Thomas Bareiß

Thomas Bareiß (born 15 February 1975) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)[1] who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since 2005.

Thomas Bareiß
Member of the Bundestag
Assumed office
2005
Personal details
Born (1975-02-15) 15 February 1975
Albstadt, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
(now Germany)
CitizenshipGerman
NationalityGermany
Political partyCDU

Political career

A business manager by profession, Bareiß has been a directly elected member of the Bundestag since the 2005 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’s rapporteur on Transatlantic relations.[2] Since the 2009 elections, he has been serving on the Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy.

In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) following the 2013 federal elections, Bareiß was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on energy policy, led by Peter Altmaier and Hannelore Kraft. Following the 2016 elections in Germany's important state of Baden-Württemberg, he was again part of the negotiations on a coalition government, this time of the CDU and the Green Party under Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann.[3]

With the formation of the fourth Grand Coalition under Merkel in 2018, it was announced that Bareiß would move to the position of Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy under Minister Peter Altmaier.[4][5] In this capacity, he also serves as the Federal Government’s Commissioner for Tourism (since 2018)[6] and for small and medium-sized enterprises (since 2020).[7]

Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, Bareiß publicly endorsed Friedrich Merz to succeed Angela Merkel as the party’s chair.[8]

Political positions

Energy policy

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 Minister Norbert Röttgen, he demanded that the government cut the guaranteed gratuity per kilowatt hour for newly installed solar panels by an extra amount.[9]

Amid a 2014 debate over whether Germany needs to rethink its energy strategy and reduce its dependence on Russian gas imports due to the Ukrainian crisis, Bareiß spoke out in favor of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and demanded an effective regulatory framework for a German LNG terminal.[10]

Environment

Bareiß rejects the introduction of a CO
2 tax. He has justified this due to the allegedly high costs for broad sections of society being problematic.[11] He is open to CO
2 emissions trading.[12] After the publication of the Rezo video The destruction of the CDU and the poor performance of the CDU in the 2019 European Parliament election, Bareiß criticized first-time voters and their demand for a CO
2 tax. In a tweet, Bareiß wrote that when it comes to a CO
2 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.[13] 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.[14] The CDU politician Ruprecht Polenz also classified Bareiß's tweet as a mistake.[15]

European integration

On 27 January 2015, Bareiß voted against the Merkel 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 under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras could be trusted to deliver on its reform pledges.[16]

Human rights

In June 2017, Bareiss voted against Germany’s introduction of same-sex marriage.[17]

Other activities

Regulatory agencies

Corporate boards
  • Deutsche Rockwool Mineralwoll GmbH & Co. OHG, Member of the Advisory Board

Non-profits
  • German Energy Agency (DENA), Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2018)
  • Association of German Foundations, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board
  • Friends of the Beuron Archabbey, Member of the Executive Board
  • Zukunft Erdgas initiative, Member of the Advisory Board
  • Agora Energiewende, Member of the Council (until 2018)[19]
  • German-Azerbaijani Forum, Member of the Board of Trustees (until 2018)
  • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Member of the Board of Trustees (until 2018)
  • Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund, Member of the Board of Trustees (until 2018)

See also

References
  1. Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands, Retrieved on 30 July 2009
  2. Transatlantischer Wirtschaftsrat (TEC) ist wichtiger denn je für die transatlantischen Beziehungen CDU/CSU, press release of November 30, 2011.
  3. Grün-Schwarz einig über Schuldenbremse Südwestrundfunk, 6 April 2014.
  4. Norbert Wallet (March 11, 2018), Parlamentarische Staatssekretäre: Bareiß und Bilger neu in Bundesregierung Stuttgarter Zeitung.
  5. Andrea Pauly and Katja Korf (March 11, 2018), Schwäbische Zeitung.
  6. Neue Beauftragte für Mittelstand, Tourismus, Luft- und Raumfahrt sowie maritime Wirtschaft ernannt Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, press release of 11 April 2018.
  7. Moritz Koch (April 1, 2020), Neuer Mittelstandsbeauftragter: „Aus der Liquiditätskrise darf keine Schuldenkrise werden“ Handelsblatt.
  8. Christian Rothenberg (December 5, 2018), So groß sind die Lager der Unterstützer für Merz, Spahn und Kramp-Karrenbauer Handelsblatt.
  9. Rainer Buergin (29 November 2010), German CDU Wants Curbs on Solar Capacity Growth, FTD Reports Bloomberg.
  10. Madeline Chambers (30 March 2014), Debate on Russian energy imports strains German coalition Reuters.
  11. Reinhard Zweigler (7 June 2019). "Günther macht Druck für CO2-Abgaben". Lübecker Nachrichten (in German).
  12. Malte Kreutzfeldt (2 July 2019). "Klimaschutz muss bezahlbar sein". Tageszeitung (in German).
  13. Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart Germany (29 May 2019). "Thomas Bareiß über Erstwähler: CDU-Staatssekretär sorgt mit Tweet für Aufregung" (in German).
  14. "CDU-Politiker schimpft nach Europawahl über Erstwähler - Moderator Buschmann kontert scharf" (in German). 28 May 2019.
  15. "Man setzt auf Twitter immer einen Impuls" (in German). 29 May 2019.
  16. Stephen Brown (27 February 2015), Germany backs Greek extension but bailout fatigue grows Reuters.
  17. Ehe für alle: So haben die Abgeordneten aus unserer Region abgestimmt Südkurier, June 30, 2017.
  18. Advisory Board Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (BNetzA).
  19. Council Agora Energiewende.
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