Stefan Kaufmann | |
|---|---|
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| Member of theBundestag | |
| In office 2009–2021 | |
| Assumed office 2024-March 2025 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1969-08-21)21 August 1969 (age 56) |
| Citizenship | German |
| Political party | CDU |
Stefan Kaufmann (born 21 August 1969 inStuttgart) is a German politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) who has served as a member of the GermanBundestag from 2009 to 2021 and again from 2024 to March 2025.[1]
Kaufmann was born as the youngest of three brothers to a family living in Stuttgart-Weilimdorf. His father, a confidential clerk, died in 1982. He received hisAbitur in 1989 at the Solitude-Gymnasium and served during hisZivildienst at theDiakonisches WerkWürttemberg. He attended university inTübingen, majoring inLegal science, including a year atLeiden University. Afterwards, he worked as a scientific assistant at theUniversity of Hohenheim. Kaufmann had aKonrad Adenauer Foundation scholarship since before he graduated from university and became aDoctor of law in 2001. He is a member ofPhi Delta Phi.[2]
In 1992, Kaufmann founded the "Forum für Hochschul- und Bildungspolitik Tübingen e.V" (Forum forHochschul- and Education Politics Tübingene.V) in Tübingen. This association's task was developing a general concept for educational politics that particularly targeted the contact points between the respective institutions. For his work in relation to this, he received an award from the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts ofBaden-Württemberg.
From 1995 until 1998, Kaufmann was assistant to Doris Pack, CDU, then Speaker in Matters of Educational Politics for theEPP at the European Parliament. Later, he was assistant and speechwriter forMEP Renate Heinisch, also CDU.
Kaufmann joined the CDU in 1999. Between March 2001 and October 2009, he was a Speaker for the Party in the district advisory council of Stuttgart-Sillenbuch, since April 2003 he has been chairman of the local group of the CDU in "Stuttgart-Sillenbuch-Heumaden-Riedenberg".
In November 2005 he was elected secondary candidate for theLandtag in theStuttgart I electoral district, and one year later he was elected member of the District Board of the CDU.
In 2008, the CDU in Stuttgart appointed him candidate for theBundestag, again in Stuttgart I, after his predecessor on this appointment had died. In October of the same year he was elected Deputy District Chairman of the CDU in Stuttgart.
In the2009 German federal election, Kaufmann won the direct mandate inStuttgart I over the Federal Chairman of theBündnis 90/Die Grünen,Cem Özdemir, and hence became MdB (Member of the Bundestag). In his campaign, he also campaigned in local hotspots of the homosexual scene and onChristopher Street Day.[3] At the same time being a devoted catholic, he also criticized the comparison with Nazism[4] theSociety of St. Pius X published on the occasion of the Christopher Street Day in 2007.[5]
In parliament, Kaufmann was a member of the Committee of Education, Research and Technological Impact Assessment. He also served as deputy member of the Budget Committee, after previously having been a deputy member of the Committee on Petitions and the Committee of Traffic, Construction and Urban Development.
In the negotiations to form afourth coalition government underChancellorAngela Merkel following the2017 federal elections, Kaufmann was part of the working group on education policy, led byAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer,Stefan Müller andHubertus Heil.
In January 2024, Kaufmann re-entered the German Parliament when he took the seat of deceasedWolfgang Schäuble.[6] In parliament, he has since been serving on the Committee on European Affairs and the Parliamentary Advisory Board on Sustainable Development.
In 2019, Kaufmann joined 14 members of his parliamentary group who, in an open letter, called for the party to rally around Merkel and party chairwomanAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer amid criticism voiced by conservativesFriedrich Merz andRoland Koch.[11]
Kaufmann is openly gay.[12]
In June 2010, Kaufmann was involved in aplanecrash when a historicalDC-3 he was riding in crashlanded shortly after take-off.
Das Europäische Hochschulinstitut: Die Florentiner Europa-Universität im Gefüge des europäischen und internationalen Rechts, (Tübinger Schriften zum internationalen und europäischen Recht 61; Berlin : Duncker & Humblot, 2003),ISBN 3-428-10753-5
Stefan Kaufmann, député au Bundestag et l'un des rares élus CDU ouvertement gay...
Media related toStefan Kaufmann (politician) at Wikimedia Commons
