Ingeborg Gräßle | |
|---|---|
| Chair of the European Parliament Budgetary Control Committee | |
| Assumed office 7 July 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Luigi de Magistris |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
| In office 13 June 2004 – 2019 | |
| Constituency | Germany |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ingeborg Helen Gräßle (1961-03-02)2 March 1961 (age 64) |
| Political party |  German:Christian Democratic Union  EU:European People's Party |
| Alma mater | |
| Website | Official website |
Ingeborg Helen Gräßle (born 2 March 1961) is a German politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the GermanBundestag since the2021 elections, representing theBacknang – Schwäbisch Gmünd district. She previously served as aMember of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 until 2019, where chaired of theBudgetary Control Committee.
As the co-rapporteur for the revision of thefinancial regulation, approved in the plenary in October 2012, Gräßle was instrumental in the negotiation of a compromise between theEuropean Institutions.[1] Gräßle is well known within theEU as a strong proponent of increasedtransparency andaccountability for the Institutions.[2]
Gräßle was born in 1961 in the town ofGroßkuchen, located in the Heidenheim district ofBaden-Württemberg,[3] Germany, where she attended elementary school until 1971. She attended high school at Hellenstein-Gymnasium Heidenheim until 1980, after which she completed a two-year internship withAugsburger Allgemeine, where she subsequently worked as an editor from 1982 to 1984.
After leaving editorial work in 1984, Gräßle enrolled at theUniversity of Stuttgart, where she earned a master's degree in romance languages, history, and political science in 1989. She spent a year studying at theInstitut d'études politiques in Paris, France, and in 1990, she took a job as the Director of Public Relations for Konrad-Adenauer-Haus (the German national headquarters for theChristian Democratic Union) inBonn, Germany.
In 1994 Gräßle earned her PhD in political science from theFree University of Berlin. Her dissertation, the "Der europäische Fernseh-Kulturkanal ARTE : deutsch-französische Medienpolitik zwischen europäischem Anspruch und nationaler Wirklichkeit", examined theFranco-German television network,ARTE and explored the relationship between European standards and national realities.[4]
From 1995 to 1996 Gräßle was the spokeswoman forRüsselsheim am Main, the largest town in theGroß-Gerau district of theRhein-Main region. In 1996 Gräßle was elected to theState Parliament of Baden-Württemberg where she served until 2004 when she was elected to theEuropean Parliament.
Since 1999, Gräßle has served as the Vice-Chair of theCDU Women's Union of Baden-Württemberg, a member of theHeidenheim District Council, and a member of the CDU Bureau in Baden-Württemberg. In 2001 she was appointed as the Deputy District Chair of the CDU in Northern Baden-Württemberg, and the District Chair of the CDU in Heidenheim.
Gräßle was a CDU delegate to theFederal Convention for the purpose of electing thePresident of Germany in May 2004.
Gräßle was elected to the European Parliament and began her first term on 20 August 2004. She was re-elected in 2009 and 2014.
Gräßle acted as theco-rapporteur, along withCrescenzio Rivellini, and lead parliamentary negotiator on legislation which created a new set of rules that govern the implementation of EU funds, known commonly as the financial regulation;[2][5] the European Parliament acted as co-legislator with theEuropean Commission for the first time while drafting the new financial regulation that entered into force in January 2013.[6]
2004[3]
2007
2009
2014
During her time on the Committee on Budgetary Control, Gräßle led fact-finding missions toHungary in 2011 and 2017 to visit multiple controversial EU-funded projects.[7]
Before the 2019 election, Gräßle was listed as number 5 on the local election list by the CDU Baden-Würtemberg. This fifth place made her the first woman on the list. The local CDU could only win four seats, and so all were taken by men. In an interview she spoke of an "old boys" network in the party with no interest in change. In the same interview, she also criticized the fact that there were no MEPs for the CDU of immigrant background.[8]
Gräßle was not re-elected in the2019 elections.
In September 2020, Gräßle announced that she would run for a parliamentary seat in the2021 national elections.[9]
Since her election to the GermanBundestag in 2021, Gräßle has been serving on the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment (2021–2025),[10] the Audit Committee (since 2021) and the Budget Committee (since 2025). On the Budget Committee, she has been serving as her parliamentary group’srapporteur on theannual budget of theFederal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.[11]
In the negotiations to form acoalition government under the leadership ofMinister-President of Baden-WürttembergWinfried Kretschmann following the2021 state elections, Gräßle was a member of the working group on public finances, co-chaired byEdith Sitzmann and Stefanie Bürkle.[12][13]
In addition to her committee assignments, Gräßler has been a member of the German delegation to theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) since 2025.[14] In the Assembly, she serves on the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development and its Sub-Committee on theEuropean Social Charter.[15]
Ahead of the Christian Democrats'leadership election in 2018, Gräßle publicly endorsedAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Angela Merkel as the party's chair.[17]
In December 2017, theCommittee on Legal Affairs decided to waive Gräßle's immunity after she caused a car accident in which a person suffered a shoulder injury.[18]
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