Ronald Pofalla | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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_144.jpg) Pofalla in 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chair of theKohlekommission | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 6 June 2018 – 23 January 2019 Serving with Matthias Platzeck, Barbara Praetorius,Stanislaw Tillich | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Position abolished | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head of the Chancellery Minister for Special Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 28 October 2009 – 17 December 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Thomas de Maizière | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Peter Altmaier | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commissioner for the Federal Intelligence Services | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 28 October 2009 – 17 December 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinator | Günter Heiß | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Thomas de Maizière | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Peter Altmaier | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| General Secretary of the Christian Democratic Union | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 5 December 2005 – 28 October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Angela Merkel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Volker Kauder | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Hermann Gröhe | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1959-05-15)15 May 1959 (age 66) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Christian Democratic Union(1975–) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Cologne | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation |
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| Website | ronald-pofalla | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Ronald Pofalla (born 15 May 1959) is a German lawyer and politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as theChief of Staff of theGerman Chancellery and aFederal Minister for Special Affairs from 2009 to 2013, in thesecondcoalition government ofChancellorAngela Merkel. From 2017 to 2022, he was the CEO ofthe infrastructure department ofDeutsche Bahn.[1]
Pofalla studiedsocial pedagogy at theFachhochschule inKleve. After finishing with aDiplom in 1981 he studiedlaw at theUniversity of Cologne. In 1991 he passed the secondStaatsexamen. Since that time Pofalla has been licensed to work as alawyer.
Pofalla has been a member of theCDU since 1975.[citation needed] At first he was engaged in theJunge Union. He was chairman of the JU in the State ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia from 1986 to 1992.
During his time in parliament, Pofalla served on the Committee for the Scrutiny of Elections, Immunity and the Rules of Procedure, the Committee on Legal Affairs, the Committee on Labour and Social Affairs and the Committee on Economic Affairs and Technology.
From 2004 to 2005 Pofalla was deputy chairman of theCDU/CSU's parliamentary group in theBundestag under the leadership of Angela Merkel, and served as theSecretary General of the CDU from 2005 to 2009. In the negotiations to form acoalition government of the Christian Democrats and theFree Democratic Party (FDP) following the2009 federal elections, he led the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on labour and social affairs; his counterpart of the FDP wasDirk Niebel.
After the elections, Pofalla succeededThomas de Maizière as Chief of Staff to Chancellor Angela Merkel. During his time in office, he was repeatedly criticized for being rude towards other representatives of the Bundestag and other members of the German government. In September 2011 he seriously insultedWolfgang Bosbach, senior group leader of theCDU/CSU-group in the Bundestag after an in-house discussion about the enhancement of theEuropean Financial Stability Facility.[2]
In the negotiations to form acoalition government following the2013 federal elections, Pofalla was part of the 15-member leadership circle chaired by Merkel,Horst Seehofer andSigmar Gabriel. As part of a cabinet reshuffle, he subsequently resigned as head of the Federal Chancellery.[3]
In January 2014 it was reported that Pofalla would be joining the management ofDeutsche Bahn, the state-owned national rail network of Germany. He had previously worked for the company's subsidiaryDB Netz between 2005 and 2009.
At Deutsche Bahn, Pofalla took up a "specially created lobbying post" said to carry compensation of more than a million euros a year.[4] His successor in the Bundestag isThorsten Hoffmann.
After transitioning to the private sector, Pofalla was made co-chairman of the Petersburg Dialogue, a semiofficial German-Russian symposium.[5] From 2018 until 2019, he also served on the German government's so-called coal commission, which was tasked to develop a masterplan before the end of the year on how tophase-out coal and create a new economic perspective for the country's coal-mining regions.[6]
In 2022, Pofalla was appointed to the managing board of real estate developer Gröner Group.[7]
In April 2023, Pofalla was one of the 22 personal guests at the ceremony in which Angela Merkel was decorated with theGrand Cross of the Order of Merit for special achievement byPresidentFrank-Walter Steinmeier atSchloss Bellevue in Berlin.[8]
During his time in politics, Pofalla took an active interest inBelarus. In 2012, he publicly condemned the execution of Vladislav Kovalyov and Dmitry Konovalov, both 26, saying this move would further alienate Belarus from Europe. "Lukashenko thus drifts even further away from our European values," he said. "The already heavily burdened relation between Belarus and Europe will be rendered yet more difficult by this."[13]
In the context of the Ukraine crisis, Pofalla has commented that "it wasn’t clever of Barack Obama to have downgraded Russia, in connection with the Ukraine conflict, to the level of a regional power."[14]
Pofalla caused controversy when GermantabloidBild revealed that he had bought premiumMontblanc writing materials worth 3,307.61 euros for his MP office at the expense of theBundestag in 2009; at the time, it was the highest recorded order by any parliamentarian.[15]
Media related toRonald Pofalla at Wikimedia Commons
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