Eckhardt Rehberg (born 3 April 1954) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the German Federalism, federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representat ...

from the state of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in pop ...

from 2005 until 2021.

Political career

From 1990 until 2005, Rehberg served as a member of the State Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. From 2001 until 2005, he was the chairman of the CDU in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. During that time, he was the party's candidate to unseat incumbent Minister-President

Harald Ringstorff Harald Ringstorff (25 September 1939 – 19 November 2020) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party ( SPD) and the 3rd Minister President of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. He headed a coalition government of the SPD and P ...

in the

2002 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election The 2002 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election was held on 22 September 2002 to elect the members of the 4th Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It was held on the same day as the 2002 federal election. The incumbent coalition government of the S ...

; he eventually lost against Ringstorff. Rehberg became a member of the Bundestag in the

2005 German federal election Federal elections were held in Germany on 18 September 2005 to elect the members of the 16th Bundestag. The snap election was called after the government's defeat in a state election, which caused them to intentionally lose a motion of confid ...

. From 2005 until 2009, he served on the Committee on Economic Affairs and Technology. From 2009 until 2021, he was a member of the Budget Committee. In 2015 he also became his parliamentary group's spokesperson on the

national budget A government budget is a document prepared by the government and/or other political entity presenting its anticipated tax revenues (Inheritance tax, income tax, corporation tax, import taxes) and proposed spending/expenditure (Healthcare, Educa ...

. 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 addition to his committee assignments, he served on the Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigns committee chairpersons based on party representation. In the negotiations to form Merkel's fourth coalition government following the 2017 federal elections, Rehberg was part of the working group on financial policies and taxes, led by

Peter Altmaier Peter Altmaier (born 18 June 1958) is a German lawyer and CDU politician who served as Acting Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2018 and as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy from 2018 to 2021. He previously served as Federal Mi ...

Andreas Scheuer Andreas Franz Scheuer (born 26 September 1974) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) party. From 2018 to 2021, he was Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in the Cabinet Merkel IV. From 2013 to 2018, he ...

and

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born ) is a German politician who has served as the chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice Chancellor under Angela Merkel and as Federal Minister ...

Other activities

Regulatory agencies

* Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Posts and Railway (BNetzA), Member of the Rail Infrastructure Advisory Council (2014–2015)

Corporate boards

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...

, Member of the supervisory board (since 2018) *

KfW The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment bank, investment and Development finance institution, development bank, based in Frankfurt ...

, ex-officio Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (2014–2019) *

Nordex Nordex SE is a European company that designs, sells and manufactures wind turbines. The company's headquarters is located in the German city of Rostock while management is situated in Hamburg. Production takes place in Rostock as well as in China ...

, Member of the Political Advisory Board (2009–2013) *

Volkswerft Volkswerft (german: Volkswerft Stralsund GmbH) is a shipyard in the Hanseatic city of Stralsund on the Strelasund. It is part of the German Hegemann-group. The Volkswerft was founded in 1948 as ''Ingenieurbau Ges.m.b.H.''. On April 25 the first t ...

, Member of the supervisory board (2005–2013) *

Ostseestadion The Ostseestadion is the home stadium of FC Hansa Rostock, a German association football club, located in the city of Rostock. It has a capacity of 29,000. "Ostseestadion" translates in English to "Baltic Sea Stadium", and is named after the Ba ...

, Member of the advisory board (2005–2009)

Non-profit organizations

* F.C. Hansa Rostock, Member

Political positions

Human rights

In June 2017, Rehberg 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 sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

Economic policy

Rehberg has been a supporter of the debt brake in the

budget of Germany The establishment of the annual budget of the Federal Republic of Germany is known as the German budget process. Purpose The primary purpose of the budget is to create an overview of the country's revenues and expenses for the following fiscal ...

since its introduction in 2009. Amid the economic downturn due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Germany The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully containe ...

, he demanded that “suspending the debt brake must not become a habit. We have to get back to the regular debt limit as quickly as possible.” In 2018, Rehberg rejected plans presented by

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

for a European unemployment stabilization fund designed to arm the

eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro ( €) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU polic ...

against crises. He later criticized the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

’s 2019 plans for loosening the EU's budget rules in a bid to free up spending for a

European Green Deal The European Green Deal, approved 2020, is a set of policy initiatives by the European Commission with the overarching aim of making the European Union (EU) climate neutral in 2050. An impact assessed plan will also be presented to increase the ...

, arguing that the

Stability and Growth Pact The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is an agreement, among all of the 27 member states of the European Union, to facilitate and maintain the stability of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Based primarily on Articles 121 and 126 of the Tr ...

(SGP) already provided enough flexibility to permit public investments.Sam Fleming and Guy Chazan (December 11, 2019)
German politicians warn EU on looser budget rules for green drive
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...

''.

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rehberg, Eckhardt 1954 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany