Peter Altmaier (born 18 June 1958) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Acting Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2018 and as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy from 2018 to 2021. He previously served as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety from May 2012 to December 2013 and

Head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

of the

German Chancellery The Federal Chancellery (, ) is a Germany, German Federal agency (Germany), federal agency serving the executive office of the chancellor of Germany, the head of the Government of Germany, federal government, currently Friedrich Merz. The Chancel ...

and as Federal Minister for Special Affairs from December 2013 to March 2018. Altmaier is widely seen as one of Chancellor

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 ...

's most trusted advisorsQuentin Peel (16 May 2012)
Merkel sacks minister after election defeat
''

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 ...

''. and advocates for her more centrist wing of the CDU. He is known for his "compromising style" and was described in 2017 as "the most powerful man in Berlin". Peter Altmaier coined the German term "Altmaier-Delle", which describes the poor development of renewable energies in Germany during his time in office. He represented

Saarlouis Saarlouis (; , ; formerly Sarre-Libre and Saarlautern) is a town in Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis (district), Saarlouis. In 2020, the town had a population of 34,409. Saarlouis is located on the river Saar (river), Saar. ...

in 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 2009 and 2021.

Personal life and education

Altmaier was born on 18 June 1958 in Ensdorf, Saarland. He is the son of a coal miner and a nurse. He studied law at

Saarland University Saarland University (, ) is a public research university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland. It was founded in 1948 in Homburg in co-operation with France and is organized in six faculties that cover all major ...

. In addition to his native German, he also speaks English, Dutch and French. In 2012, Altmaier stated that he has always been a

single person In legal definitions for interpersonal status, a person who is single is an individual not in a committed relationship, married, or part of a civil union. Reasons people remain single People may be or remain single for a variety of reasons, i ...

in his life, "so there can be nothing in the archives about a relationship".

Early career

Altmaier began his career as a research assistant for public and international law at Saarland University in 1995 and later at the European Institute of Saarland University. His tenure lasted until 2000. He worked for the Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs of 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 ...

from 1990 to 1994.

Political career

Altmaier has been a member of the CDU since 1976.

Member of the Bundestag, 1994–2021

Altmaier has been a member of the

since the 1994 national elections. He was elected in the

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

. Between 1994 and 2002, he served on the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on Affairs of the European Union, where he was his parliamentary group's rapporteur on matters related to the

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union (EU) citizens and residents into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly procla ...

. When the Bundestag created a committee to examine whether then-Chancellor

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

and others in the governing SPD party inflated economic figures before the 2002 federal elections to hide a growing budget deficit, he was chosen by his parliamentary group to lead the inquiry. From 2006 to 2011 Altmaier was president of Europa-Union Deutschland, the German section of the

Union of European Federalists The Union of European Federalists (UEF) is an international non-profit association originally founded in 1946 and refounded in 1973, promoting the advent of a European federal State based on the idea of unity in diversity. In 1946, it brought ...

. In the 2021 federal elections Altmaier lost his constituency to

Heiko Maas Heiko Josef Maas (; born 19 September 1966) is a German lawyerMarcus Jung (15 December 2022)�''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung''. and former politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the Mini ...

, but still reentered the Bundestag through his party's list. However, on 9 October 2021, Altmaier resigned from the Bundestag together with

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (; Kramp; born 9 August 1962), sometimes referred to by her initials of AKK, is a retired German politician who served as Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany), Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2021 and as Leader of th ...

in order to make room for younger people.

Parliamentary State Secretary, 2005–2009

Following the 2005 federal elections, Altmaier became Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior under

Wolfgang Schäuble Wolfgang Schäuble (; 18 September 1942 – 26 December 2023) was a German politician whose political career spanned more than five decades. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the longest-serving member of any democratic G ...

. In this capacity, he publicly admitted in 2009 that Germany followed a request of the government of Saudi Arabia it to grant influential cleric

Abdullah Ibn Jibreen Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Jibrin (; 193313 July 2009), known simply as Ibn Jibrin, was a Saudi Islamic scholar who was a member of the Council of Senior Scholars and Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Issuing Fatwas in Saudi Arab ...

police protection in a Berlin hospital where he was undergoing heart treatment; the decision garnered sharp criticism from the opposition parties, with 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 ...

questioning why Germany hosted someone who "has called for the killing of Shiites ndpraised

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

." In 2009, Altmaier was mentioned by international media as potential candidate for the office of European Commissioner.

Chief whip, 2009–2012

Succeeding

Norbert Röttgen Norbert Alois Röttgen (born 2 July 1965) is a German lawyer and politician who served as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2009 to 2012. A member of t ...

as parliamentary secretary (''

chief whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

'') of 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 ...

parliamentary group in the Bundestag following the 2009 elections, Altmaier was in charge of negotiating the passage of

Eurozone crisis The euro area crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis, European debt crisis, or European sovereign debt crisis, was a multi-year debt crisis and financial crisis in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until, in Greece, 2018. The ...

legislation through the parliament. He served as the government's chief negotiator with the opposition Social Democrats and Greens, as well as with potential rebels from the government benches. In 2012, Altmaier also served as chairman of the Parliamentary Oversight Panel (PKGr), which provides parliamentary oversight of Germany's intelligence services BND, BfV and MAD.

Return to the Federal Government

On 22 May 2012, Altmaier replaced

as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the second Merkel cabinet. While in office, Altmaier coordinated the government's efforts to exit nuclear power generation by 2022 and rely on more renewable sources such as wind and solar (" Energiewende"). He also demanded companies to harvest metals including rare earths from recycled electronics as Germany sought to become less dependent on imports from China and other nations. Together with his French counterpart Delphine Batho, he put in motion the establishment of the French-German Office for Renewable Energies (L'Office Franco-allemand pour les énergies renouvelables) in 2013. In 2012, Altmaier led the German delegation to the

2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference was the 18th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 8th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CM ...

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

. In 2013, Altmaier and Economics Minister Philipp Rösler reached agreement on far-reaching regulations for the fracking industry.

Federal Minister, 2013–2021

In the negotiations to form a government following the 2013 federal elections, Altmaier led the CDU/CSU delegation in the energy working group; his co-chair from the SPD was Hannelore Kraft, Minister-President of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. In Angela Merkel's third Cabinet he serves as the Head of the Federal Chancellery and a Federal Minister for Special Affairs. In this capacity, he is also in charge of co-ordinating Germany's intelligence services. In July 2015, Altmaier invited the

United States Ambassador to Germany The United States has had diplomatic relations with the nation of Germany under its various forms of governments and leaders since 1871, and its principal predecessor nation, the Kingdom of Prussia, since 1835. These relations were broken twice ...

, John B. Emerson, to explain documents publicized by

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...

that showed what appeared to be summaries of recorded conversations involving Chancellor Merkel or senior officials. Shortly after, WikiLeaks released additional documents including Altmaier's telephone number, adding to a growing pile of allegations that United States intelligence agencies conducted extensive surveillance of the German government. In October 2015, Merkel put Altmaier in charge of coordinating Germany's response to the refugee crisis. From early 2017, he was a member of the German government's cabinet committee on

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

at which ministers discussed organizational and structural issues related to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's departure from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. Following the 2017 elections, Altmaier became acting and temporary finance minister when

left office as Schäuble had agreed to become

President of the Bundestag The president of the Bundestag ( or ; Grammatical gender in German#Professions, when the office is held by a man) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker (poli ...

. In January 2021 it was reported that Altmaier favoured "seizing control", possibly using Article 122 of the TFEU, "of the (COVID-19 vaccine) production process and ordering companies to manufacture vaccines at multiple sites."

Political positions

Domestic policy

Altmaier belongs to the more liberal wing of the CDU. In the 1990s, Altmaier advocated the rehabilitation of armed-forces deserters and explicitly criminalizing rape within marriage. He was integral to the Pizza Connection, a group of moderate CDU and

politicians – including

Hermann Gröhe Gottfried Hermann Gröhe (born 25 February 1961) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister of Health in the third cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013 until 2018. Early life an ...

Armin Laschet Armin Laschet (; born 18 February 1961) is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 June 2017 to 26 October 2021. He served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 22 January 2021 t ...

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 ...

– who met at Sassella, an Italian restaurant in Bonn. In June 2017, Altmaier voted in favor of 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 ...

in a

conscience vote A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party. In a parliamenta ...

, unlike the majority of the CDU/CSU (including Merkel herself). Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, Altmaier publicly endorsed

to succeed Angela Merkel as the party's chair.

European politics

Responding to a growing unease over Germany's role in bailing out highly indebted European states, Altmaier in 2011 demanded that states that violate the EU's

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). ...

should be subject to the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

. That same year, he advised against Germany pursuing a prompt debt haircut for

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and warned of the consequences. According to Altmaier, the banks must be supported, in Greece and elsewhere, and the

European Financial Stability Facility The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) is a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the eurozone to address the European sovereign-debt crisis. It was agreed by the Council of the European Union on 9 May 2010, with the object ...

might have to issue guarantees for the holders of Italian and Spanish bonds, because they also fear that they will be asked to pay up.

Economic policy

In his position as Minister for Economic Affairs, Altmaier has become a figurehead for efforts to strengthen the European Union's defences against the encroachment of US and Asian technology and healthcare companies. In 2019 he wrote to European Commissioner

Margrethe Vestager Margrethe Vestager (; born 13 April 1968) is a Denmark, Danish politician who formerly served as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age between December 2019 and November 2024 in the Von Der Leye ...

urging the commission to adopt a harder line on dominant online platforms such as

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. Also in 2019, he presented plans to set up a standing government committee which, as a last resort, could decide to temporarily take stakes in German companies that produce sensitive or security relevant technologies. In 2020, he introduced legislation giving the government a right to veto hostile foreign takeover bids for healthcare companies, a measure designed to ensure a continuous supply of essential products during 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 ...

Other activities (selection)

Regulatory agencies

* Stability Council, Ex-Officio Member (since 2017) *

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank and international financial institution that aims to collectively improve economic and social outcomes in Asia. It is the world's second largest multi-lateral d ...

(AIIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2017-2018)

Corporate boards

* RAG-Stiftung, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2017) * KfW, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (2013; since 2018)

Non-profit organizations

* Europa-Union Deutschland, President (2005–2009), Honorary President (since 2009) * European Movement Germany, vice-president (2002–2009) * German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Vice Chairman of the Council *

Migration Policy Institute The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) is an American non-partisan think tank established in 2001 by Kathleen Newland and Demetrios G. Papademetriou. About The Migration Policy Institute was established by Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Kathle ...

(MPI), Member of the Transatlantic Council on MigrationTransatlantic Council on Migration

(MPI). *

Institute for European Politics The Institute for European Politics (IEP; German: ''Institut für Europäische Politik'') is a German foreign and European policy research centre based in Berlin. It is an independent non-governmental organization focused on the research of Euro ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (2005–2009) *

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

, Ex-officio Member of the Television Board (2002–2005)

References

External links