Dr. Reinhard Brandl (born 11 August 1977) is a German politician of the

Christian Social Union of Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German language, German: , CSU) is a Christian democracy, Christian democratic and Conservatism in Germany, conservative List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. Having a regionali ...

(CSU) who 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 2009, representing

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...

Early life and education

Following his military service with the

German Air Force The German Air Force (, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of West Ger ...

Manching Manching () is a municipality in the district of Pfaffenhofen, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Paar, 7 km southeast of Ingolstadt. In the late Iron Age, there was a Celtic settlement, the Oppidum of Manching, on the locati ...

, Brandl earned a degrees in

industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

from the

University of Karlsruhe The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; ) is both a German public university, public research university in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, and a research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Ka ...

and the

Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble The Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP) (''Institut polytechnique de Grenoble'' , ''Groupe Grenoble INP'' and before INPG) is a French technological university system consisting of eight engineering and management schools. Grenoble I ...

between 1997 and 2003. For his diploma theses he stayed six months at the Xerox Research Centre Europe in Meylan. He subsequently took part in the doctoral program of the

BMW Group Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The ...

and received his doctorate from

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

. In 2009, he briefly worked as a consultant with

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the "Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three" (or MBB, the world's three large ...

Political career

Brand was elected to the

in the 2009 national elections, succeeding

Horst Seehofer Horst Lorenz Seehofer (born 4 July 1949) is a German politician who served as Minister for the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), he served as the ...

. In parliament, Brandl has been a member of the Defense Committee (since 2009) and the Committee on Digitization (since 2021). From 2013 until 2021, he was part of the Budget 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 ...

on the budgets of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of Defence (2018–2021). He was also a member of the so-called Confidential Committee (''Vertrauensgremium'') of the Budget Committee, which provides budgetary supervision for Germany's three intelligence services, BND, BfV and MAD. In addition to his committee assignments, Brandl has been a member of the German delegation to the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly since 2019. In the negotiations to form a ''

Grand Coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

'' 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 ...

's Christian Democrats ( CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the SPD following the 2013 German elections, he was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on digital policy, led by Dorothee Bär and Brigitte Zypries. In similar negotiations after the 2017 federal elections, he was part of the same working group, this time led by Bär, Helge Braun and Lars Klingbeil.

Political positions

Throughout his time on the Budget Committee, Brandl has been a proponent of the Merkel government’s policy to refrain from any net new borrowing and instead focus all efforts on achieving a structurally balanced

national budget A government budget is a projection of the government's revenues and expenditure for a particular period, often referred to as a financial or fiscal year, which may or may not correspond with the calendar year. Government revenues mostly include ...

. Brandl has in the past voted in favor of German participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions as well as in United Nations-mandated European Union peacekeeping missions on the African continent, such as in

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

– both

Operation Atalanta Operation Atalanta, formally European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia, is an ongoing counter-piracy military operation at sea off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean, that is the first naval operation conducted by the ...

and EUTM Somalia – (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), Darfur/Sudan (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017),

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

(2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017),

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

(2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017), the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

(2014) and

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

(2015). In June 2017, Brandl 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 ...

Other activities

* Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2025) * Foundation for Data Protection, Member of the advisory board (since 2022) *

Federal Network Agency The Federal Network Agency ( or ) is the German regulatory office for electricity, gas, telecommunications, post and railway markets. It is a federal agency of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and headquartered in Bo ...

for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (BNetzA), Alternate Member of the advisory board (since 2022) * Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2017) * Bundesverband eMobilität (BEM), Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board * Gesellschaft für Sicherheitspolitik (GSP), Vice President * German Federal Film Board (FFA), Alternate Member of the supervisory board (since 2018)Supervisory Board
German Federal Film Board (FFA). * Federal Agency for Civic Education, Member of the Board of Trustees (2009–2013)

References

Profile
at the Bundestag website (German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brandl, Reinhard 1977 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria People from Ingolstadt Karlsruhe Institute of Technology alumni Grenoble Institute of Technology alumni Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 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 Social Union in Bavaria Politicians from Bavaria Members of the Bundestag 2025–2029