Ursula Groden-Kranich | |
|---|---|
 Groden-Kranich in 2016 | |
| Member of theBundestag forMainz | |
| In office 2013–2021 | |
| Preceded by | Ute Granold |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Baldy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1965-05-24)24 May 1965 (age 60) |
| Citizenship | German |
| Political party | CDU |
Ursula Groden-Kranich (born 24 May 1965) is a German politician of theChristian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) who served as a member of theBundestag from 2013 to 2021,[1] representing the constituency ofMainz. She is also a member of Mainz City Council and was the local representative forMainz-Hechtsheim between 2004 and 2014.
After graduating from the Maria-Ward School, Mainz in 1984, Groden-Kranich continued her training at the LRPLandesbank Rhineland-Palatinate. She has continued to work for them as an investment advisor from 1989 until 2014.
Groden-Kranich is married and has a daughter. She is the honorary vice chairman of theGerman Red Cross (DRK) in theMainz-Bingen district, as well as being the chairman in the local branch of Mainz-Hechtsheim. She also sits at the head of the support group for the St Pankratius Church in her locality.
Groden-Kranich joined theYoung Union of Germany (Junge Union), the youth branch of the CDU andCSU, in 1982 and later worked on the board of the CDU in Hechtsheim. She was also a member of the federal committee for Kommunalpolitischen Vereinigung (KPV) of the party.
In 1994 Groden-Kranich was elected to the local council in Hechtsheim and subsequently joined thecity council in 1999. As a member of the city council she was the vice chairman of the CDU parliamentary group of the council and sat on the following committees:
In 2004 Groden-Kranich was elected to be the local representative for Mainz-Hechtsheim and was reelected in 2009.
Groden-Kranich decided to succeedUte Granold and stand as the CDU candidate for theMainz constituency in the2013 general election. She was directly elected to the Bundestag. Due to the subsequent increase in work commitments she decided to retire from her role as local representative for Hechtsheim in 2014.
In parliament, Groden-Kranich first served on the Committee on Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth from 2013 until 2017; during that time, she was her parliamentary group'srapporteur on European affairs,equal pay,adoption,social integration andcitizenship. Also from 2013, she served on the Committee on European Affairs, where she covered relations withFrance,[2]Finland,Iceland,Norway andSweden. In 2020, she also joined the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Subcommittee on Foreign Cultural and Educational Policy.
In addition to her committee assignments, Groden-Kranich was a member of theGerman-French Parliamentary Friendship Group, theGerman-British Parliamentary Friendship Group and the German Parliamentary Friendship Group with the Nordic States. From 2019 to 2021, she was a member of the German delegation to theFranco-German Parliamentary Assembly.[3]
In the2021 federal election, shelost her seat toDaniel Baldy from theSPD.[4]
On July 17, 2015, Groden-Kranich voted against her party's line and rejected theMerkel government’s proposal to negotiate a third bailout forGreece.[7][8] In June 2017, she voted against Germany’s introduction ofsame-sex marriage.[9]
Ahead of the Christian Democrats’leadership election in 2018, Groden-Kranich publicly endorsedAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Angela Merkel as the party's chair.[10] In 2019, she joined 14 members of her parliamentary group who, in an open letter, called for the party to rally around Merkel and Kramp-Karrenbauer amid criticism voiced by conservativesFriedrich Merz andRoland Koch.[11]
