Dagmar Wöhrl | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Wöhrl in 2012 | |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| In office 1994–2017 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Dagmar Gabriele Winkler (1954-05-05)5 May 1954 (age 71) |
| Political party | Christian Social Union (CSU) |
| Spouse | Hans Rudolf Wöhrl |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University of Erlangen-Nuremberg |
Dagmar Gabriele Wöhrl (néeWinkler; born 5 May 1954) is a German politician of theChristian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). She was elected to the GermanBundestag six times, serving from 1994 to her retirement in 2017. From 2005 until 2009 she was aParliamentary State Secretary in theFederal Ministry of Economics and Technology. She has served as Chairwoman of the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development of the German Bundestag. She was also a member of the 'Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with Arabic-Speaking States' in the Middle East.
In her youth Wöhrl participated in beauty pageants, winning the title ofMiss Germany in 1977. She finished first runner-up in theMiss International 1977 andMiss Europe 1977 competitions and second runner-up in theMiss World 1977 competition.
Wöhrl is a member ofUNICEF National Committee of Germany.
Born inStein, Bavaria, Wöhrl represented Germany in various beauty pageants: the1973 Miss Universe beauty pageant where she did not place; theMiss International 1977 beauty pageant where she placed as first runner-up; theMiss World 1977[1] beauty pageant (after she won theMiss Germany beauty pageant 1977) where she placed as second runner-up; and the1977 Miss Europe beauty pageant (held in March 1978 having been postponed in 1977, yet still called Miss Europe 1977) where she placed as first runner-up.
In 1994, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2009 and 2013, Wöhrl was elected to the GermanBundestag, representingNuremberg North. In thefirst government of Chancellor Angela Merkel between 2005 and 2009, she served asParliamentary State Secretary in theFederal Ministry of Economics and Technology under ministersMichael Glos (2005–2009) andKarl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (2009).
In the negotiations to form acoalition government following the2009 federal elections, Wöhrl was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on economic affairs and energy policy, led by Guttenberg andRainer Brüderle. She later served as Chairwoman of the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development of the German Bundestag.[2] She was also a member of the 'Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with Arabic-Speaking States' in the Middle East, which is in charge of maintaining inter-parliamentary relations with Bahrain, Irak, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and thePalestinian territories.
From 2009, Wöhrl also served on the Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs, where she was her parliamentary group'srapporteur on creative industries.
In March 2015, Wöhrl accompanied German PresidentJoachim Gauck on a state visit to Peru. In addition, she joined the delegations ofFederal Minister of Economic Cooperation and DevelopmentGerd Müller to Nigeria (2014), Ghana (2015), Liberia (2015) and the Central African Republic (2015).
In April 2016, Wöhrl announced that she would not stand in the2017 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[3]
When several Western countries froze theirofficial development assistance for Uganda in response to the country'sAnti-Homosexuality Act in 2014, Wöhrl warned that "stopping all the aid would only hit the poorest of poor once again."[4]
During her time in parliament, Wöhrl voted in favor of German participation inUnited Nations peacekeeping missions as well as in United Nations-mandated European Union peacekeeping missions on the African continent, such as in Somalia – bothOperation Atalanta andEUTM Somalia – (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015),Darfur/Sudan (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015),South Sudan (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015), Mali – bothEUTM Mali andMINUSMA – (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016), theCentral African Republic (2014), andLiberia (2015). She abstained from the vote on extending the mandate for Operation Atalanta in 2011.
On 27 February 2015, Wöhrl voted against theMerkel government's proposal for a four-month extension of Greece's bailout; in doing so, she joined a record number of 29 dissenters from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group who expressed skepticism about whether the Greek government underPrime MinisterAlexis Tsipras could be trusted to deliver on its reform pledges.[5] On 17 July, she voted against the government's proposal to negotiate a third bailout for Greece.[6]
By early 2017, media reported that Wöhrl would be joining the jury ofDie Höhle der Löwen, aVOX reality television format featuring entrepreneurspitching their business ideas in order to secure investment finance from a panel ofventure capitalists.[7]
Wöhrl is married to the GermanCEO Hans Rudolf Wöhrl. In 2001, she was subject of much media coverage after her younger son Emanuel died because of an accident.[citation needed] Her older son Marcus ran for theEuropean Parliament in 2004.
