Astrid Freudenstein | |
|---|---|
 Freudenstein in 2024 | |
| Second (Deputy) Mayor ofRegensburg | |
| Assumed office 14 May 2020 | |
| First Mayor | Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer |
| Member of theBundestag forBavaria | |
| In office 2 July 2019 – 15 May 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Marlene Mortler |
| Succeeded by | Tobias Zech |
| In office 22 October 2013 – 24 October 2017 | |
| Member of theRegensburg City Council | |
| Assumed office 2008 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1973-10-09)9 October 1973 (age 52) |
| Nationality |  Germany |
| Party | German: Christian Social Union  EU:European People's Party |
| Alma mater | University of Passau |
Astrid Freudenstein (born October 9, 1973, inBad Griesbach im Rottal) is a Germancivil servant and politician of theChristian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU).
After graduating from Wilhelm-Diess-Gymnasium Pocking in 1992, Freudenstein initially completed an internship atunserRadio, a local radio station in Passau. In 1993 she began her studies at theUniversity of Passau, which she completed in 1998. In addition to her studies, she completed another internship atPassauer Neue Presse as a scholarship holder of the Dr. Hans-Kapfinger-Stiftung.
After completing her studies, Freudenstein worked as a journalist forBayerischer Rundfunk and as an author in theNeue Zürcher Zeitung. In 2009, she received the title ofDr. phil. (PhD) with the thesisThe Power Physicist against the Media Chancellor, in which she analyzed the gender aspect in the coverage of the2005 federal election campaign. Since 2010, she has been a research associate and academic lecturer in media studies at theUniversity of Regensburg.[1]
In 2018, Freudenstein became head of the central department of theFederal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, led by ministerAndreas Scheuer.[2]
Freudenstein joined the CSU in 2004 and has been a councilor in Regensburg since 2008.
She surprisingly[3] entered the GermanBundestag in the2013 general election. There, she was a full member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Committee on Culture and Media, as well as a deputy member of the Committee on Transport and Digital Infrastructure. Since 2014, she also chaired the German-Croatian Parliamentary Friendship Group and was a member of the session board of the German Bundestag.
The focus of Freudenstein's work in the Bundestag was disability policy. As therapporteur of theCDU/CSU parliamentary group, she contributed to the legislative process of the Federal Law on Participation. In transport policy, she successfully argued for the inclusion of the 6-lane expansion of the A3 motorway between Regensburg and Nittendorf in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan.[4][5]
Freudenstein could not enter the Bundestag again in the2017 general election because the CSU won all constituencies in Bavaria and thus, no CSU deputy could enter the Bundestag via the state list.[6] However, she replacedMarlene Mortler, who was elected to theEuropean Parliament in the2019 European election, in the 19th German Bundestag on July 2, 2019.[7][8] She has since been serving on the Committee on Food and Agriculture.
In the2020 Bavarian local elections, Freudenstein ran for mayor of the city of Regensburg and was in the lead in the first round of voting on March 15, 2020 with 29.5 percent of the valid votes cast.[9] However, she was defeated in the run-off election on March 29, 2020 by the SPD candidateGertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer with 49.3 percent compared to 50.7 percent of the votes.[10]
In the constituent meeting of the Regensburg City Council on May 14, 2020, Freudenstein was elected Second Mayor.[11] As a result, she resigned from her seat in the Bundestag on May 15, 2020.[12]
Freudenstein is a member of the CSU district board ofOberpfalz and a member of the state executive committee of the Women's Union of Bavaria. On October 18, 2019, she was also elected to the CSU Executive Committee as Secretary.[13]
Freudenstein is one of the 75 members of theUnion – 68 from the CDU (26.9% of all CDU deputies) and 7 from the CSU (12.5% of all CSU deputies) – who voted in favor of allowingsame-sex marriage in July 2017.[14]
Freudenstein is Roman Catholic, married,[15] and has one child.
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