Oliver Wittke

Oliver Wittke (born September 24, 1966 in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German politician of the CDU.

Oliver Wittke
Member of the Bundestag
In office
2013 – 2019
Personal details
Born(1966-09-24)24 September 1966
Marl, West Germany
(now Germany)
Political party German:
Christian Democratic Union
 EU:
European People's Party
Alma materRuhr University Bochum

Education

Oliver Wittke studied geosciences and economics at the Ruhr University Bochum.

Career in state politics

From 1999 to 2004 Wittke was the direct elected mayor of Gelsenkirchen, this office was ever hold before by politicians of the SPD.

On June 24, 2005 Wittke was appointed State Minister of Construction and Transport in the cabinet of Minister-President Jürgen Rüttgers of North Rhine-Westphalia. From December 10, 2007 he was a member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, representing the electoral district of Herford. On February 11, 2009, he resigned from his ministerial post due to revelations that he had been caught speeding (107 km/h in a residential zone) in November 2008. Pursuant to German law, he was barred from driving for a period of two months. He had committed a similarly severe traffic violation in 2000, and had been barred from driving for four weeks.

From 2010 until 2012, Wittke served as Secretary-General of the CDU of North Rhine-Westphalia, under the leadership of chairman Norbert Röttgen.

Following the 2017 state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Wittke was part of the Armin Laschet’s team in the negotiations between CDU and Free Democratic Party on a coalition agreement.[1]

Career in national politics

Wittke was first elected to the German Bundestag in the 2013 federal elections. served on the Committee on Transport and Digital Infrastructure and its Sub-Committee on Municipal Politics. On the Committee on Transport and Digital Infrastructure, he was his parliamentary group's rapporteur on road haulage services, the transport of hazardous goods, railway and automobile technologies, and the motorway toll.

In addition to his committee assignments, Wittke was a member of the German-Turkish Parliamentary Friendship Group.

In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Wittke was part of the working group on transport and infrastructure, led by Michael Kretschmer, Alexander Dobrindt and Sören Bartol. With the formation of the fourth Grand Coalition, it was announced that Wittke would move to the position of Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy under Minister Peter Altmaier.[2] In this capacity, he also serves as the ministry's Special Coordinator for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).[3]

Life after politics

In October 2019, Wittke submitted his resignation from government and instead became the managing director of the German Property Federation (ZIA).[4]

Other activities
  • Deutsche Bahn, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2018)[5]
  • AGR Abfallentsorgungs-Gesellschaft Ruhrgebiet, Chairman of the Supervisory Board
  • FAKT Immobilien AG, Member of the Supervisory Board (-2014)

Political positions

In June 2017, Wittke voted against his parliamentary group’s majority and in favor of Germany’s introduction of same-sex marriage.[6][7]

Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, Wittke publicly endorsed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Angela Merkel as the party’s chair.[8]

References
  1. Tobias Blasius (May 23, 2017), NRW-Koalitionsverhandlungen beginnen in einer Jugendherberge Westfalenpost.
  2. Tobias Blasius (March 11, 2018), Oliver Wittke (CDU) wird Staatssekretär bei Peter Altmaier Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
  3. Neue Beauftragte für Mittelstand, Tourismus, Luft- und Raumfahrt sowie maritime Wirtschaft ernannt Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, press release of 11 April 2018.
  4. Jörn Stender (October 28, 2019), CDU-MdB Oliver Wittke wechselt in die Immobilienwirtschaft Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
  5. Maximilian Plück (July 18, 2018), Politik will mehr Einfluss auf die Deutsche Bahn Rheinische Post.
  6. Diese Unionsabgeordneten stimmten für die Ehe für alle Die Welt, June 30, 2017.
  7. Franziska Hein (June 30, 2017), So haben die CDU-Abgeordneten aus NRW abgestimmt Rheinische Post.
  8. Tobias Blasius, Michael Kohlstadt and Stephanie Weltmann (December 6, 2018), Wahl zum CDU-Vorsitz stellt NRW-Verband vor ein Dilemma Westfalenpost.


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