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 lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

from the state of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

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 Minister President of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. He headed a coalition government of the SPD and PDS ( ...

in the 2002 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election; he eventually lost against Ringstorff. Rehberg became a member of the Bundestag in the

2005 German federal election The 2005 German federal election was 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 the North Rhine-Westphalia state election, which caused them to i ...

. 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 projection of the government's revenues and expenditure for a particular period, often referred to as a financial or fiscal year, which may or may not correspond with the calendar year. Government revenues mostly include ...

. 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 politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Ministry of Finance (Germany), Acting Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2018 and as Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and ...

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 14 June 1958) is a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Ge ...

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 (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

, 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 and development bank, based in Frankfurt. As of 2014, it is the world's largest national ...

, 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, founded in 1985 and headquartered in the German city of Rostock with production in Germany, Brazil, India, Mexico, Poland and Spain. According to the company, it ...

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

Volkswerft Volkswerft () 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 trawler was delivered and on June 1 ...

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

Ostseestadion The Ostseestadion is the home stadium of FC Hansa Rostock, a Germany, 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 aft ...

, Member of the advisory board (2005–2009)

Non-profit organizations

F.C. Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from ...

, 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 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 ...

Economic policy

Rehberg has been a supporter of the debt brake in the

budget of Germany The public sector budget of Germany is divided among the Administrative divisions of Germany, administrative divisions of the country. The Federal Statistical Office of Germany breaks down the 2023 Government budget balance, general government b ...

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 contained ...

, 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 ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

for a European unemployment stabilization fund designed to arm the

eurozone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...

against crises. He later criticized the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

’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 in 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. The plan is to review each existing law on its climate meri ...

, arguing that the

Stability and Growth Pact The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is an agreement, among all the 27 member states of the European Union (EU), to facilitate and maintain the stability of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). ...

(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 also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

''.

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