Michael Kauch (born 4 May 1967, in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party who served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

in 2024 and 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 ...

between 2003 and 2013.

Early life and education

Kauch was born in Dortmund and attended the ''Helmholtz-Gymnasium''. He studied economics at the

University of Dortmund TU Dortmund University () is a technical university in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with over 35,000 students, and over 6,000 staff including 300 professors, offering around 80 Bachelor's and master's degree programs. It is situate ...

from 1986 to 1993.

Political career

Kauch became a member of the Free Democratic Party in Germany in 1989. From 1995 to 1999, he served as the chair of the Young Liberals (JuLis). On 14 June 2003 Kauch became a member of the Bundestag, taking the seat of

Jürgen Möllemann Jürgen Wilhelm Möllemann (15 July 1945 – 5 June 2003) was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as Minister of State at the Foreign Office (1982–1987), as Minister of Education and Research (1987–1991), ...

who had deceased shortly before. Throughout his time in parliament, he was as a member of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and of the Parliamentary Advisory Board on Sustainable Development. He also 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 ...

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...

organ transplantation Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be trans ...

and

palliative care Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Man ...

(2005-2009). 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 FDP and 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 ...

) following the 2009 federal elections, Kauch led the FDP delegation in the working group on environmental policy, agriculture and consumer protection; his counterpart of the CDU/CSU was

Ilse Aigner Ilse Aigner (born 7 December 1964) is a German politician and member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). Aigner was born in Feldkirchen-Westerham, Bavaria, and entered Angela Merkel's grand coalition cabinet as Federal Minister o ...

. In late 2018, Kauch announced that he would run for a parliamentary seat in the 2019 European elections; however, his place on the FDP list for the elections meant that he did not win a seat in parliament. In the negotiations to form a

between the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

and FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Kauch was part of his party's delegation in the working group on equality, co-chaired by Petra Köpping,

Ricarda Lang Ricarda Lang (born 17 January 1994) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2021. Lang served as her party's co-leader from 2022 to 2024, alongside Omid Nouripour. Previously ...

and Herbert Mertin. In 2024, Kauch replaced

Nicola Beer Nicola Beer (born 23 January 1970) is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a vice president of the European Investment Bank since 2024, under the leadership of president Nadia Calviño. Earl ...

who resigned her seat in the European Parliament to move to the board of the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

. In parliament, he served on the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

and deputy member of the Committees on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and Foreign Affairs (AFET). In addition, he was part of the parliament’s delegation for relations with Israel. The FDP delegation made him its spokesperson in the aforementioned committees as well as in the areas of law, culture and LGBTI issues. He was shadow rapporteur for a legislative proposal to facilitate consular protection for unrepresented EU citizens in third countries.

Other activities

* GLOBE Europe, President *

Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation The Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation (, HES) was founded in Berlin in June 2007. HES is the human rights foundation of LSVD⁺. The foundation focusses on human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and other queer ( LGBTIQ) people. ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * Initiative Queer Nations (IQN), Member * Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees

Personal life

Kauch is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. (German)

Notes

External links

Official Site of Michael Kauch

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kauch, Michael 1967 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia German gay politicians LGBTQ members of the Bundestag 20th-century German LGBTQ people 21st-century German LGBTQ people Politicians from Dortmund Technical University of Dortmund alumni Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (Germany)