Uli Grötsch (born 14 July 1975) is a German politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD) who has been serving as 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 ...

's Federal Police Commissioner since 2024. He previously was as a

member of the Bundestag Member of the German Parliament () is the official name given to a deputy in the Bundestag, German Bundestag. ''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichstag building in Berlin. In G ...

from the state of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

from 2013 to 2024. Grötsch has been police officer within the Bavarian State Police for 21 years.

Early life and career

After school, Grötsch completed training as a police officer with the Bavarian Police. He served in various districts. He last worked in the investigation department when he left the police department in 2013 after 21 years for his Bundestag mandate.

Political career

Grötsch first became a member of the Bundestag in the

2013 German federal election The 2013 German federal election was held on 22 September to elect the members of the 18th Bundestag of Germany. At stake were all 598 seats to the Bundestag, plus 33 overhang seats determined thereafter. The Christian Democratic Union of German ...

. He is a member of the Committee on Home Affairs. In 2014, he also joined the Parliamentary Oversight Panel (PKGr), which provides parliamentary oversight of Germany's intelligence services BND, BfV and MAD. From 2018, Grötsch was part of a cross-party working group on a reform of Germany’s

electoral system An electoral or voting system is a set of rules used to determine the results of an election. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, nonprofit organizations and inf ...

, chaired by

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 early 2021, Grötsch was chosen to lead his party's campaign for the national elections. Shortly after, he lost a vote to succeed Natascha Kohnen as chair of 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 ...

Federal Police Commissioner

Grötsch was elected to the first Federal Police Commissioner in 2023. The Federal Police Commissioner has the task of identifying and investigating structural deficiencies and undesirable developments in the

Federal Police A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the police at the German Bundestag (federal police authorities). It also investigates misconduct by employees of the federal police authorities, in particular that which results in a violation of fundamental rights, in particular Article 3 of the

Basic Law A basic law is either a codified constitution, or in countries with uncodified constitutions, a law designed to have the effect of a constitution. The term ''basic law'' is used in some places as an alternative to "constitution" and may be inte ...

(prohibition of discrimination).The commissioner has a team of 18 employees working on his staff. Grötsch sees the compatibility of membership in the right-wing extremist AfD and serving as a police officer as problematic. The vigilance of emergency services against right-wing extremism must be heightened, he said in March 2024.

Other activities

* Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2020) *

Federal Agency for Civic Education The Federal Agency for Civic Education (FACE, (''bpb'')) is a German federal government agency responsible for promoting civic education. It is subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Thomas Krüger has served as president of t ...

(BPB), Member of the Board of TrusteesBoard of Trustees

(BPB). * Trade Union of the Police (GdP), Member * '' Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie'', Member

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grotsch, Uli 1975 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany People from Weiden in der Oberpfalz