Rüdiger Kruse

Rüdiger Kruse (born 10 June 1961), is a German politician who represents the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the Bundestag, the German federal parliament.

Rüdiger Kruse
Member of the Bundestag
Assumed office
2009
Personal details
Born (1961-06-10) 10 June 1961
Hamburg, West Germany
(now Germany)
CitizenshipGerman
NationalityGermany
Political partyCDU

Education and early career

Kruse was born in Hamburg, West Germany. After attending elementary school in Hamburg, Kruse studied medicine at University, but did not complete the course. In the year 2000, he was appointed managing director of the Eimsbuttel Einfal Initiative for working and learning.[1] He subsequently became managing director of the Hamburg National Association for the Protection of German Forests and CEO of the Foundation Company Forest Germany – two shareholders of the Einfal company with 60 employees and approximately 900 participants. In addition, he served as a member of the Advisory Board of HSH Nordbank in Hamburg.

Political career

Career in state politics

Kruse joined the CDU when he was 16. From 2001 until September 2009, he was a deputy in the Hamburg Parliament, where he was his parliamentary group's spokesman on policy development, finance, budget issues and sustainable development. He represented the CDU on several parliamentary committees, including the one on budgets, European affairs, environment and culture. In addition, he was a member of the Special Committee on Administrative Reform and two subcommittees, as well as finance areas and public companies. In 2007, Kruse was appointed to the City of Hamburg’s Council on Climate Protection by Mayor Ole von Beust.[2]

Career in national politics

Kruse was selected to contest the constituency of Hamburg Eimsbüttel, which the CDU had never won and which the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) had held since the 1950s. However, the crisis in the SPD presented an opportunity[3] and in the 2009 federal election, the SPD vote collapsed, with the party finishing third. Kruse gained the seat for the CDU, despite a slight drop in the party's vote share.

In parliament, Kruse is a member of the Budget Committee and the Audit Committee. He is also a deputy member of the Committee on Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.[4] A member of the Budget Committee since 2009, he has served as his parliamentary group's rapporteur on the budgets of the Federal Chancellery; the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media; and the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (since 2018). In the Audit Committee, he serves as the rapporteur on the budget of the Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg). Until 2017, he was also a member of the so-called Confidential Committee (Vertrauensgremium) of the Budget Committee, which provides budgetary supervision for Germany’s three intelligence services, BND, BfV and MAD. In 2018, he also joined the Parliamentary Advisory Board for Sustainable Development.

In addition to his committee assignments, Kruse has been member of the German-British Parliamentary Friendship Group, the German-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Group and the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the Baltic States (2009–2013). Since 2019, he has been a member of the German delegation to the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly.[5] In 2020, Kruse co-founded a cross-party working group on diversity and anti-racism.[6]

In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Kruse was part of the working group on economic policy, led Thomas Strobl, Alexander Dobrindt and Brigitte Zypries.

Other activities

Corporate boards
  • UMPR Public Relations Agency, Member of the Advisory Board
  • HSH Nordbank, Member of the Advisory Board (2009–2012)

Non-profit organizations
  • Association for the Protection of the German Forest (SDW), Hamburg section, Managing Director
  • German Industry Initiative for Energy Efficiency (DENEFF), Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board
  • Green Budget Germany (FÖS), Member of the Advisory Board
  • Tarabya Academy, Member of the Advisory Board

Political positions

Throughout his time on the Budget Committee, Kruse has been a proponent of the Merkel government’s policy to refrain from any net new borrowing and instead focus all efforts on achieving a structurally balanced budget.[7]

In June 2017, Kruse voted against his parliamentary group’s majority and in favor of Germany’s introduction of same-sex marriage.[8]

Kruse opposes the extension of nuclear power plants.[9]

In 2019, Kruse joined 14 members of his parliamentary group who, in an open letter, called for the party to rally around Angela Merkel and party chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer amid criticism voiced by conservatives Friedrich Merz and Roland Koch.[10] He later endorsed Norbert Röttgen as Kramp-Karrenbauer's successor at the party’s 2021 leadership election.[11]

References
  1. Biography at German forestry site accessed 30 June 2012
  2. Sven-Michael Veit (April 13, 2007), Dem Klima voran reiten Die Tageszeitung.
  3. Die Krise in der SPD:Für ihn will keiner Wahlkampf machen, Hamburger Morgenpost, 20 November 2008
  4. Biography at Bundestag site Archived 16 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 30 June 2012
  5. Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly Deutscher Bundestag.
  6. Andrea Dernbach, Cordula Eubel and Paul Starzmann (October 8, 2020), Neuer Ausschuss gegen Rassismus: Fraktionsübergreifend schließen sich Abgeordnete für mehr Vielfalt zusammen Der Tagesspiegel.
  7. Andreas Dey (September 23, 2017), Eimsbüttel: Rüdiger Kruse oder Niels Annen? Hamburger Abendblatt.
  8. Andreas Dey (September 23, 2017), Eimsbüttel: Rüdiger Kruse oder Niels Annen? Hamburger Abendblatt.
  9. Er soll jetzt den Haushalt richten, Hamburger Morgenpost, 25 November 2010
  10. Jens Schneider (October 30, 2019), Machtkampf in der CDU: Abgeordnete nennen parteiinterne Kritik "extrem schädlich" Süddeutsche Zeitung.
  11. Robert Roßmann (December 14, 2020), Norbert Röttgen: Der entspannte Kandidat Süddeutsche Zeitung.
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