Anja Karliczek

Anja Karliczek (née Kerssen, born 29 April 1971) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Minister of Education and Research in Chancellor Angela Merkel's fourth cabinet since 14 March 2018.[1]

Anja Karliczek
Minister of Education and Research
Assumed office
14 March 2018
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded byJohanna Wanka
Member of the Bundestag
for Steinfurt III
Assumed office
22 September 2013
Preceded byDieter Jasper
Personal details
Born (1971-04-29) 29 April 1971
Ibbenbüren, West Germany
(now Germany)
Political partyChristian Democratic Union
Spouse(s)Lothar Karliczek
Children3

Early life and career

Anja Karliczek was born in Ibbenbüren and grew up in Tecklenburg. After an apprenticeship at Deutsche Bank in Osnabrück, she moved to work in her family's hotel in 1993. While raising a family and working full-time, Karliczek studied business administration at University of Hagen from 2003 until 2008, with a diploma thesis analysing the fiscal advantages of transferring pension obligations from the employer’s point of view.

Political career

Karliczek joined the CDU in 1998 and became the party's local chair in Tecklenburg in 2011.

Member of Parliament, 2013–present

Karliczek has been a member of the Bundestag since the 2013 elections, representing Steinfurt III.[2] Between 2013 and 2018, she was a member of the Finance Committee, where she served as the CDU/CSU parliamentary group's rapporteur on occupational and fully funded pension schemes and employee shareholding. From 2017, she also served as deputy of Michael Grosse-Brömer in his role as First Secretary of the parliamentary group. In this capacity, she was a member of the parliament’s Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigns committee chairpersons based on party representation.

In addition to her committee assignments, Karliczek is a member of the German-Slovenian Parliamentary Group.[3] Within the CDU/CSU, she is a member of MIT, its pro-business wing. She also belongs to the Münsterland Circle (Münsterlandrunde) which brings together all parliamentarians from the eponymous region in Westphalia; it also includes Sybille Benning and Jens Spahn, among others.

Federal Minister of Education and Research, 2018–present

In her capacity as minister, Karliczek is a member of the Joint Science Conference (GWK), a body which deals with all questions of research funding, science and research policy strategies and the science system that jointly affect Germany’s federal government and its 16 federal states.

During Karliczek's term, the German government introduced annual incentives worth 1.25 billion euros in 2019 aimed at supporting corporate research and development and boosting investments in cutting-edge technologies.[4] As a representative of the German government, she was part of the delegation accompanying President Emmanuel Macron of France on his state visit to China in November 2019.[5]

Other activities

Political positions

In June 2017, Karliczek voted against Germany’s introduction of same-sex marriage.[16] In 2018, she faced criticism after she questioned Germany's decision to recognize marriage equality in a television interview.[17]

In November 2018, Karliczek successfully suggested to ease the terms of the 5G build-out plan for network providers, declaring "we don't need 5G internet next to every milk churn". This was supposed to allow a slower proliferation of fast mobile internet in large parts of Germany in exchange for a larger amount to be gained by the federal government from the auction of frequency bands to operators.

Personal life

She married Eurowings pilot[18] Lothar Karliczek in 1995; they have three children.[19]

References
  1. BMBF-Internetredaktion. "Anja Karliczek - BMBF". Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung - BMBF (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-14.
  2. "Deutscher Bundestag - Anja Karliczek". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-14.
  3. Schmid, Sandra. "Deutscher Bundestag - Dött: Slowenen leben den europäischen Gedanken". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  4. Michael Nienaber (May 22, 2019), Playing catch-up, Germany introduces incentives for corporate research Reuters.
  5. Rym Momtaz (October 31, 2019), Macron moves to protect EU from Trump-China alliance Politico Europe.
  6. Board of Trustees Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
  7. Board of Trustees Archived 2018-04-20 at the Wayback Machine Deutscher Zukunftspreis.
  8. Board of Trustees Ernst Reuter Foundation for Advanced Study.
  9. Board of Trustees German Forum for Crime Prevention (DFK).
  10. Board of Trustees German National Association for Student Affairs.
  11. Senate Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.
  12. Senate, as on 7 February 2019 Leibniz Association.
  13. Senate, as of April 6, 2020 Max Planck Society.
  14. Advisory Board Deutsche Renten Information (DRI).
  15. Board of Trustees Total E-Quality.
  16. Diese Unionsabgeordneten stimmten für die Ehe für alle Die Welt, June 30, 2017.
  17. Critics slam German education minister for questioning gay marriage Deutsche Welle, November 22, 2018.
  18. Peter Henrichmann (January 17, 2018), Bundestagsabgeordnete Anja Karliczek spricht über Sorgen um den Arbeitsplatz: „Nie nur auf ein Einkommen setzen“ Westfälische Nachrichten.
  19. "Anja Karliczek | Persönlich". anja-karliczek.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-14.
Political offices
Preceded by
Johanna Wanka		 Minister of Education and Research
2018-		 Incumbent
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