Armin Laschet

Laschet was born in Burtscheid, a suburb of Aachen, about three kilometres from the Belgian and Dutch borders, to parents Heinrich Laschet and Marcella née Frings; he was raised in an observant Roman Catholic family.[3] His father was a mining engineer at a black coal mine and later became an elementary school teacher and headmaster.[4] The Laschet family is originally from Liège Province in Wallonia in modern Belgium where the family's ancestor Jacques (or Jacob) Laschet lived in Hergenrath in the Duchy of Limburg in the 18th century; his paternal grandfather Hubert Laschet (1899–1984) moved from Hergenrath to Aachen in the 1920s;[lower-alpha 1] his paternal grandmother Hubertina Wetzels (1900–1979) had been born in Aachen to parents who had just moved there from Welkenraedt in Belgium.[5] Like many others in the tri-border area the Laschets had relatives across the national boundaries, who lived in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Neutral Moresnet. Laschet maintains close personal ties to Belgium where members of the Laschet family still live.[2]

He attended the Pius-Gymnasium in Aachen and studied law at the universities of Bonn and Munich, passing the first state examination in law in 1987. He studied journalism from 1986 to 1988. In Munich he became a member of K.D.St.V. Aenania München, a Catholic student fraternity that is member of the Cartellverband.

Laschet speaks fluent French.[6]

Laschet worked as a journalist and in the publishing industry from 1986 until 1991, among other things as Bonn correspondent for Bayerischer Rundfunk. He later served as editor-in-chief of the Catholic newspaper KirchenZeitung Aachen from 1991 until 1994. From 1995 to 1999, while also serving as a member of parliament, he was CEO of the Catholic publishing company Einhard-Verlag, which had previously been led by his father-in-law Heinrich Malangré.

Laschet is married to his childhood sweetheart Susanne Malangré, whom he met as a child in a Catholic children's choir led by Susanne's father, prominent business executive Heinrich Malangré; they married in 1985.[7] The couple has two sons and a daughter.[6] The family resides in Aachen's Burtscheid district. His wife belongs to a prominent Aachen family of French-speaking Wallonian origin and is the niece of CDU politician and lord mayor of Aachen Kurt Malangré; the Malangré family moved from Haine-Saint-Pierre in Belgium to Stolberg to establish a glass production business in the second half of the 19th century.[8] His son Johannes ("Joe") Laschet, who studied law, is a blogger and model, described as a fashion influencer on Instagram.[9][10]

Following the 1994 national elections, Laschet became a member of the German Bundestag. He was on the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development and on the Committee for European Union Affairs.

As Member of the European Parliament, Laschet served on the Committee on Budgets between 1999 and 2001 and on the Committee on Foreign Affairs between 2002 and 2005. In the latter capacity, he served as the Parliament's rapporteur on relations between the EU and the United Nations.[11]

Under Minister-President (Prime Minister) Jürgen Rüttgers in North Rhine-Westphalia, Laschet served as State Minister for Generations, Family, Women and Integration from 2005 until 2010, and as State Minister for Federal Affairs, Europe and Media from 2010. In 2010, he unsuccessfully ran against Norbert Röttgen for the post of CDU chairman in the state.[12] When Röttgen resigned from that office in 2012, Laschet was elected as his successor. On 4 December 2012 he was elected as one of five deputy chairpersons of the national CDU party,[13] serving alongside Volker Bouffier, Julia Klöckner, Thomas Strobl and Ursula von der Leyen.

Laschet currently serves as state MP in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia and also chairs the CDU's state chapter (Landesverband). From 2014 until 2016, he was a member of the North Rhine-Westphalia Commission for Constitutional Reform, led by Rainer Bovermann.[14]

In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) following the 2013 federal elections, Laschet was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on energy policy, led by Peter Altmaier and Hannelore Kraft.

In November 2015, Laschet visited the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan to learn more about the plight of Syrians fleeing the violence in the ongoing Syrian civil war that erupted in 2011.[15] Between March 2015 and January 2016, he chaired the Robert Bosch Expert Commission to Consider a Realignment of Refugee Policy, an expert group convened by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.[16]

In November 2016, Laschet was elected leading candidate for the North Rhine-Westphalia state elections in May 2017.[17] He was a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2017.[18]

Since 27 June 2017 Laschet has been the 11th Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia (Cabinet Laschet). As one of his state's representatives at the Bundesrat, he serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Defence Committee.

Ahead of the CDU's leadership election, Laschet announced in February 2020 that he would run for the position of party chairman and his erstwhile rival Jens Spahn would stand as his deputy.[19] Polls subsequently showed voters rated Laschet's management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany's most populous state poorly.[20]

On European integration, Laschet seeks to strengthen the European Union on issues such as fighting international terrorism and organized crime, as well as energy policy. He also wants to see the President of the European Commission be elected directly by European voters.[21]

During the European debt crisis, Laschet called for an "open discussion" toward a broad solution to the debt crisis, of which Eurobonds could be a part.[22] He argued that a Greek exit from the Eurozone could trigger undesirable upheaval in southern Europe: "(An exit) could lead to instability in a NATO member state. Russia is standing ready with billions to help Greece in such a scenario."[23] In October 2011, he signed George Soros' open letter calling for more European Union involvement in the single currency turmoil.[24]

In 2020 alone, Laschet met with French president Emmanuel Macron three times. Alongside Jens Spahn, Laschet was invited by Macron of France to attend the 2020 Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, in a sign of gratitude for their role in helping French citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic in France.[25] In an honour reserved for special guests, Macron invited Laschet into the Élysée Palace's gardens.[26]

Laschet was a fierce defender of Chancellor Merkel's migration policies during the European migrant crisis of 2015.[27]

In 2016, Laschet dismissed proposals for a so-called burqa ban as a "phony debate" and distraction from more pressing issues. However, his party later adopted this policy as a core issue.[28][29][30]

Ahead of a parliamentary vote in June 2017, Laschet expressed his opposition against Germany's introduction of same-sex marriage.[31]

In 2018, Laschet described the treehouses protesting the destruction of Hambach forest as "illegally occupied areas" and stated that RWE had the right to clear the forest. "The state government is there to ensure that the law that applies is enforced," he said during a talk show on German public broadcaster WDR.[32]

Laschet is considered by some critics as taking a soft stance on the government of President Vladimir Putin.[33][34] Noah Barkin, writing for Foreign Policy, points out that Laschet has voiced support NordStream 2 and for a closer relationship with China and is against excluding Huawei from Germany's 5G network. He adds that Laschet has also been against "demonizing" Putin for the Russian annexation of Crimea.[35]

In 2018, Laschet cancelled his appearances at the Ruhrtriennale arts and music festival due to the festival allowing supporters of the BDS movement to perform.[36]

• RAG-Stiftung, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2017)[37]

• Development and Peace Foundation (SEF), Ex-Officio chairman of the board of Trustees (since 2017)
• Kunststiftung NRW, chairman of the board of Trustees (since 2017)[38]
• North Rhine-Westphalian Foundation for the Environment and Development (SUE), Ex-Officio chairman of the board (since 2017)[39]
• Atlantik-Brücke, Member
• Bonner Akademie für Forschung und Lehre praktischer Politik (BAPP), Member of the Board of Trustees[40]
• Campus Symposium of the Business and Information Technology School, Member of the Advisory Board
• Central Committee of German Catholics, Member
• Charlemagne Prize, Member of the board of directors
• European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Member
• European Foundation for the Aachen Cathedral, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Policy Fellow
• Karl Arnold Foundation, Member of the Board
• Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Member of the Planning Committee
• Peace of Westphalia Prize, Member of the Jury[41]
• missio, Member of the Supervisory Board
• St. Maria zur Wiese, Member of the Board of Trustees[42]
• United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN), Member of the Presidium[43]
• Theodor Heuss Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (−2015)