Frank Steffel (born 2 March 1966) is a German politician of the

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

(CDU).

Early life and education

Born in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

, Steffel grew up in Berlin's

Frohnau Frohnau () is a locality in the Reinickendorf borough of Berlin, Germany. It lies in the extreme northern part of the city. Frohnau is an affluent area characterized by many patrician villas from the early 20th century. History Founded in 1910, ...

district.

Political career

Steffel has been a member of the CDU and CSU since 1983. He was a member of the State Parliament in Berlin from 1991 to 2009. From 2001 until 2019, he led the CDU in Berlin-Reinickendorf. In the Berlin state elections of 2001 he was the CDU's candidate for the position as

Governing Mayor of Berlin The governing mayor () of Berlin is the head of government, presiding over the Berlin Senate. As Berlin is an independent city as well as one of the constituent states of Germany (), the office is the equivalent of the ministers president of ...

. His election campaign was considered unfortunate. For instance he described

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

as Germany's "most beautiful city" and as its "secret capital". Although his party suffered enormous losses at the elections under his leadership, Steffel remained chairman of the CDU group in the State Parliament until 2003. Between 2005 and 2006, he chaired the Sub-Committee on Sports. Steffel first became 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 ...

in 2009. In parliament, he served on the Committee on Sports. From 2013 until 2017, he was a member of the Finance Committee, where he served as his parliamentary group's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

tax treaties A tax treaty, also called double tax agreement (DTA) or double tax avoidance agreement (DTAA), is an agreement between two countries to avoid or mitigate double taxation. Such treaties may cover a range of taxes including income taxes, inheritance ...

and land transfer taxes. From 2018, he was also a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In that capacity, he was his parliamentary group's rapporteur on

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

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and the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

. In 2019, Steffel announced that he would not stand in the 2021 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

* Füchse Berlin, Member of the Advisory Board * Volker Reitz Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees * Spielbank Berlin Gustav Jaenecke GmbH & Co., Member of the Advisory Board * Bundesverband deutscher Spielbanken, Member of the Advisory Board (2009–2013)

Political positions

In June 2017, Steffel 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 ...

Personal life

Steffel has been married since 1994. The couple has two childrenOlaf Wedekind (5 April 2016)
Kellner in italienischem Restaurant beleidigt: Berliner CDU-Politiker stoppt Nazi-Pöbler
''

Bild ''Bild'' (, ) or ''Bild-Zeitung'' (, ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' () is published instead, which has a differen ...

''. and lives in Berlin's

district.

References

External links

* https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/22/johnhooper * http://www.bundestag.de/bundestag/abgeordnete18/biografien/S/steffel_frank/258984 {{DEFAULTSORT:Steffel, Frank 1966 births Living people People from Reinickendorf Members of the Bundestag for Berlin Free University of Berlin alumni German Protestants Members of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany