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Matthias Wissmann | |
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| Minister of Transport | |
| In office 13 May 1993 – 26 October 1998 | |
| Chancellor | Helmut Kohl |
| Preceded by | Günther Krause |
| Succeeded by | Franz Müntefering |
| Minister of Scientific Research | |
| In office 21 January 1993 – 13 May 1993 | |
| Chancellor | Helmut Kohl |
| Preceded by | Heinz Riesenhuber |
| Succeeded by | Paul Krüger |
| Member of theBundestag forLudwigsburg | |
| In office 14 December 1976 – 31 May 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Gunter Huonker |
| Succeeded by | Steffen Bilger(2009) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1949-04-15)15 April 1949 (age 76) |
| Citizenship | German |
| Political party | CDU |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Matthias Wissmann (born 15 April 1949) is a German lawyer and politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the president of theGerman Automobile Industry Association (VdA) from 2007 until 2018.
Since 1999 Wissmann has been a partner with the law firmWilmerHale.[1]
Wissmann was born inLudwigsburg on 15 April 1949. He studiedlaw at the university ofBonn. He became a member ofK.D.St.V. Alania Bonn, a catholicstudent fraternity that is member of theCartellverband.
Since 1965, Wissmann has been active in politics. He became a member of the political youth organisationJunge Union and in 1968 of the CDU. From 1973 to 1983 he was federal leader of the Junge Union.
In 1976, Wissmann was elected to the GermanBundestag for the Christlich-Demokratische Union. In 1981, he was chairman of thecommissionJugendprotest im demokratischen Staat (youth protest in the democratic state) until 1983. In the years 1983 until 1993 he was the spokesman of his parliamentary group for economic affairs, under the leadership of successive chairmenAlfred Dregger andWolfgang Schäuble.
On 21 January 1993, Wissmann became Federal Minister of Research and Technology in the government ofChancellorHelmut Kohl. Only four-month later, after the resignation ofGünther Krause, he became Federal Minister of Transport on 13 May 1993.
During his time in office, Wissmann – together with theGoverning Mayor of BerlinEberhard Diepgen and the Minister-President of BrandenburgManfred Stolpe – committed toSchönefeld as the site for the newBerlin Brandenburg Airport on 28 May 1996. This so-calledconsensus decision was later affirmed by the respective state legislatures.[2]
Wissmann left the government after his party lost thefederal elections on 27 September 1998.
DuringWolfgang Schäuble's tenure as party chairman from 1998 to 2000, Wissmann served as federal treasurer of the CDU.[3] By April 2000, following theCDU donations scandal, he had to report an annual deficit of more than $8 million and oversaw efforts to cut personnel, rent out part of the party's new Berlin headquarters, and shrink its publications.[4]
From 1998 to 2002 Wissmann also was the chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Economic Affairs and Technology. From 2002 he served as chairman of the Committee on the Affairs of theEuropean Union.
During his time in parliament, Wissmann also became partner at the international law firmWilmerHale. At the firm, he was a member of the corporate group, where he focused on transactions having a transatlantic dimension, and headed the Legal Strategy and Public Policy practice group in Berlin.[5]
Wissmann laid down his parliamentary mandate by 31 May 2007 to become the president of the German Automobile Industry Association (VDA) from 1 June 2007. He held this office until February 2018. During his time in office, he also served as vice-president ofPro Mobilität, an industry group lobbying for improvements in Germany'sstreet network.[6]
In 2014,Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and EnergySigmar Gabriel appointed Wissmann to the government's advisory board on theTransatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).[7]
In October 2016, Wissmann was unanimously elected as president of theOrganisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA) for a two-year mandate, succeeding Yong-geun Kim.[8] Since 2017, he has also been Vice President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI).[9]
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