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Ilse Aigner

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Ilse Aigner
Aigner in 2023
Aigner in 2023
President of the Landtag of Bavaria
Incumbent
Assumed office
5 November 2018
Preceded by Barbara Stamm
Deputy Minister President of Bavaria
In office
10 October 2013 – 5 November 2018
Minister President Horst Seehofer
Herself (acting)
Markus Söder
Preceded by Martin Zeil
Succeeded by Hubert Aiwanger
Minister of Housing, Construction and Transport of Bavaria
In office
21 March 2018 – 5 November 2018
Minister President Markus Söder
Preceded by Office established
Succeeded by Hans Reichhart
Acting Minister President of Bavaria
In office
14 March 2018 – 16 March 2018
Deputy Herself
Preceded by Horst Seehofer
Succeeded by Markus Söder
Minister of the Economy, Energy, Technology and Media of Bavaria
In office
10 October 2013 – 21 March 2018
Minister President Horst Seehofer
Herself (acting)
Markus Söder
Preceded by Martin Zeil
Succeeded by Franz Josef Pschierer
Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
In office
31 October 2008 – 30 September 2013
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Preceded by Horst Seehofer
Succeeded by Hans-Peter Friedrich (Food and Agriculture)
Heiko Maas (Consumer Protection)
Member of the Bundestag
for Starnberg
In office
26 October 1998 – 22 October 2013
Preceded by Wolfgang Gröbl
Succeeded by Alexander Radwan
Member of the Landtag of Bavaria
Incumbent
Assumed office
15 September 2013
Preceded by Alexander Radwan
Constituency Miesbach
In office
20 October 1994 – 28 September 1998
Constituency Upper Bavaria
Personal details
Born 7 December 1964
Feldkirchen-Westerham, West Germany
Party Christian Social Union

Ilse Aigner (born 7 December 1964) is a German politician and member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU).

Aigner was born in Feldkirchen-Westerham, Bavaria, and entered Angela Merkel's grand coalition cabinet as Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection on 31 October 2008. She succeeded Horst Seehofer, who had become Minister President of Bavaria. She left her position on 30 September 2013 after being elected as a member of the Bavarian parliament.

From 2013, she served as Deputy Minister-President of Bavaria. In addition, she served as State Minister of Economic Affairs; and Media, Energy and Technology (2013–2018) and State Minister of Construction and Transport (2018). After Horst Seehofer resigned as Minister President in order to become Federal Minister of the Interior on 14 March 2018, Aigner became acting Minister President until the election of Markus Söder as Minister President. After the 2018 Bavarian State elections, she was elected as President of the Bavarian Landtag,[1] succeeding longterm president Barbara Stamm who had lost her seat in the election.[2]

Education and professional background

Aigner completed a professional training as a telecommunications technician in 1985 and joined her parents’ electrical installation business.[3]

In 1990 she graduated from the technical academy with the degree of a State Certified Engineer and worked for several years for Eurocopter in the development of helicopter electric systems.[3]

Aigner was elected first in 1994 to the Bavarian State Parliament.[3]

Member of the German Bundestag, 1998–2013

From 1998 Aigner was a member of the German Bundestag, always winning an absolute majority of the votes in her electoral district.

Election results for the Bundestag
Year Electoral
District 		Votes for Aigner Votes for opposing
Candidate (SPD)
1998 Starnberg 57,0% 26,2%
2002 Starnberg 63,5% 21,9%
2005 Starnberg 59,7% 22,0%
2009 Starnberg 54,0% 15,8%

From 2002 to 2005, she was a member of the Budget Committee, where she served as her parliamentary group's rapporteur on the budgets of the Federal Ministry for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture (BMELV) and the aerospace technology portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). From 2005 to 2008, she served as her parliamentary group's spokesperson for education and research policy.

Federal Minister for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture, 2008–2013

Aigner was a little-known member of parliament with no previous ministerial experience when she took over as Federal Minister for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture in the cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2008,[4] replacing Horst Seehofer.[5]

During her time in office, Aigner steered through a 2011 dioxins scare that saw contaminated eggs and meat from Germany going to six neighbouring countries.[6] In response, she imposed tough new safety standards for animal feed manufacturers, a move widely supported in the market to retain public confidence.[4]

She took a tough line against cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Germany but received praise from commodity traders when she supported imports of GMOs approved in the United States and South America to secure German supplies of soybeans for animal feed.[4] Meanwhile, she repeatedly expressed concern that outside financial investment in agricultural commodity markets distorts prices, instead calling for more transparency in commodity markets and clear visibility of the difference between futures investment by industrial food buyers and financial investors.[7]

In 2009, Aigner caused a controversy when she called for requirements to publish the names and location of recipients of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies to be “suspended” until the implications for data protection have been assessed. In response, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Mariann Fischer Boel threatened Germany with legal action.[8][9]

Aigner has been outspoken in her criticism of Facebook, which she has said needs to do to protect its users′ privacy.[10][11] In September 2011, she asked all federal ministers in Germany not to use Facebook for public relations and communication. In 2010, she criticized Google over plans to give property owners a four-week deadline to stop their buildings from showing up on the company's then newly launched Street View mapping service, demanding that all requests be considered instead.[12]

Amid the German debate on the country's energy transition to an energy portfolio dominated by renewable energy, Aigner called in later 2012 for the partial nationalization of the country's electrical grid in order to ensure that high-voltage power lines required to transport green energy from offshore windfarms and other sources to the industry-heavy regions of southern Germany are built.[13]

In 2012, Aigner announced she would leave her post to return to local politics in her home state of Bavaria following the 2013 national elections, prompting speculation that she was eyeing the post of Bavarian Minister-President Horst Seehofer.[4] This seemed even more likely as she had been elected chairwoman of her party's Upper Bavaria district association in 2011,[3] the largest and most powerful CSU subdivision.[14]

Deputy Minister-President of Bavaria, 2013–2018

Following her return to Bavaria after the state's 2013 elections, Aigner was named Minister-President Horst Seehofer′s deputy as well as Bavarian Minister for Economic Affairs, Media, Energy and Technology. As one of Bavaria's representatives at the Bundesrat, she served on the Committee on Cultural Affairs; the Committee on Economic Affairs; and the Committee on the Environment, Nature Protection and Reactor Safety.

In the negotiations to form a grand coalition following the 2013 national elections, Aigner led the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on economic affairs; her co-chair from the SPD was Hubertus Heil.[15] On 17 December 2013, she became the first woman to ever chair a meeting of the Bavarian State Government.[16]

In the cabinet of Minister-President Markus Söder, Aigner briefly served as State Minister of Construction and Transport in 2018. On the Bundesrat, she became a member of the Committee on Transport and of the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Regional Planning.

President of the Bavarian Landtag, 2018–present

On 5 November 2018, Aigner was elected with 198 of 205 votes as new President of the Bavarian Landtag.[17] After the 2023 Bavarian state election she was re-elected with 164 of 200 votes.[18]

Other activities

Regulatory bodies

Corporate boards

Non-profit organizations

Personal life

Aigner is a Roman Catholic. She is single and has no children.[24]

References

  1. Back to citation "Ilse Aigner: Von der Kronprinzessin zur Präsidentin". BR24 (in German). Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  2. Back to citation "Barbara Stamm: Stimmenkönigin und trotzdem raus". BR24 (in German). Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Back to citation occurrence 3.2 Back to citation occurrence 3.3 "CV Landtagspräsidentin Aigner" (PDF). Bayerischer Landtag. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  4. Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Back to citation occurrence 4.2 Back to citation occurrence 4.3 Michael Hogan (30 September 2013), German farm minister steps down to re-enter local politics Reuters.
  5. Back to citation Paul Hockenos (2 March 2011), Farmers’ friend European Voice.
  6. Back to citation Jennifer Rankin (19 January 2011), Germany seeks support for dioxin action plan European Voice.
  7. Back to citation Michael Hogan (23 January 2013), German minister criticises Deutsche Bank food commodities trade Reuters. Accessed 5 October 2022.
  8. Back to citation Simon Taylor (24 April 2009), EU warns Germany over transparency European Voice. Accessed 5 October 2022.
  9. Back to citation Hans-Jürgen Schlamp (29 April 2009), Who Gets EU Agriculture Subsidies? German Minister Blocking Push for Transparency, Spiegel Online. Accessed 5 October 2022.
  10. Back to citation "In dispute over data protection, Ilse Aigner terminates Facebook membership", spiegel.de. Accessed 5 October 2022.
  11. Back to citation Ilse Aigner asks Germans not to use Facebook, Netzwelt.de (in German). Accessed 5 October 2022.
  12. Back to citation Stephanie Bodoni (11 August 2010), Google Criticized in Germany Over Street View Plans Bloomberg Business. Accessed 5 October 2022.
  13. Back to citation Frank Dohmen and Gerald Traufetter (16 January 2013), Power Play: Politician Calls for Nationalization of Electricity Grid Der Spiegel. Accessed 5 October 2022.
  14. Back to citation Hengst, Björn; Meiritz, Annett (30 August 2013). "Aufstieg mit Risiko". spiegel.de (in German). Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  15. Back to citation Madeline Chambers, Markus Wacket and John O'Donnell (31 October 2013), Bavarian conservatives get boost from EU on foreign-driver road toll plan Reuters.
  16. Back to citation Björn Hengst (17 December 2013), Kabinettssitzung ohne Seehofer: Ist die Katze aus dem Haus... Spiegel Online.
  17. Back to citation "ZEIT ONLINE | Lesen Sie zeit.de mit Werbung oder im PUR-Abo. Sie haben die Wahl". Archived from the original on 5 November 2018.
  18. Back to citation "Ilse Aigner erneut zur Landtagspräsidentin gewählt". Bayerischer Landtag (in German). 30 October 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  19. Back to citation 2008 Annual Report KfW.
  20. Back to citation Board and Members, 2019 Archived 6 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine Hanns Seidel Foundation.
  21. Back to citation Board of Trustees Archived 4 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine Ifo Institute for Economic Research.
  22. Back to citation Senate Archived 14 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.
  23. Back to citation Board of Trustees Technical University of Munich (TUM).
  24. Back to citation Fritzen, Florentine. "Ilse Aigner: Almauftrieb". Faz.net.

Further reading

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