The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (german: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz, ), abbreviated BMWK (was BMWi), is a cabinet-level ministry of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

. It was previously known as the "Ministry of Economy". It was recreated in 2005 as "Ministry of Economics and Technology" after it had previously been merged with other ministries to form the Federal Ministry for Economics and Labour between 2002 and 2005. The ministry is advised by the

Council of Advisors on Digital Economy The Council of Advisors on Digital Economy (german: Beirat Junge Digitale Wirtschaft beim Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft, abbreviated ''BJDW'') is an advisory board to the Cabinet of Germany, German government established within the Federal Min ...

History

The historical predecessor of the current Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action was the ''Reichswirtschaftsamt'' (Reich Economic Office), founded in 1917. In 1919, this became the ''Reichswirtschaftsministerium'' (Reich Ministry of Economy), which existed until 1945. In postwar occupied Germany, its functions were exercised by the Administrative Office of Economy (german: Verwaltungsamt für Wirtschaft) between 1946 and 1949. After the founding of the

, the Federal Ministry of Economics (german: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft) existed from 1949 to 1998. From May 1971 to December 1972, it was temporarily merged with the Federal Ministry of Finance, in the Federal Ministry of Economics and Finance. In 1998 the technology section of the Ministry of Research was added, making it the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Between 2002 and 2005, it was merged with the

Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (german: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz, ), abbreviated BMWK (was BMWi), is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was previously known as ...

and one part of the

Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (german: Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, ), abbreviated BMAS) is a federal ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany headed by the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs a ...

- the other part being merged with the old Federal Ministry for Health, then the Ministry of Health and Social Security. This transformations aimed to consolidate the policy-fields of economics and labour market, on which the second term of chancellor Gerhard Schröder wanted to focus, into one hand. Because the new Ministry was very large and important, it was often referred to as a super-ministry (''Superministerium'') and its minister as a super-minister (''Superminister''). The creation of the new Ministry was widely seen as failed, basically because of the poor performance of the only office-holder

Wolfgang Clement Wolfgang Clement (7 July 194027 September 2020) was a German politician and a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was the 7th Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 May 1998 to 22 October 2002 and Federal ...

. Under the following

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are ...

headed by

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...

, the portfolio reshuffle was reversed, and the old Federal Ministries of Economics and Technology, of Labour and Social Affairs and of Health were created once again as Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. It was renamed to Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in 2013.

Structure

The Ministry is organised into 9 departments and one central department. * Central Administration – Z * Political Staff and Policy Planning - L * European Policy – E * Economic Policy – I * Energy Policy: Heating and Efficiency – II * Energy Policy: Electricity and Grid – III * Industrial Policy – IV * External Economic Policy – V * Digital und Innovation Policy – VI * SME Policy - VII The ministry is headquartered in Berlin.

Agencies

In addition to its own operations, the Ministry also oversees the following agencies: The Ministry's Agencies
/ref> *

Federal Cartel Office The Federal Cartel Office (, ; BKartA) is Germany's national competition regulatory agency. First established in 1958, BKartA comes under the authority of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The agency is headquartered ...

Federal Network Agency The Federal Network Agency (german: Bundesnetzagentur or ) is the German regulatory office for electricity, gas, telecommunications, post and railway markets. It is a federal agency of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Acti ...

* Federal Office of Economics and Export Control * Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing *

Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources The Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe or BGR) is a German agency within the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. It acts as a central geoscience consulting institu ...

* German National Metrology Institute

Ministers and Secretaries of State

Ministers

Political Party:

Secretaries

Ministry for Economy (1949–1998)

;Parliamentary State Secretaries * 1967–1970: Klaus Dieter Arndt, SPD * 1970–1971: Philip Rosenthal, SPD * 1972: Rainer Offergeld, SPD * 1972–1987: Martin Grüner, FDP/DVP * 1983–1987: Rudolf Sprung, CDU * 1987–1989: Ludolf-Georg von Wartenberg, CDU * 1987–1993: Erich Riedl, CSU * 1989–1992: Klaus Beckmann, FDP * 1992–1998: Heinrich Leonhard Kolb, FDP * 1993–1994: Reinhard Göhner, CDU * 1994–1997:

Norbert Lammert Norbert Lammert (born 16 November 1948) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the 12th President of the Bundestag from 2005 to 2017. Early life and education The son of a baker, Lammert attended gymnasium ...

, CDU ;State Secretaries * 1949–1951: Eduard Schalfejew * 1951–1963:

Ludger Westrick Ludger Westrick (23 October 1894 – 31 July 1990) was a German politician ( Christian Democratic Union) who served as Head of the German Chancellery from 1963 to 1966 and as Minister for Special Affairs from 1969 to 1972. He previously was a ...

, no party * 1958–1963:

Alfred Müller-Armack Alfred Müller-Armack (28 June 1901 – 16 March 1978) was a German economist and politician. He coined the term " social market economy" in 1946. Müller-Armack was professor of economics at University of Münster and University of Cologne. H ...

, CDU * 1963–1966: Wolfram Langer * 1963–1968: Fritz Neef * 1967–1972: Johann Baptist Schöllhorn * 1968–1969: Klaus von Dohnanyi, SPD * 1969–1978: Detlev Karsten Rohwedder, SPD * 1972:

Ernst Wolf Mommsen The Mommsen family is a German family of influential historians. *Jens Mommsen (1783–1851) ∞ Sophie Elisabeth Krumbhaar (1792–1855) ** Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903), 1902 Nobel Laureate in Literature ∞ Marie Reimer (1832–1907) ***Marie Momm ...

* 1973–1991: Otto Schlecht * 1979–1995: Dieter von Würzen * 1991–1994: Johann Eekhoff * 1994–1997:

Johannes Ludewig Johannes Ludewig (born 6 July 1945, in Hamburg) is a German manager and former secretary of state. He was executive director of Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) from 2002 until 2011. References 1945 bi ...

* 1995–1998: Lorenz Schomerus * 1997–1998:

Rudi Geil Rudi, born Albert Rudolph (January 24, 1928 – February 21, 1973), also known as Swami Rudrananda, was born in Brooklyn, New York. Rudi was a spiritual teacher and an antiquities entrepreneur in New York City.Swami Rudrananda udi ''Spiri ...

, CDU * 1997–1998: Klaus Bünger

Ministry for Economics and Technology (1998–2002)

;Parliamentary State Secretaries * 1998–2002: Siegmar Mosdorf, SPD ;State Secretaries * 1998–2002: Alfred Tacke, SPD * 1999–2002: Axel Gerlach

Ministry for Economics and Labour (2002–2005)

;Parliamentary State Secretaries * 2002–2005: Gerd Andres, SPD * 2002–2005: Rezzo Schlauch, Greens * 2002–2005:

Ditmar Staffelt Ditmar may refer to: People with the surname * Art Ditmar (1929–2021), American Major League Baseball pitcher * Karl von Ditmar (1822–1892), Baltic German geologist and explorer * Nikolay Fyodorovitch von Ditmar (1865–1919), Russian politicia ...

, SPD ;State Secretaries * 1999–2003: Axel Gerlach * 2002–2004: Alfred Tacke, SPD * 2002–2005: Rudolf Anzinger * 2002–2005: Georg-Wilhelm Adamowitsch * 2004–2005: Bernd Pfaffenbach

Ministry of Economics and Technology (2005–2013)

;Parliamentary State Secretaries * 2005–2013: Peter Hintze, CDU * 2005–2009:

Dagmar Wöhrl Dagmar Gabriele Wöhrl (''née'' Winkler; born 5 May 1954) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). She has served as Chairwoman of the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development of the German Bundestag. She ...

, CSU * 2005–2009: Hartmut Schauerte, CDU * 2009–2013: Ernst Burgbacher, FDP * 2009–2013: Hans-Joachim Otto, FDP ;State Secretaries * 2005–2006: Georg-Wilhelm Adamowitsch * 2005–2008: Joachim Wuermeling,

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social ...

* 2006–2009:

Walther Otremba Walther is a masculine given name and a surname. It is a German language, German form of Walter (name), Walter, which is derived from the Old High German ''Walthari'', containing the elements ''wald'' -"power", "brightness" or "forest" and ''hari' ...

* 2005–2011: Bernd Pfaffenbach * 2008–2012: Jochen Homann * 2009–2013:

Bernhard Heitzer Bernhard is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1604–1639), Duke of Saxe-Weimar *Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (1901–1984), head of the House of Saxe-Meiningen 1946 ...

, FDP * 2011–2013: Stefan Kapferer, FDP * 2012–2013: Anne Herkes

Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (2013–2021)

;Parliamentary State Secretaries * 2013–2017:

Brigitte Zypries Brigitte Zypries (born 16 November 1953) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Between 2017 and 2018, she served as Minister for Economics and Energy in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel; she was the f ...

, SPD * 2013–2018: Uwe Beckmeyer, SPD * 2013–2018:

Iris Gleicke Iris most often refers to: * Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants *Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

, SPD * 2017–2018: Dirk Wiese, SPD * 2018–2019: Oliver Wittke, CDU * 2018–2020:

Christian Hirte Christian Hirte (born 23 May 1976) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as member of the German Bundestag since 2008. Since 2020, he has been the chairman of CDU in Thuringia. From 2018 ...

, CDU * 2018-2021: Thomas Bareiß, CDU * 2019–2021: Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker, CDU * 2020-2021: Marco Wanderwitz, CDU ;State Secretaries * since 2013:

Rainer Baake Rainer may refer to: People * Rainer (surname) * Rainer (given name) Other * Rainer Island, an island in Franz Josef Land, Russia * 16802 Rainer, an asteroid * Rainer Foundation, British charitable organisation See also * Rainier (disambiguation ...

, Greens * since 2014: Matthias Machnig, SPD * since 2013: Dr. Rainer Sontowski, SPD

Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (since 2021)

;Parliamentary State Secretaries * Since 2021: Franziska Brantner, Greens * Since 2021:

Oliver Krischer Oliver Krischer (born 26 July 1969) is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens who has been serving as State Minister for Environment, Nature Protection, and Transport in the government of Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia ...

, Greens * Since 2021: Michael Kellner, Greens ;State Secretaries * since 2021: Anja Hajduk, Greens * since 2021:

Sven Giegold Sven (in Danish and Norwegian, also Svend and also in Norwegian most commonly Svein) is a Scandinavian first name which is also used in the Low Countries and German-speaking countries. The name itself is Old Norse for "young man" or "young warr ...

, Greens * since 2021: Udo Philipp * since 2021: Patrick Graichen

References

External links

* {{Authority control

Economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

Economy of Germany

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...