Hendrik Wüst
German politician (born 1975) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
German politician (born 1975) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hendrik Josef Wüst (born 19 July 1975) is a German politician serving as Minister-President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2021. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In October 2021, he succeeded Armin Laschet as state chairman of his party. Under Wüst's leadership, his party won the highest vote share in the 2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election.
Hendrik Wüst | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Wüst in 2018 | |
| Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia | |
| Assumed office 27 October 2021 | |
| Deputy | Joachim Stamp Mona Neubaur |
| Preceded by | Armin Laschet |
| Leader of the Christian Democratic Union of North Rhine-Westphalia | |
| Assumed office 23 October 2021 | |
| General Secretary | Josef Hovenjürgen Paul Ziemiak (acting) |
| Deputy | Daniel Sieveke Ina Scharrenbach Sabine Verheyen Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker Herbert Reul |
| Preceded by | Armin Laschet |
| Minister of Transport of North Rhine-Westphalia | |
| In office 30 June 2017 – 27 October 2021 | |
| Minister-President | Armin Laschet |
| Preceded by | Michael Groscheck |
| Succeeded by | Ina Brandes |
| General Secretary of the Christian Democratic Union of North Rhine-Westphalia | |
| In office 1 April 2006 – 22 February 2010 | |
| Leader | Jürgen Rüttgers |
| Preceded by | Hans-Joachim Reck |
| Succeeded by | Oliver Wittke |
| Member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia for Borken I | |
| Assumed office 8 June 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Heinrich Kruse |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hendrik Josef Wüst 19 July 1975 Rhede, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany (now Germany) |
| Political party | CDU (since 1990) |
| Spouse | Katharina Starting
(m. 2018) |
| Children | 1 |
| Residence | Rhede |
| Alma mater | University of Münster |
| Occupation |
|
| Website | Official website |
Wüst was born in 1975 in the town of Rhede in North Rhine-Westphalia.[1] In 1995, having obtained his Abitur, he began reading law at the University of Münster, qualifying as a lawyer in 2003.[2]
At the age of 15, Wüst co-founded the local branch of Junge Union (JU), the youth wing of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), in his hometown.[3] In 1994, he was elected to the city council of Rhede. He served as chairman of the JU in North Rhine-Westphalia from 2000 until 2006, which made him part of the CDU leadership in the state under chairman Jürgen Rüttgers.
Wüst was first elected to the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia in the 2005 elections. In addition to his parliamentary work, he was employed by public affairs agency Eutop from 2000 until 2005. From 2006, Wüst served as the secretary general of the CDU in the state,[2] under Rüttgers’ leadership. In 2010, he resigned from the post of secretary general.[4] He took this step after it became known that the party had given preferential access to Rüttgers, then Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, in return for payments.[3] From 2010 until 2017, Wüst then worked for the North Rhine-Westphalia state chapter of the German Newspaper Publishers Association (BDZV) and for a private broadcaster.[4]
From 2013, Wüst served as state chairman of the Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsunion, a business lobby within the CDU.[2] Following the 2017 state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Wüst was part of the CDU team in the negotiations with Christian Lindner’s FDP on a coalition agreement. He led his party's delegation in the working group on economic affairs and energy policy; his co-chair of the FDP was Andreas Pinkwart.[5] In 2017, Wüst was appointed State Minister for Transport in the cabinet of Armin Laschet.
On 5 October 2021, it was reported that Wüst would receive the endorsement of Laschet to succeed him as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia and state chairman of the CDU.[3] On 23 October, he was elected to the state chairmanship of his party.[6]
On 27 October 2021, Wüst was elected Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia by the state parliament.[7] As one of the state's representatives at the Bundesrat since 2021, Wüst serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Defense. During his first year as Minister-President, he also served as Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Germany for Cultural Affairs under the Treaty on Franco-German Cooperation.[8] Wüst was nominated by his party as delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the president of Germany in 2022.[9]
In May 2022, the CDU received the highest vote share in the 2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election, making Wüst the frontrunner to continue as the state's Minister-President.[10] For the campaign, he had hired Angela Merkel’s former advisors Eva Christiansen and Klaus Schüler.[11] By 2023, the German press increasingly viewed Wüst as a potential CDU candidate for chancellor in elections scheduled for late 2025.[12]
According to Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Wüst is part of the conservative wing of the CDU. In 2007, a group of conservative politicians, including Wüst and Markus Söder (the future Minister President of Bavaria), published a white paper entitled Moderner bürgerlicher Konservatismus ("Modern Civic Conservatism"), which was described as a "token of insubordination" by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.[4]
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