Gitta Connemann (born 10 May 1964) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German Parliament since 2002. Since 2021, she has been serving as the chairwoman of MIT, the pro-business wing in the

CDU/CSU CDU/CSU, unofficially the Union parties ( ) or the Union, is a centre-right Christian democratic and conservative political alliance of two political parties in Germany: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Social U ...

Early life and career

Born to a Dutch mother and a German father, Connemann grew up on a farm. From 1984 until 1990, she studied law at the

University of Osnabrück A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

and the

Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

. She worked at a law firm in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

from 1993 to 1995. She later practiced as an independent lawyer with her own firm, Rickes Connemann, in

Leer Leer may refer to: * Leer, Lower Saxony, town in Germany ** Leer (district), containing the town in Lower Saxony, Germany ** Leer (Ostfriesland) railway station * Leer, South Sudan, town in South Sudan ** Leer County, an administrative division ...

Political career

Connemann has been serving as a member of the German

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 ...

since the

2002 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2002. * 2002 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2002 Comorian presidential election * 2002 East Timorese presidential election * 2002 Fijian municipal election * 2002 Hong Kong Chief Executive election * ...

, succeeding

Rudolf Seiters Rudolf Seiters (born 13 October 1937 in Osnabrück) is a German politician of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) party. From 1989–1991, he was Federal Minister for Special Affairs and the head of the Office of the German Chancellery. From ...

. She represents

Unterems Unterems is a former municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. The municipalities of Turtmann and Unterems merged on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Turtmann-Unterems.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 ...

labor law Labour laws (also spelled as labor laws), labour code or employment laws are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship be ...

. She was also a member of the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Media (2005-2009). From 2014 until 2015, she chaired the Committee on Food and Agriculture. She served as deputy chairperson of the

parliamentary group, under the leadership of successive chairs

Volker Kauder Volker Kauder (born 3 September 1949) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as parliamentary group leader of the ruling CDU/CSU faction in the German ''Bundestag'' from 2005 to 2018, during which h ...

(2015–2018) and Ralph Brinkhaus (2018–2021). In addition to her committee assignments, Connemann has been serving as deputy chairwoman of the German-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Group since 2005. 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 ...

under the leadership of

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 ...

following the 2017 federal elections, Connemann was part of the working group on municipalities and rural areas, led by

Reiner Haseloff Reiner Erich Haseloff (born 19 February 1954) is a German politician who serves as the Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt. On 9 October 2020, he was elected President of the Bundesrat. His one-year term started on 1 November 2020. Political ...

Kurt Gribl Kurt Gribl (born 29 August 1964 Augsburg, Germany) is a former List of mayors of Augsburg, Mayor of Augsburg, Bavaria, an office he held from 1 May 2008 to 30 April 2020. He is a member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria. Early career Gribl ...

and Michael Groschek. In 2021, Connemann announced her candidacy to succeed

Carsten Linnemann Carsten Christoffer Linnemann (born 10 August 1977) is a German economist and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (Germany), Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been a member of the Bundestag since the 2009 German federal election, ...

as chair of MIT, the pro-business wing in the

; she won over Thomas Jarzombek. Since 2022, Connemann has been chairing – alongside

Bernd Althusmann Bernd Althusmann (; born 3 December 1966) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Deputy Minister-President and State Minister for Economic Affairs in the government of Minister-President Stephan Weil from 2 ...

– a working group charged with drafting the CDU’s positions on energy policy.

Other activities

* German Foundation for Active Citizenship and Volunteering (DSEE), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2020) * International Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim/Auschwitz, Member of the Board of Trustees *

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the wi ...

, Lawrence & Lee Ramer Institute for German-Jewish Relations, Member of the Advisory Board * Initiative Deutsche Sprache, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees (2007-2008) * Association of German Musical Societies (BVMV), Vice-President (2002-2005) * Kreiskrankenhaus Leer, Deputy Member of the Supervisory Board (2002-2005)

Political positions

Under the umbrella of the godparenthood program of human rights organization IGMF for

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

s, Connemann has been raising awareness for the activities of

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n political dissident Marta Beatriz Roque since 2014. Connemann was one of only five CDU parliamentarians who voted against the government's draft law on introducing a national minimum wage for the first time in Germany's history in July 2014. In April 2020, Connemann 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 ...

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 ...

which called on the European Union to take in children who were living in migrant camps across Greece.

Personal life

Connemann married fellow CDU politician Gerd Dählmann in

Holtland Holtland is a municipality in the district of Leer, in Lower Saxony, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to ...

in August 2015. The ceremony's guests included

David McAllister David James McAllister (born 12 January 1971) is a German politician who has been a member of the European Parliament since 2014. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), part of the European People's Party. He is the current vi ...

and

Julia Klöckner Julia Klöckner (born 16 December 1972) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (Germany), Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as President of the Bundestag, President of the German Bundestag since 25 March 2025 ...

''.Christoph Schillingmann (24 August 2015
Leeranerin Gitta Connemann hat wieder geheiratet
''

Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung ''Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung'' (; ; also known as ''Neue OZ'') is a regional daily newspaper published in Osnabrück, Germany. History and profile ''Neue OZ'' was established in 1967 as a successor of '' Neue Tagespost''. The daily is headquarter ...

''.

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography

External links