Michael Grosse-Brömer
Michael Grosse-Brömer (born 12 October 1960) is a German politician and a member of the Bundestag for the German Christian Democratic Union.
Michael Grosse-Brömer | |
---|---|
Chief Whip of the CDU/CSU Group in the Bundestag | |
Assumed office 22 May 2012 | |
Leader | Volker Kauder Ralph Brinkhaus |
Preceded by | Peter Altmaier |
Member of the Bundestag for Harburg | |
Assumed office 27 September 2009 | |
Preceded by | Monika Griefahn |
Member of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony | |
In office 22 September 2002 – 27 September 2009 | |
Constituency | Christian Democratic List |
Personal details | |
Born | Michael Grosse-Brömer 12 October 1960 Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany (now Germany) |
Citizenship | German |
Nationality | Germany |
Political party | CDU |
Children | 2 |
Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
Occupation | Politician |
Early life and education
Grosse-Brömer is a lawyer and civil law notary, specializing in building and architects law.[1]
Political career
Grosse-Brömer joined the CDU in 1982.
Grosse-Brömer was first elected to the Bundestag in the 2002 elections. He first served as member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and as chairman of its Sub-Committee on European Law. Between 2003 and 2004, he was one of 32 members of the Commission on the modernization of the federal state, which had been established to reform the division of powers between federal and state authorities in Germany. Within the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Grosse-Brömer joined the leadership committee in 2006.
Following the 2009 federal elections, Grosse-Brömer assumed leadership of the Christian Democrats from Lower Saxony. In 2010 he became justicar of the parliamentary group of the CDU; before then he had served as the groups’ spokesperson on legal affairs. In 2012 he succeeded Peter Altmaier as First Secretary of the parliamentary group, in this position assisting the parliamentary group's chairman Volker Kauder. In addition, he is a member of the German-Austrian Parliamentary Friendship Group and the German-Irish Parliamentary Friendship Group.
Since 2009, Grosse-Brömer has also been member of the parliament’s Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigning committee chairpersons based on party representation. Since 2014, he has been serving on the Committee on the Election of Judges (Wahlausschuss), which is in charge of appointing judges to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.[2] He is also a member of the parliamentary body in charge of appointing judges to the other Highest Courts of Justice, namely the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG), the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH), the Federal Labour Court (BAG), and the Federal Social Court (BSG).
Following the 2013 federal elections, Grosse-Brömer was part of the CDU/CSU team in the negotiations with the SPD on a coalition agreement. In the negotiations to form a coalition government with the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Green Party following the 2017 national elections, he was part of the 19-member delegation of the CDU.
Political views
On social policy
Following a 2013 decision by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, which ruled that gays and lesbians should be allowed to adopt children already adopted by their partners, Grosse-Brömer told German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung that as a result of the "clear tendency in the decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court, we should move as quickly as possible to implement the necessary constitutional right of equality."[3] Grosse-Brömer later devised a compromise on legally binding rules to ensure more women sit on corporate boards after some of his parliamentary group’s lawmakers, led by Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen, threatened to vote for the opposition-sponsored proposal to reserve as many as 40 percent of board seats for women. Under the agreement, at least 30 percent of the supervisory board of publicly traded companies must be reserved for women from 2020.[4]
On economic policy
In a 2013 German debate about moving towards tighter regulation of executive pay, Grosse-Brömer expressed his hope that transparency and shareholder scrutiny would be enough to put a stop to pay excesses and rejected a legal cap on payouts.[5] Speaking on plans to create a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in 2014, he told the Financial Times that "[t]he biggest advantage is that when the EU and the US make this deal, it will include standards which can be applied worldwide."[6]
On foreign policy
In the debate on international sanctions during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, Grosse-Brömer supported tighter measures, saying said it was "right" to push for more sanctions on Russia and that "sanctions that have been held out must also be implemented."[7] On Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko’s 2014 plan to hold a referendum on his country joining NATO, Grosse-Brömer swiftly commented: "NATO membership for Ukraine isn’t on the agenda at this point."[8]
Other activities
Grosse-Brömer sits on the advisory board of Wuppertal-based insurer Barmenia Versicherungen.[9]
References
- "Parlamentarischer Geschäftsführer: Grosse-Brömer soll Altmaiers Nachfolger werden" [First Parliamentary Secretary: Grosse-Brömer set to become Altmaier's successor]. Der Spiegel (in German). 21 May 2012.
- Grosse-Brömer soll neuer Unionsfraktions-Geschäftsführer werden Die Zeit, 21 May 2012.
- Michael Grosse-Brömer Bundestag.
- Chris Cottrell and Nicholas Kulish (28 February 2013), Gay Rights Emerge as Campaign Issue in Germany New York Times.
- Rainer Buergin (16 April 2013), Merkel Whip Says CDU Plan for Women on Boards Trumps Opposition Bloomberg.
- Gerrit Wiesmann (13 March 2013), Merkel eyes tighter control of top pay Financial Times.
- Shawn Donnan (6 October 2014), Trade deals: Toxic talks Financial Times.
- Patrick Donahue (1 July 2014), Merkel Ally Says EU Poised to Ratchet Up Russia Sanctions Bloomberg News.
- Patrick Donahue, Arne Delfs and Ilya Arkhipov (26 November 2014), Merkel Said to Reject Ukraine NATO Bid Bloomberg News.
- Michael Grosse-Brömer Bundestag.