Günter Krings | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Krings in 2020 | |
| Parliamentary State Secretary in theFederal Ministry of the Interior | |
| In office December 2013 – December 2021 | |
| Minister | Hans-Peter Friedrich,Thomas de Maizière andHorst Seehofer |
| Preceded by | Christoph Bergner |
| Succeeded by | Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter,Mahmut Özdemir andJohann Saathoff |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| Assumed office 2002 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1969-08-07)7 August 1969 (age 56) |
| Political party | CDU |
| Alma mater | |
Günter Krings (born 7 August 1969) is a German lawyer and politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of theBundestag from the state ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia since 2002.
In addition to his parliamentary work, Krings also served as Parliamentary State Secretary at theFederal Ministry of the Interior in the government ofChancellorAngela Merkel from 2013 until 2021.
Krings first became a member of the Bundestag in the2002 German federal election.[1] In his first term from 2002 until 2005, he served on the Committee on Legal Affairs. From 2006 until 2009, he chaired the Parliamentary Advisory Board on Sustainable Development.
From 2009 until 2013, Krings served as deputy chairman of theCDU/CSU parliamentary group, under the leadership of chairmanVolker Kauder. In this capacity, he coordinated the group's legislative activities on consumer protection, domestic affairs, sports, and minorities. He was also a member of the Committee on the Election of Judges (Wahlausschuss), which is in charge of appointing judges to theFederal Constitutional Court of Germany. In 2012, he helped steer through parliament legislation on a so-calledancillary copyright for press publishers.[2]
In the negotiations to form aGrand Coalition of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU together with the BavarianCSU) and theSocial Democrats (SPD) following the2013 federal elections, Krings was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on internal and legal affairs, led byHans-Peter Friedrich andThomas Oppermann.
Krings served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, under successive ministersThomas de Maizière (2013–2018) andHorst Seehofer (2018–2021).[3]
Since 2017, Krings has been leading the Bundestag group of CDU parliamentarians fromNorth Rhine-Westphalia, the largest delegation within the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. In the negotiations to form afourthcoalition government under the leadership ofChancellorAngela Merkel following the2017 federal elections, he was part of the working group on internal and legal affairs, led by Thomas de Maizière,Stephan Mayer andHeiko Maas.
Since the2021 elections, Krings has been serving on the Committee on Legal Affairs again.[4] Since 2022, he has also been serving on the parliamentary body in charge of appointing judges to the Highest Courts of Justice, namely theFederal Court of Justice (BGH), theFederal Administrative Court (BVerwG), theFederal Fiscal Court (BFH), theFederal Labour Court (BAG), and theFederal Social Court (BSG).[5]
In the negotiations to form acoalition government of the CDU andGreen Party underMinister-President of North Rhine-WestphaliaHendrik Wüst following the2022 state elections, Krings andLutz Lienenkämper led their party’s delegation in the working group on finances;[6] their counterparts from the Green Party wereFelix Banaszak andSven Giegold.[7]
In June 2017, Krings voted against Germany's introduction ofsame-sex marriage.[10]
Ahead of the Christian Democrats’leadership election in 2018, Krings publicly endorsedJens Spahn to succeed Angela Merkel as the party’s chair.[11] For the2021 national elections, he later endorsedArmin Laschet as the Christian Democrats' joint candidate to succeed Merkel aschancellor.[12]
In December 2023 Krings accused Secretary-General of the United NationsAntónio Guterres of being one-sided in theGaza war and cautioned in regard to UN reports about the scope of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.[13]
Auch Berichte der UN müssen mit einer gewissen Zurückhaltung betrachtet werden.[UN reports must also be viewed with a certain degree of caution.]
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