Philipp Rösler | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Rösler in 2012 | |
| Vice Chancellor of Germany | |
| In office 16 May 2011 – 17 December 2013 | |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Preceded by | Guido Westerwelle |
| Succeeded by | Sigmar Gabriel |
| Honorary Consul ofVietnam toSwitzerland | |
| Assumed office 1 September 2021 | |
| President | Nguyễn Xuân Phúc Võ Thị Ánh Xuân(Acting) Võ Văn Thưởng |
| Ambassador | Le Linh Lan |
| Consulate | Zürich andZug |
| Leader of the Free Democratic Party | |
| In office 13 May 2011 – 7 December 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Guido Westerwelle |
| Succeeded by | Christian Lindner |
| Federal Minister of Economics and Technology | |
| In office 12 May 2011 – 17 December 2013 | |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Preceded by | Rainer Brüderle |
| Succeeded by | Sigmar Gabriel(Economics and Energy) |
| Federal Minister of Health | |
| In office 28 October 2009 – 12 May 2011 | |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Preceded by | Ulla Schmidt |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Bahr |
| Leader of theFree Democratic Party inLower Saxony | |
| In office 18 March 2006 – 25 September 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Walter Hirche |
| Succeeded by | Stefan Birkner |
| Deputy Minister-President of Lower Saxony | |
| In office 18 February 2008 – 27 October 2009 | |
| Prime Minister | Christian Wulff |
| Preceded by | Walter Hirche |
| Succeeded by | Jörg Bode |
| Minister of Economics, Labour and Transport of Lower Saxony | |
| In office 18 February 2008 – 27 October 2009 | |
| Prime Minister | Christian Wulff |
| Preceded by | Walter Hirche |
| Succeeded by | Jörg Bode |
| Member of theLandtag of Lower Saxony | |
| In office 2 February 2003 – 27 October 2009 | |
| Constituency | FDP list |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1973-02-24)24 February 1973 (age 52) |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | Free Democratic Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Hannover Medical School |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Germany |
| Branch/service |  Bundeswehr |
| Years of service | 1992–2003 |
| Rank | Stabsarzt |
| Unit |  Joint Medical Service |
Philipp RöslerGOM (German pronunciation:[ˈfɪlɪpˈʁøːslɐ]; born 24 February 1973)[1][2][3] is a German former politician who served asfederal minister of health from 2009 to 2011 andfederal minister of economics and technology as well asvice-chancellor of Germany from 2011 to 2013.[4]
Rösler was chairman of the liberalFree Democratic Party (FDP) from 2011 to 2013. Following the2013 federal election in which the FDP left theBundestag, he announced his resignation from the chairmanship. Born inVietnam, Rösler was the first cabinet minister and vice-chancellor of Asian background in Germany.[5] Before entering politics, Rösler was a cardiothoracic surgeon.
Rösler was born in Khánh Hung, Ba Xuyên Province, inSouth Vietnam (nowSóc Trăng Province, Vietnam) on 24 February 1973.[6][7] He was adopted from a Roman Catholic orphanage nearSaigon[8] by a German couple who already had two biological children, and brought him toDüsseldorf,West Germany, in a plane ofchildren's rights charitable humanitarian organizationTerre des Hommes[9] at the age of nine months.[7] He was raised by his adoptive father, who is a career military officer, after the couple separated when he was four years old.[10]
Rösler grew up inHamburg,Bückeburg andHanover, where he graduated from high school in 1992.[11] After training to become acombat medic in the GermanBundeswehr (the Federal Defence Force), Rösler was accepted to study medicine at theHanover Medical School. Following this, he continued his education at theBundeswehr hospital in Hamburg. He earned his Doctorate incardiothoracic surgery in 2002.[11] He left the service as aStabsarzt (a rank for German medical officers equivalent to an army captain)[12] in 2003.[13]
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Rösler joined the FDP and its political youth organization, theYoung Liberals, in 1992.[10] He was secretary of the FDP in the state ofLower Saxony from 2000 to 2004 and served as chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in theLower Saxon state assembly from 2003. From 2001 to 2006, Rösler was a member in the regional assembly of Hanover (district), where he was also deputy chairman of the parliamentary group. In May 2005, he was elected an observer of the federal FDP executive committee. He received 95% of the votes, the best result of that party conference. At the state party conference in March 2006, Rösler was elected as chairman of the Lower Saxon FDP with 96.4% of the votes; he succeeded Walter Hirche, who had decided to step down after twelve years at the helm. In April 2008, Rösler was confirmed as the Lower Saxon FDP party chairman, receiving 95% of the votes.
At the federal party conference in June 2007, Rösler was re-elected as a member of the party executive committee. The following month, he was elected to stand as his party's main candidate in theLower Saxon state election in January 2008. In that election, he received 10.9% of the votes in his local constituency,Hanover-Döhren. On 18 February 2008, Rösler was appointed State Minister for Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport[14] as well as Deputy Minister-President in the cabinet ofMinister-PresidentChristian Wulff of Lower Saxony.
Following the2009 national elections, Rösler succeededUlla Schmidt asFederal Minister of Health inAngela Merkel'ssecond cabinet.[15]
Over the course of 2010, Rösler pushed throughchanges to the way drugs are priced on the German market as part of his wider-ranging health-care reform plans.[16] In January 2011, he asked German pharmaceutical companies to refrain from delivering anestheticsodium thiopental to the US, a request they agreed to. Later that year, he declined a request from his counterpart, United States Secretary of CommerceGary Locke, that Germany help out with thiopental as dozens of US states were facing shortages of a drug necessary inlethal injections administered to death-row prisoners.[17]
Rösler succeededRainer Brüderle asFederal Minister of Economics and Technology on 12 May 2011 andGuido Westerwelle as Chairman of the FDP on 13 May 2011 and was also instated asVice-Chancellor of Germany on 16 May 2011.[18][19]
On 7 June 2011, Rösler attended thestate dinner hosted by PresidentBarack Obama in honor ofChancellorAngela Merkel at theWhite House.[20]
Rösler strongly supported the presidential candidacy ofJoachim Gauck, originally proposed by the SPD and Greens, and reportedly secured his nomination by convincing his opposing coalition partner, theCDU/CSU, to back the nomination. That was seen as a step to demonstrate the independence of his party which was dramatically trailing in polls.[21]
As a consequence of the FDP's defeat in the2013 state elections in Lower Saxony, Rösler offered to step down as party chairman. The leadership decided that he would remain but not lead the party in the federal elections, instead acting in a team withRainer Brüderle as top candidate.[22] Following the defeat of2013 federal elections, when theFDP was for first time in its history voted out of the Bundestag, he stepped down as chairman and retired from politics.Christian Lindner became his successor as leader of theFDP.
In January 2014, Rösler became a member of the managing board and Head of the Centre for Regional Strategies of theWorld Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland, under the leadership of chairmanKlaus Schwab.[23] From late 2017 until early 2019, Rösler served as chief executive officer of New York-based Hainan Cihang Charity Foundation Inc., the largest shareholder ofHNA Group.[24][25]
In 2020, Rösler founded Consessor AG, a consulting firm based in Zug which advises companies on strategic management and internationalization.[26]
In September 2021, Rösler was appointed as theHonorary Consul ofVietnam to the Swiss cantons ofZürich andZug.[27][28]
Rösler is a Roman Catholic,[44] and a member of the General Conference of theCentral Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). He has been married to Wiebke Lauterbach,[9] also a physician, since 2002. The couple has twin daughters. The family lived inIsernhagen before moving toGeneva in 2014 and, in 2017, toZürich.[9][45]
Grand Officer of theOrder of Merit, Portugal (3 March 2009)[46]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Leader of theFree Democratic Party 2011–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Walter Hirche | Minister for Economics, Labour and Transport ofLower Saxony 2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Health 2009–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice-Chancellor of Germany 2011–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Economics and Technology 2011–2013 | |
Second Merkel cabinet (2009–2013) | ||
|---|---|---|
|  | |
Bold:Chancellor; A: Served asMinister of Health 2009–2011 and then served asMinister of Economics and Technology andVice-Chancellor (2011–present); B: Served from 2009; C: Served from 2011; D: Served from 2012; E: Served until 2013 V:Vice-Chancellor. | ||
| German Empire (1871–1918) |  | |
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| Weimar Republic (1919–1933) | ||
| Third Reich (1933–1945) | ||
| Federal Republic (1949–) | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
