Peter Altmaier | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Brigitte Zypries | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Robert Habeck | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of Finance | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Acting | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 24 October 2017 – 14 March 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Schäuble | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Olaf Scholz | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head of the Chancellery Minister for Special Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 17 December 2013 – 14 March 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Ronald Pofalla | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Helge Braun | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commissioner for the Federal Intelligence Services | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 17 December 2013 – 13 January 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinator | Günter Heiß | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Ronald Pofalla | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Klaus-Dieter Fritsche | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 22 May 2012 – 17 December 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Norbert Röttgen | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Barbara Hendricks | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chief Whip of theCDU/CSU Group in theBundestag | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 27 October 2009 – 22 May 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Volker Kauder | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Norbert Röttgen | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Michael Grosse-Brömer | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 3 November 2005 – 27 October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister | Wolfgang Schäuble | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Ute Vogt | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Ole Schröder | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1958-06-18)18 June 1958 (age 67) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Christian Democratic Union | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Saarland University | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Peter Altmaier (born 18 June 1958) is a German politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) who served asActing Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2018 and asFederal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy from 2018 to 2021. He previously served asFederal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety from May 2012 to December 2013 andHead of theGerman Chancellery and asFederal Minister for Special Affairs from December 2013 to March 2018. Altmaier is widely seen as one of ChancellorAngela Merkel's most trusted advisors[1][2] and advocates for her more centrist wing of the CDU.[3] He is known for his "compromising style"[4] and was described in 2017 as "the most powerful man in Berlin".[5]
Peter Altmaier coined the German term "Altmaier-Delle", which describes the poor development of renewable energies in Germany during his time in office.[6][7][8]
He representedSaarlouis in theBundestag between 2009 and 2021.
Altmaier was born on 18 June 1958 inEnsdorf, Saarland. He is the son of a coal miner and a nurse.[9][10] He studied law atSaarland University.[9]
In addition to his native German, he also speaks English, Dutch and French.[citation needed] In 2012, Altmaier stated that he has always been asingle person in his life, "so there can be nothing in the archives about a relationship".[11]
Altmaier began his career as a research assistant for public and international law at Saarland University in 1995 and later at the European Institute of Saarland University. His tenure lasted until 2000.[9] He worked for theDirectorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs of theEuropean Commission from 1990 to 1994.
Altmaier has been a member of theCDU since 1976.
Altmaier has been a member of theBundestag since the1994 national elections. He was elected in theconstituency ofSaarlouis. Between 1994 and 2002, he served on the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on Affairs of the European Union, where he was his parliamentary group's rapporteur on matters related to theCharter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
When the Bundestag created a committee to examine whether then-ChancellorGerhard Schröder and others in the governingSPD party inflated economic figures before the2002 federal elections to hide a growing budget deficit, he was chosen by his parliamentary group to lead the inquiry.[12]
From 2006 to 2011 Altmaier was president ofEuropa-Union Deutschland, the German section of theUnion of European Federalists.
In the 2021 federal elections Altmaier lost his constituency toHeiko Maas, but still reentered the Bundestag through his party's list. However, on 9 October 2021, Altmaier resigned from the Bundestag together withAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in order to make room for younger people.[13][14]
Following the2005 federal elections, Altmaier becameParliamentary State Secretary in theFederal Ministry of the Interior underWolfgang Schäuble. In this capacity, he publicly admitted in 2009 that Germany followed a request of the government of Saudi Arabia it to grant influential clericAbdullah Ibn Jibreen police protection in a Berlin hospital where he was undergoing heart treatment; the decision garnered sharp criticism from the opposition parties, with theGreen Party questioning why Germany hosted someone who "has called for the killing of Shiites [and] praisedOsama bin Laden."[15]
In 2009, Altmaier was mentioned by international media as potential candidate for the office ofEuropean Commissioner.[16]
SucceedingNorbert Röttgen as parliamentary secretary (chief whip) of theCDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag following the2009 elections, Altmaier was in charge of negotiating the passage ofEurozone crisis legislation through the parliament. He served as the government's chief negotiator with the opposition Social Democrats and Greens, as well as with potential rebels from the government benches.[1]
In 2012, Altmaier also served as chairman of theParliamentary Oversight Panel (PKGr), which provides parliamentary oversight of Germany's intelligence servicesBND,BfV andMAD.
On 22 May 2012, Altmaier replacedNorbert Röttgen asFederal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in thesecond Merkel cabinet.[17]
While in office, Altmaier coordinated the government's efforts to exit nuclear power generation by 2022 and rely on more renewable sources such as wind and solar ("Energiewende").[18] He also demanded companies to harvest metals including rare earths from recycled electronics as Germany sought to become less dependent on imports from China and other nations.[19] Together with his French counterpartDelphine Batho, he put in motion the establishment of the French-German Office for Renewable Energies (L'Office Franco-allemand pour les énergies renouvelables) in 2013.[20]
In 2012, Altmaier led the German delegation to the2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference inDoha.[21]
In 2013, Altmaier and Economics MinisterPhilipp Rösler reached agreement on far-reaching regulations for the fracking industry.[22][23]
In the negotiations to form a government following the2013 federal elections, Altmaier led the CDU/CSU delegation in the energy working group; his co-chair from the SPD wasHannelore Kraft,Minister-President ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia.[24] In Angela Merkel'sthird Cabinet he serves as the Head of theFederal Chancellery and aFederal Minister for Special Affairs. In this capacity, he is also in charge of co-ordinating Germany's intelligence services.[25]
In July 2015, Altmaier invited theUnited States Ambassador to Germany,John B. Emerson, to explain documents publicized byWikiLeaks that showed what appeared to be summaries of recorded conversations involving Chancellor Merkel or senior officials. Shortly after, WikiLeaks released additional documents including Altmaier's telephone number, adding to a growing pile of allegations that United States intelligence agenciesconducted extensive surveillance of the German government.[26]
In October 2015, Merkel put Altmaier in charge of coordinating Germany's response to the refugee crisis.[27] From early 2017, he was a member of the German government's cabinet committee onBrexit at which ministers discussed organizational and structural issues related to theUnited Kingdom's departure from theEuropean Union.[28]
Following the2017 elections, Altmaier became acting and temporary finance minister whenWolfgang Schäuble left office as Schäuble had agreed to becomePresident of the Bundestag.[29]
In January 2021 it was reported that Altmaier favoured "seizing control", possibly usingArticle 122 of the TFEU, "of the (COVID-19 vaccine) production process and ordering companies to manufacture vaccines at multiple sites."[30]
Altmaier belongs to the more liberal wing of theCDU.[31] In the 1990s, Altmaier advocated the rehabilitation ofarmed-forces deserters and explicitly criminalizingrape within marriage. He was integral to the Pizza Connection, a group of moderate CDU andGreen Party politicians – includingHermann Gröhe,Armin Laschet andCem Özdemir – who met at Sassella, an Italian restaurant in Bonn.[5]
In June 2017, Altmaier voted in favor of Germany's introduction ofsame-sex marriage in aconscience vote, unlike the majority of the CDU/CSU (including Merkel herself).[32]
Ahead of the Christian Democrats’leadership election in 2018, Altmaier publicly endorsedAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Angela Merkel as the party's chair.[33]
Responding to a growing unease over Germany's role in bailing out highly indebted European states, Altmaier in 2011 demanded that states that violate the EU'sStability and Growth Pact should be subject to theEuropean Court of Justice.[34] That same year, he advised against Germany pursuing a promptdebt haircut forGreece and warned of the consequences. According to Altmaier, the banks must be supported, in Greece and elsewhere, and theEuropean Financial Stability Facility might have to issue guarantees for the holders of Italian and Spanish bonds, because they also fear that they will be asked to pay up.[35]
In his position as Minister for Economic Affairs, Altmaier has become a figurehead for efforts to strengthen the European Union's defences against the encroachment of US and Asian technology and healthcare companies. In 2019 he wrote toEuropean Commissioner Margrethe Vestager urging the commission to adopt a harder line on dominant online platforms such asGoogle andFacebook.[36] Also in 2019, he presented plans to set up a standing government committee which, as a last resort, could decide to temporarily take stakes in German companies that produce sensitive or security relevant technologies.[37] In 2020, he introduced legislation giving the government a right to veto hostile foreign takeover bids for healthcare companies, a measure designed to ensure a continuous supply of essential products during theCOVID-19 pandemic in Germany.[38]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Chief of the Chancellery 2013–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Minister for Special Affairs 2013–2018 | ||
| Preceded by | ActingMinister of Finance 2017–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Brigitte Zypries (acting) | Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy 2018–2021 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
