Annette Widmann-Mauz ( Widmann; born 13 June 1966) is a German politician of the Christian Democrats who served as a member of the German (the German federal parliament) from 1998 to 2025, representing the electoral district of Tübingen. In addition to her work in parliament, she served as Parliamentary State Secretary in

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

's cabinet from 2009 until 2021.

Political career

Member of the Bundestag, 1998–2025

In the 1998 federal election Widmann-Mauz was elected from the CDU Baden-Württemberg list, the second largest chapter of her party. Four years later, in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, she was elected directly for the constituency of Tübingen. She has won each re-election in this electoral district at all federal elections since. In her first legislative term, Widmann-Mauz joined the Committee on Health. Between 2005 and 2009, she served as her parliamentary group's spokesperson on health policy. Since 2003, Widmann-Mauz has been serving as deputy chairwoman of the CDU Baden-Württemberg, under the leadership of successive chairmen

Erwin Teufel Erwin Teufel (born 4 September 1939, in Zimmern ob Rottweil) is a German politician of the CDU. Political career Teufel was the leader of the CDU parliamentary group in the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg from 1978 to 1991. Teufel was Minis ...

(2003-2005),

Günther Oettinger Günther Hermann Oettinger (born 15 October 1953) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources from 2017 to 2019, as European Commissioner for Digi ...

(2005-2009),

Stefan Mappus Stefan Mappus (born 4 April 1966) is a German politician from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the 8th Minister President of the state of Baden-Württemberg from 2010 to 2011 and chairman of the CDU Baden-Württemberg from 2009 ...

(2009-2011) and

Thomas Strobl Thomas Strobl (born 17 March 1960) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Deputy Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg since 2016 . From 1998 until 2016 Strobl was a member of the German Bundes ...

(since 2011).

Career in government, 2009–2021

In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

of the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian

CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...

) and the Free Democrats (FDP) following the 2009 federal elections, Widmann-Mauz was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on health policy, led by

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

and Philipp Rösler. On 29 October 2009 she became Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health. In the second Merkel cabinet, she first served alongside Daniel Bahr under the leadership of Minister Philipp Rösler (2009-2011) and later under Bahr, who replaced Rösler in 2011. In 2011, she participated in the first joint cabinet meeting between the German government and the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

in Berlin. From 2012 to 2022, Widmann-Mauz was a member of the CDU's national board under the leadership of successive chairs

(2012-2018),

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (; Kramp; born 9 August 1962), sometimes referred to by her initials of AKK, is a retired German politician who served as Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany), Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2021 and as Leader of th ...

(2018–2021) and

Armin Laschet Armin Laschet (; born 18 February 1961) is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 June 2017 to 26 October 2021. He served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 22 January 2021 t ...

(2021–2022). She co-chaired the CDU's national conventions in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

(2015) and

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

(2016). In the negotiations to form a

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

cabinet under Merkel following the 2013 federal elections, Widmann-Mauz led the working group on families, alongside

Manuela Schwesig Manuela Schwesig (; ' Frenzel, born 23 May 1974) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party serving as List of Ministers-President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpomm ...

. In the new coalition government, she again served as Parliamentary State Secretary for Health, this time under the leadership of Minister

Hermann Gröhe Gottfried Hermann Gröhe (born 25 February 1961) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister of Health in the third cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013 until 2018. Early life an ...

. From 2015 to 2025, Widman-Mauz led the Christian Democrats’ Women's Union. In the negotiations to form a fourth cabinet under Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Widmann-Mauz led the working group on families, alongside

Angelika Niebler Angelika Niebler (née Rupertseder; born 18 February 1963) is a German lawyer and politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 1999. She is a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, part of the Euro ...

and Katarina Barley. She was subsequently appointed Minister of State for Migration, Refugees and Integration in the Federal Chancellery under Merkel. Following her party's defeat in the 2021 elections, Widmann-Mauz announced her candidacy as

Vice President of the Bundestag The president of the Bundestag ( or ; Grammatical gender in German#Professions, when the office is held by a man) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker (poli ...

; however, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group eventually nominated Yvonne Magwas for the position. In July 2024, Widmann-Mauz announced that she would not stand in the 2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Paracelsus-Kliniken Deutschland GmbH & Co. KGaA, Member of the supervisory board (2005-2013) * Hallesche Krankenversicherung, Member of the advisory board (2005-2013)

Non-profit organizations

* German Federal Cultural Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) *

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation ('' German: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: KAS'') is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's head ...

(KAS), Member of the Board of Trustees * German Bishops' Conference (DBK), Advisor to the Commission on Charitable Affairs (since 2020) *

Jewish Museum Berlin The Jewish Museum Berlin (''Jüdisches Museum Berlin'') was opened in 2001 and is the largest Jewish museum in Europe. On of floor space, the museum presents the history of the Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present day, with new foc ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * ''Bündnis für Demokratie und Toleranz'', Ex-officio Member of the advisory board (since 2018) * Civis Media Prize, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2018) * ''Deutschlandstiftung Integration'', Ex-Officio Member of the Board (since 2018) *

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

(DFB), Egidius Braun Foundation, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2018) * Civis Media Prize, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2018) * ''Deutschlandstiftung Integration'', Ex-Officio Member of the Board (since 2018) *

(DFB), Egidius Braun Foundation, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2018) * Deutsche Hospiz- und Palliativstiftung (DHPS), Member of the Board of Trustees *

Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics is located in Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of 80 institutes in the Max Planck Society (Max Planck Gesellschaft). It was founded in 1968. The institute is studying signal a ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Member of the Board of Trustees * Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (1998-2013) * German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Neurology (DGPPN), Member of the advisory board (2002-2005)

Political positions

In 2014, Widmann-Mauz negotiated legislation requiring German companies to allot 30 percent of their non-executive board seats to women from 2016. In June 2017, Widmann-Mauz voted against Germany's introduction of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. Ahead of the Christian Democrats’

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a ...

in 2018, Widmann-Mauz publicly endorsed

to succeed

as the party's chair. In April 2020, Widmann-Mauz co-signed – alongside around 50 other members of her parliamentary group – a letter to

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

which called on the European Union to take in children who were living in migrant camps across Greece.Robert Roßmann (April 6, 2020)
Mehr als 50 Unionsabgeordnete fordern Aufnahme von Flüchtlingskindern
''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

''.

References

External links