Volker Wissing (born 22 April 1970) is a German lawyer and former judge who served as the

Minister for Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

in the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

of Chancellor

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 ...

from 2021 to 2025 and as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

from 2024 to 2025. Wissing was previously the Deputy Minister-President of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

in the state government under Minister-President

Malu Dreyer Marie-Luise "Malu" Dreyer (born 6 February 1961) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the 8th minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate from 2013 to 2024. She is the first woman to hold this office. She serv ...

from 2016 to 2021 and a member of the German parliament from 2004 to 2013. He was the general secretary of the

Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...

from 2020 to 2022. Wissing declared his resignation from the party on 7 November 2024 in order to remain part of the

Scholz cabinet The Scholz cabinet (, ) was the 24th Government of Germany, Government of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany during the 20th legislative session of the Bundestag. It was sworn in on 8 December 2021 following the 2021 German federal electio ...

in the wake of the

2024 German government crisis On 6 November 2024, Olaf Scholz, the incumbent chancellor of Germany, announced the dismissal of Christian Lindner, the then-finance minister and leader of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), from his cabinet. This occurred following disputes in ...

. Following the resignation of Marco Buschmann, he also assumed the office of

Early life and education

Wissing was born 1970 in the German town of

Landau in der Pfalz Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...

and studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the

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 ...

. Wissing achieved a law degree and worked for some time as a judge before he entered professional politics.

Political career

Career in national politics

Wissing entered the FDP in 1998. He became 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 ...

in 2004 when he took the seat of Marita Sehn who had died in a car accident. From 2004 until 2013, he served on the Finance Committee; he chaired the committee from 2009 until 2013. From 2011 until 2013, he also served as one of his parliamentary group's deputy chairpersons, under the leadership of chairman Rainer Brüderle. 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, Wissing was part of the FDP delegation in the working group on financial policy and taxes, led by

Thomas de Maizière Karl Ernst Thomas de Maizière (; born 21 January 1954) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2018, as well as Federal Minister of Defence f ...

und

Hermann Otto Solms Hermann Otto Solms (born Hermann Otto Prince zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich; 24 November 1940) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Between 1980 and 2013, he was a member of the Bundestag, from 1991 to 1998 as Chairman of the ...

Career in state politics

On the state level, Wissing became chairman of the party's branch in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2011 succeeding Rainer Brüderle. He led the Free Democratic Party back into the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate in the 2016 state election. After coalition negotiations Wissing became Deputy Minister President and State Minister for Economics, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture in Malu Dreyer's second cabinet. In 2020 FDP leader

Christian Lindner Christian Wolfgang Lindner (; born 7 January 1979) is a German former politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who was the Federal Minister of Finance from 2021 until his dismissal in 2024 during the 2024 German government crisis. Servi ...

nominated Wissing to serve as General Secretary of the party, succeeding Linda Teuteberg. Subsequently, Wissing announced his switch for state politics to the federal arena, announcing his candidacy for the Bundestag in the 2021 federal election.

Minister of Digital Affairs and Transport, 2021–present

On 24 November 2021, Wissing was nominated by the Federal Executive Committee of the FDP for the post of Minister for Transport and Digital Affairs in the designated federal government. He took office as Transport Minister on 8 December as the

was sworn in. Early in his tenure, Wissing ordered the blocking of German airspace for Russian aircraft in response to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In July 2022, Wissing publicly presented his plans to meet emissions reductions targets in the German transport sector, shortly before the deadline. The scientific committee tasked with assessing the sufficiency of his proposed measures declared the plan entirely insufficient and decided not even to evaluate it, given there was "nothing to be evaluated". In March 2023, Wissing participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the governments of Germany and Japan in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, chaired by Chancellor Scholz and

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Fumio Kishida Fumio Kishida (born 29 July 1957) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP) from 2021 to 2024. He has been a member of the House of Representatives in the National Diet ...

. In October 2023, he joined the first joint cabinet retreat of the German and French governments in Hamburg, chaired by Scholz and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

. In November 2024 during

government crisis A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a mea ...

when the FDP withdrew support from the governing coalition, Wissing announced that he would leave the FDP in order to continue his term as Transport Minister. He was additionally appointed

on 7 November 2024 after the incumbent FDP minister Marco Buschmann was dismissed by

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician who has served as President of Germany since 2017. He was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), federal minister for foreign affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again f ...

upon Scholz' request.

Other activities

Corporate boards

KfW The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment and development bank, based in Frankfurt. As of 2014, it is the world's largest national ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (since 2021)

Non-profit organizations

* German-Jordanian Society, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board * Association of German Foundations, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board (2005-2013)

Personal life

Wissing is married and has a daughter. The family lives in

Bad Bergzabern Bad Bergzabern () is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, on the German Wine Route in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated near the border with France, on the south-eastern edge of the Palatinate forest, approximately s ...

and Berlin's

Prenzlauer Berg Prenzlauer Berg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right ...

district.Andreas Hoffmann (28 September 2013)
Bundestag adé: Herr Wissing räumt auf
''

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wissing, Volker Living people 1970 births 20th-century German politicians Members of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland University alumni 20th-century German judges Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (Germany) Transport ministers of Germany Justice ministers of Germany