Peter Ramsauer | |
|---|---|
_by_Sandro_Halank.jpg) Ramsauer in 2020 | |
| President by right of age of the Bundestag | |
| In office 26 December 2023 – 25 March 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Schäuble |
| Succeeded by | Gregor Gysi |
| Minister for Transport, Building and Urban Development | |
| In office 28 October 2009 – 17 December 2013 | |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Tiefensee |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Dobrindt |
| Leader of theCSU Group in theBundestag | |
| In office 21 November 2005 – 28 October 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Glos |
| Succeeded by | Hans-Peter Friedrich |
| Member of theBundestag forTraunstein | |
| In office 20 December 1990 – 25 March 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Matthias Engelsberger |
| Succeeded by | Siegfried Walch[1] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1954-02-10)10 February 1954 (age 71) Munich, West Germany |
| Political party | Christian Social Union |
| Spouse | Susanne |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich |
Peter Ramsauer (born 10 February 1954) is a German politician of theChristian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) who served as theFederal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Development in theSecond Merkel cabinet.
Ramsauer completed hisAbitur at theStaatliches Landschulheim Marquartstein gymnasium in 1973—with a year abroad atEton College[2]—and studiedbusiness economics at theLudwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he obtained hisDiploma in 1979 and hisPhD in 1985.
Ramsauer has also qualified as a professionalmiller in accordance with the traditional occupation of his ancestry. He speaks English and French.[3] In addition, he is also a competent pianist.
He is married and has four daughters. His wife Susanne, a home economics teacher, is a cousin of German-American actressSandra Bullock.[4]
Ramsauer joined the conservativeYoung Union (JU) youth organisation in 1972 and the CSU in 1973. He was elected Bavarian vice-chairman of the JU in 1983 and vice-chairman of the CSU in 2008.
In 1978 Ramsauer obtained a seat in the municipal diet (Stadtrat) of Traunreut and in 1984 became a member of thedistrict assembly ofTraunstein.
Ramsauer ran successfully in the1990 federal election and has been a member of theBundestag forTraunstein since then. From 1998 to 2005 he served as CSUChief Whip of theCDU/CSU parliamentary group. As such, he was also a member of the parliament'sCouncil of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigning committee chairpersons based on party representation.
Ramsauer was elected to the head of the Bundestag group of CSU parliamentarians in 2005, succeedingMichael Glos; in that capacity, he led theCDU/CSU parliamentary group with his co-chair from the CDU,Volker Kauder. From 2005 until 2009, he also served on the Committee on the Election of Judges (Wahlausschuss), which is in charge of appointing judges to theFederal Constitutional Court of Germany.In the2009 elections Ramsauer was re-elected by 54.6 percent of the votes cast.
On 28 October 2009 Ramsauer was appointed Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Development at the behest of ChancellorAngela Merkel, succeedingWolfgang Tiefensee. On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of thediplomatic relations between German andIndia, he participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the two countries’ governments in Delhi in May 2011.[5]
After leaving government following the2013 elections, Ramsauer chaired the Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy (2013–2017)[6] and later the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development (2017–2021). In the negotiations to form anothercoalition government under the leadership of Merkel following the2017 federal elections, he was part of the working group on economic policy, led byThomas Strobl,Alexander Dobrindt andBrigitte Zypries.
In early 2020, Ramsauer co-founded an informal cross-party group of MPs from the CDU, CSU andFDP parties who opposed a potential coalition government between CDU/CSU and theGreen Party.[7]
Following the2021 elections, Ramsauer served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 2023, he became theAlterspräsident (Father of the House) of theBundestag following the death ofWolfgang Schäuble.
In February 2024, Ramsauer announced that he would not stand in the2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[8]
In 2010, in his capacity as transport minister, Ramsauer rejected plans for an initial public offering of rail operatorDeutsche Bahn, arguing that the company first needed to focus on improving quality, security, cleanliness, punctuality and reliability of its trains.[9]
In 2014, Ramsauer publicly criticized France for announcing plans to buy a 20 percent stake inAlstom despite its heavy debts and budget deficit and accused the country's government of showing "ice-cold" national interests in choosing U.S. firmGeneral Electric over GermanSiemens for an alliance with Alstom.[10] WhenDeutsche Bank came under pressure after theUnited States Department of Justice requested it pay $14 billion to settle claims of mis-sellingmortgage-backed securities in 2016, Ramsauer accused theObama Administration of measures that "have the characteristics of an economic war."[11]
In October 2016, Ramsauer accompaniedFederal Minister for Economic Affairs and EnergySigmar Gabriel toTehran to attend the German-Iranian Joint Economic Commission's first meeting in 15 years.[12]
In 2007, Ramsauer accompaniedMinister PresidentEdmund Stoiber of Bavaria to a meeting with PresidentVladimir Putin.[13] In July 2010, he accompanied Merkel on an official trip to Moscow for meetings with PresidentDmitry Medvedev.
Amid a 2014 debate over whether Germany needs to rethink its energy strategy and reduce its dependence on Russian gas imports due to theRusso-Ukrainian War, Ramsauer spoke out in favour of considering importingshale gas from the United States, or alternative embracing "domestic resources".[14] In November 2015, in his capacity as chairman of the German Parliament's Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy, he agreed with his Russian counterpart Ivan Grachev to set up an informal German-Russian working group on energy cooperation, convening parliamentarians and business representatives from both countries.[15]
On 27 January 2015, Ramsauer voted against theMerkel government’s proposal for a four-month extension of Greece's bailout; in doing so, he joined a record number of 29 dissenters from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group who expressed scepticism about whether the Greek government under Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras could be trusted to deliver on its reform pledges.[16]
In June 2017, Ramsauer voted against Germany's introduction ofsame-sex marriage.[17][18]
During a ballot in Bundestag on 17 October 1991, Ramsauer voted against officially accepting theOder-Neisse line, which serves as the border between Germany and Poland since the aftermath ofWorld War II, as the final Polish-German Frontier.[19]
In 2016, Peter Ramsauer was accused of making a racist attack against aphotojournalist during a meeting between Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras andGerman Vice-ChancellorSigmar Gabriel. During the German Delegation's visit at the Greek Prime Minister'sofficial seat, Ramsauer had an accidental physical contact with the photojournalist. The photographer stated that Ramsauer attacked him saying, "Don't touch me you filthy Greek" first in German language ("Fass mich nicht an, Du dreckiger Grieche") and later in English. Ramsauer denied the insult on several occasions but confirmed having received unpleasant physical contact with a photographer at the event. The incident made the news in Germany and in Greece.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Ramsauer had been the most prominent politician in Germany to come out in favour of Greece leaving the euro zone.[28]
Peter Ramsauer is a member of a conservativestudent fraternity based in Munich, Franco-Bavaria, which left its former associationDeutsche Burschenschaft in 2013 to distance itself from right-wing extremism.[29]
Since June 2014, Ramsauer has been the President of theGhorfa Arab German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an association that facilitates the commercial documents of businesses that want to export to Arab countries. Ghorfa has been the subject of controversy for issuing certificates verifying that no parts of an exported product were produced in Israel.[30][31]
He has been described as a "shepherd" of the German language, seeking to avoid English loanwords.[32]
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