Thomas Bareiß | |
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| Member of theBundestag | |
| Assumed office 2005 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1975-02-15)15 February 1975 (age 50) |
| Political party | Christian Democratic Union |
| Signature |  |
Thomas Bareiß (born 15 February 1975) is a German politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU)[1] who has been serving as a member of the GermanBundestag since 2005. From 2018 to 2021, he held the position of Parliamentary State Secretary at theFederal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy inChancellor Angela Merkel'scabinet.
Abusiness manager by profession, Bareiß has been a directly elected member of theBundestag since the2005 elections. In his first term between 2005 and 2009, he was a full member of the Committee on the Affairs of the European Union as well as of the Committee on Labor and Social Affairs. In that capacity, he served as his parliamentary group'srapporteur onTransatlantic relations.[2] Since the2009 elections, he has been serving on the Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy.
In the negotiations to form aGrand Coalition ofChancellorAngela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the BavarianCSU) and theSocial Democrats (SPD) following the2013 federal elections, Bareiß was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group onenergy policy, led byPeter Altmaier andHannelore Kraft. Following the2016 elections in Germany's important state ofBaden-Württemberg, he was again part of the negotiations on a coalition government, this time of the CDU and theGreen Party underMinister-PresidentWinfried Kretschmann.[3]
With the formation of thefourthGrand Coalition under Merkel in 2018, it was announced that Bareiß would move to the position of Parliamentary State Secretary at theFederal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy under MinisterPeter Altmaier.[4][5] In this capacity, he also served as the Federal Government's Commissioner for Tourism (since 2018)[6] and forsmall and medium-sized enterprises (2020–2021).[7]
Ahead of the Christian Democrats'leadership election in 2018, Bareiß publicly endorsedFriedrich Merz to succeed Angela Merkel as the party's chair.[8]
Since the2021 elections, Bareiß has been serving as his parliamentary group's spokesperson for transport.[9]
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In 2010, Bareiß worked to limit the growth in solar-panel installations in Germany as he saw the rising costs to consumers undermine the acceptance of alternative energy. In a letter to then-Environment MinisterNorbert Röttgen, he demanded that the government cut the guaranteed gratuity per kilowatt hour for newly installed solar panels by an extra amount.[10]
Amid a 2014 debate over whether Germany needs to rethink its energy strategy and reduce its dependence on Russian gas imports due to theRusso-Ukrainian War, Bareiß spoke out in favor ofliquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and demanded an effective regulatory framework for a German LNG terminal.[11]
In early 2025 Bareiß was one of the few politicians who campaigned for a repair of the partially destroyedNord Stream 2 pipeline. He wanted the transport natural gas from Russia to Germany to resume, as soon as the war, which followed theRussian invasion of Ukraine, was over.[12]
Bareiß rejects the introduction of a CO2 tax. He has justified this due to the allegedly high costs for broad sections of society being problematic.[13] He is open to CO2 emissions trading.[14] After the publication of theRezo videoThe destruction of the CDU and the poor performance of the CDU in the2019 European Parliament election, Bareiß criticized first-time voters and their demand for a CO2 tax. In a tweet, Bareiß wrote that when it comes to a CO2 tax "if first-time voters make their own money and feel for themselves who has to pay for everything" then "the choice may look different again". Climate activists, young influencers and the media criticized Bareiß for this statement.[15] The parliamentary director of the parliamentary group of the left,Niema Movassat, accused Bareiß of being detached and arrogant in dealing with first-time voters.[16] The CDU politicianRuprecht Polenz also classified Bareiß's tweet as a mistake.[17]
On 27 January 2015, Bareiß voted against theMerkel government's proposal for a four-month extension of Greece's bailout; in doing so, he joined a record number of 29 dissenters from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group who expressed skepticism about whether the Greek government underPrime MinisterAlexis Tsipras could be trusted to deliver on its reform pledges.[18]
In August 2007, Bareiß joined a travel group toBaku accompanied by lobbyist Otto Hauser, and again in 2010. In June 2012 Bareiß, along with Eduard Lintner, was received by severalAzerbaijani ministers.[19]
In June 2017, Bareiß voted against Germany's introduction ofsame-sex marriage.[20]
In August 2015, Bareiß and 72 other members of parliament were rated "poor" by theabgeordnetenwatch.de platform, because of not answering any questions from citizens on the platform.[21][22] Bareiß justified this in a letter to the editor to the local press with a reference to the alleged lack of seriousness of the platform.[23]
In spring of 2020, amid the first outbreak of theCOVID-19 pandemic in Germany, Bareiß, who is known for his close relations withAzerbaijan,[24][25][26] following a request from there, made a phone call to Löwenstein Medical from theFederal Ministry of Economics,[27] the second largest federal government manufacturer ofventilators in Germany. According to reports in several German media outlets, during the conversation Bareiß "insisted in the telephone call that ventilators be delivered first to Baku and that this was due to the good economic relations between Germany and the Caucasus Republic."[28][29][30] The news came at a time when a number of CDU/CSU MPs were implicated in corruption allegations related to face mask procurement during the pandemic and lobbying scandals related to "Azerbaijani Laundromat" and "Caviar diplomacy".[31][32][33]
Bareiß rejected the allegations, stating that he "did not exert any pressure," and the call was only to enquire about a delivery date.[34] Subsequently, the company issued an official statement to confirm that: "At no time have we been pressured by Mr. Bareiß, nor have we made such a statement to the press in the above-mentioned event or any other context."[35][36] The Federal Ministry of Economics also stated that Thomas Bareiß had "at no time asked a representative of Löwenstein Medical to give priority to the delivery of ventilators to Azerbaijan."[37]
Media related toThomas Bareiß at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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