotiate independently with professors about their salary and equipment and appoint them.

At the end of 2005, Germany's first partially privatized penal institution ( JVA Hünfeld , 502 prison places) was put into operation.

State financial equalization

In 2010, Koch, together with Horst Seehofer , spoke out in favor of changing the state financial equalization system . The state of Hesse pays around 1.9 billion euros annually. Koch did not rule out going to the Federal Constitutional Court. He pointed out that Hessen provides a disproportionately large part of the state financial equalization in Germany.

Frankfurt airport

Roland Koch was chairman of the supervisory board of Fraport AG from 1999 to 2003 , in which the state of Hesse had a stake of around 45 percent at the time. In addition to his commitment to the expansion of Frankfurt Airport , his dual function as Prime Minister and Chairman of the Supervisory Board also came under fire . In November 2003, Koch is said to have campaigned for the salaries of two board members to be increased by almost 50 percent. Against the background that in the same year the Christmas bonus for Fraport's company pensioners was canceled without replacement, this approach also met with criticism.

Koch campaigned for an expansion of Frankfurt Airport . The state government was of the opinion that the night flight ban he was striving for was not legally enforceable, so that on December 18, 2007, the Ministry of Economic Affairs issued an expansion permit, which provided for a massive reduction in night flights, but not a ban. Koch was then accused of breaking his word on the part of the opposition and opponents of expansion.

Nuclear energy

In 2006, Koch spoke out in favor of keeping an option open for the construction of new nuclear power plants. He referred to the neighboring country France, in which nuclear power plants of the "next generation" are being built. In 2013 he described the exit from nuclear power as having no alternative.

Property tax

On December 12, 2002, Koch accused ver.di boss Frank Bsirske of having mentioned the names of wealthy Germans in the wealth tax debate. Alluding to the Star of David introduced during the Nazi era , he said that it was "a new form of star on the chest" and "a bad parallel to other times". Koch later apologized for this comparison.

Headscarf ban

The headscarf ban , which has been in force since 2004 , was passed by the Hessian state government and confirmed as constitutional by the Hessian State Court on December 10, 2007 with six to five votes. Hesse forbids officials from wearing clothing that can “endanger political peace”.

Causa Brender

In 2009 it became known that several CDU politicians under the leadership of Koch were working towards not renewing the contract of ZDF editor-in-chief Nikolaus Brender . Koch's approach in the context of his office as deputy chairman of the ZDF administrative board was reprimanded, among other things, by an open letter from 35 constitutional lawyers.

Awards

Publications (selection)

  • Conservative - no state can be made without values ​​and principles. Herder, Freiburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-451-30441-5 .
  • (Ed.): Heinrich von Brentano : A trailblazer for European integration . Oldenbourg, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-486-56820-5 .
  • With Hugo Müller-Vogg : Taken literally: Roland Koch in conversation with Hugo Müller-Vogg . Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt 2002, ISBN 3-7973-0829-9 .
  • (Ed.): The future of civil society: Volunteering: new ideas & projects . Verlag Olzog, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-7892-8086-0 .
  • Seizing opportunities together: speeches and essays by the Hessian Prime Minister Roland Koch . Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt 2001, ISBN 3-7973-0793-4 .
  • Vision 21: A counter model to the red-green republic . Blazek and Bergmann, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-9806536-0-9 .
  • (Ed.): Active civil society: co-design, co-responsible . Olzog, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-7892-9343-1 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Roland Koch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Roland Koch  - Quotes
 Wikinews: Roland Koch  - in the news

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roland Koch will be the new CEO of Bilfinger , company announcement of October 29, 2010, 1:50 pm
  2. ↑ FAZ.net: Bilfinger boss Roland Koch will be replaced
  3. ↑ a b Roland Koch now professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance , Top Magazin Frankfurt
  4. ^ Berlin direct: A young (e) career ( Memento from June 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Order of February 23, 2001 by the electoral review court at the Hessian state parliament ( Memento of August 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ World: Koch wants to get rid of criminal foreigners
  7. ↑ World: Central Council of Jews accuses Koch of NPD proximity
  8. ↑ FAZ.net: CDU: "Struck has crossed the border of a democratic culture of debate"
  9. ↑ Christian Teevs: Fighter Koch becomes personal , in: Spiegel-Online, January 18, 2008.
  10. ↑ Tagesschau: Union top politicians against foreigner election campaign (tagesschau.de archive)
  11. ↑ Tagesschau: CDU internal study criticizes Koch's election campaign (tagesschau.de archive)
  12. ↑ oA: Koch rejects a television duel with Schäfer-Gümbel ( memento of July 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) , in: fr-online, undated
  13. ↑ Stern: Koch's election results shock the CDU on February 5, 2009
  14. ↑ cf. Liveticker: The press conference on Koch's withdrawal ( Memento from May 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) at fr-online.de, May 25, 2010 (accessed on May 25, 2010)
  15. ↑ cf. Koch resigns as Prime Minister on August 31 (live ticker) ( Memento from May 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Financial Times Germany, May 25, 2010
  16. ↑ cf. on the resignation of the state parliament mandate ( Memento from June 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ^ Klaus-Peter Klingelschmidt: Ex-Prime Minister becomes CEO. Koch goes to construction. taz.de, October 29, 2010, accessed on October 30, 2010 : “The anti-corruption organization Transparency International strongly complains that Koch even accepts the job. During Koch's reign, Bilfinger was awarded the contract to build parts of the controversial northwest runway and other facilities at Frankfurt Airport. An order worth around 80 million euros. "
  18. ↑ Phoenix TV station, Sun, Feb 17, 5: 00-6: 00 pm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=470d-ahLA_k , moderation: Sigmund Gottlieb and Marc Beise , broadcast from the premises of the University of Mannheim
  19. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/koch216.html ( Memento from November 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  20. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from November 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ↑ dpa / Reuters / cbo: Construction service provider: Bilfinger boss Roland Koch is replaced. In: welt.de . August 4, 2014, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Michael Gassmann: Replacement: Bilfinger continues to pay Roland Koch millions of salaries. In: welt.de . August 5, 2014, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  23. ↑ http://www.n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Bilfinger-Chef-Roland-Koch-wirft-hin-article13365281.html
  24. ↑ handelsblatt.com
  25. ↑ manager magazine
  26. ↑ http://www.vodafone.de/unternehmen/presse/pressearchiv2015-290066.html
  27. ↑ Opel under pressure - and Roland Koch can no longer help. hessenschau.de from October 19, 2018 (accessed October 20, 2018)
  28. ↑ Roland Koch: The lessons from the diesel scandal . faz.online of September 28, 2018 (accessed October 23, 2018)
  29. ↑ - ( Memento from September 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  30. ↑ Severin Weiland: "I am not everybody's darling" , in: Spiegel-Online, January 29, 2003.
  31. ^ Berthold Kohler : A full-blooded conservative politician Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from May 26, 2010
  32. ^ Matthias Geis: Merkel's best man , in Zeit-online, November 23, 2006.
  33. ↑ oA: Roland Koch recaptures Hessen ( Memento from December 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) , in: Stern-Online, December 16, 2008.
  34. ↑ Rambo switched to stubborn Spiegel Online from January 22, 2010
  35. ↑ Karl Schlieker: With stones against solar subsidies . In: Allgemeine Zeitung , November 6, 2013
  36. ↑ so at the podium discussion of the Junge Union on November 16, 2019 opposite the activist of Fridays for Future
  37. ↑ Judgment of the Hessian State Court of June 11, 2008. P. St. 2133 (complaint v. Abgeord. And Frak.)
  38. ↑ Arno Widman: The Bio-Bible ( Memento from July 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  39. ↑ With the Bible in the biology class? spiegel.de, July 29, 2007 , accessed June 5, 2012.
  40. ^ Creationism-CSU politician supports Wolff's theory of organic creation welt.de, July 7, 2007 , accessed on June 5, 2012.
  41. ↑ - ( Memento from August 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  42. ↑ Fraport - withdrawn payment on manager-magazin.de, Koch continues to function at Fraport ( memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) and Koch gives up the Fraport office ( memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) to wiesbadener -kurier.de
  43. ↑ Karl Schlieker: With stones against solar subsidies . In: Allgemeine Zeitung , November 6, 2013. Accessed November 24, 2013.
  44. ↑ 35 constitutional experts warn Koch Spiegel Online from November 20, 2009
  45. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
  46. ↑ Federal Gazette No. 214 of November 16, 2007, page 8029
  47. ↑ Statuetka "Honorowego Złotego Hipolita" oraz Godność "Przyjaciel Polski i Polaków" dla Premiera Hesji - Rolanda Kocha , Polish-language message from 2008, accessed November 3, 2009
  48. ^ Website of the Federal President : Honors at Bellevue Palace , accessed on March 18, 2011
  49. ↑ Honors in a row for ex-Prime Minister Roland Koch , accessed on January 12, 2018
  50. ↑ Hesse's CDU honors Roland Koch with the Alfred Dregger Medal. In: Sueddeutsche.de. March 24, 2018, accessed August 25, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Koch, Roland
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (CDU), MdL, Hessian Prime Minister
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main