Michael Theurer (born 12 January 1967) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) 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

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

from 2017 to 2024. From 2009 until 2017, he was 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 addition to his parliamentary work, Theurer has been serving as

Parliamentary State Secretary A Parliamentary State Secretary (') is a member of the Bundestag given a portfolio to assist a Minister with running a government ministry Ministry or department (also less commonly used secretariat, office, or directorate) are designations us ...

in the

Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure The Federal Ministry for Transport (, ; abbreviated BMV) is a German Cabinet, cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is located in Berlin, while the majority of its civil servants and employees work in Bonn, ...

in the

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

since 2021. In this capacity, he is also the Federal Commissioner for Rail Transport.

Early life and career

After graduating from the Martin-Gerbert-Gymnasium in 1986, Theurer served in the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

in Calw until 1987. From 1988 to 1990 he worked as a volunteer for the ''

Schwarzwälder Bote ''Schwarzwälder Bote'', is a German regional daily newspaper for the Black Forest and Upper Neckar region. ''Schwarzwälder Bote'' operates a network of 9 branches and 11 local editorial offices. The main circulation area, including the pa ...

'' in Oberndorf am Neckar. He then worked for a few months as local editor of the newspaper in Schramberg before beginning his studies in economics at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

in October 1990. He completed this in November 1995 as a graduate economist.

Political career

Early career

Theurer joined the Young Liberals (JuLis), the youth organisation of the FDP, at age 16. From 1995 to August 2009 he served as Lord Mayor of the city of Horb am Neckar. From

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

to 2009, Theurer was a member of the State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg. He initially focused on European affairs and later served as deputy chair of his party's parliamentary group, under the leadership of Ulrich Noll.

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2017

From 2009 until 2017, Theurer was a member of the European Parliament. Throughout his time in parliament, he served on the

Committee on Budgetary Control The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. with 30 permanent members. It can be seen as the European Union's internal "political watchdog", seeking to identify undesi ...

. In addition, he was a member of the

Committee on Regional Development 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 ...

(2009-2012), 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 ...

(2011-2012) and the

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a committee of the European Parliament which is responsible for the regulation of financial services, the free movement of capital and payments, taxation and competition policies, oversight ...

(2014-2017). In 2015, he was part of the Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect; on behalf of the committee,

Elisa Ferreira Elisa Maria da Costa Guimarães Ferreira, GCC (born 17 October 1955) is a Portuguese politician and economist who served as the European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms in the administration of President Ursula von der Leyen between 2019 ...

and he drafted a series of non-binding recommendations. After a poor showing by the FDP in the 2011 state elections, Theurer decided to challenge the long-standing chair Birgit Homburger. In an internal vote on succeeding Homburger in 2013, he eventually won over Hans-Ulrich Rülke.

Member of the German Parliament, 2017–present

Theurer became a member of the Bundestag in the

2017 German federal election The 2017 German federal election was held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the List of members of the 19th Bundestag, members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 Overhang seat, overhan ...

. From 2017 until 2021, he served as deputy chairman of his party's parliamentary group, under the leadership of chairman Christian Lindner. Following the 2021 state elections in Baden-Württemberg, Theurer led his party's delegation in the negotiations with Minister-President

Winfried Kretschmann Winfried Kretschmann (; born 17 May 1948) is a German politician serving as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg since 2011. A member of the Alliance '90/Greens, he was President of the Bundesrat and ''ex officio'' deputy to the President o ...

's Alliance '90/Greens on a potential

. In the negotiations to form a so-called

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition () is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' traditional colours, respectively red, y ...

of the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

(SPD), 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 the FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Theurer led his party's delegation in the working group on economic policy; his co-chairs from the other parties were Carsten Schneider and

Cem Özdemir Cem Özdemir (; ; born 21 December 1965) is a German politician who served as Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Germany), Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture in the Scholz cabinet, cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz from 2021 to 202 ...

. In April 2024, Theurer was nominated to join the board of Germany's

Bundesbank The Deutsche Bundesbank (, , colloquially Buba, sometimes alternatively abbreviated as BBk or DBB) is the national central bank for Germany within the Eurosystem. It was the German central bank from 1957 to 1998, issuing the Deutsche Mark (DM). ...

. He left the Bundestag and was replaced by Julian Grünke.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* KfW, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors

Non-profit organizations

* Baden-Badener Unternehmer-Gespräche (BBUG), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2020) * Reinhold Maier Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees * Theodor Heuss Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees

Personal life

Since 2016, Theurer has been married to neurologist Antje Giede-Jeppe.Peter Morlok (29 August 2016)
Michael Theurer ist unter der Haube
''

''.

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Theurer, Michael 1967 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 MEPs for Germany 2009–2014 MEPs for Germany 2014–2019 People from Tübingen Members of the Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (Germany)