Jens Spahn

Jens Spahn
Spahn in 2020
Minister of Health
In office
14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded byHermann Gröhe
Succeeded byKarl Lauterbach
Deputy Leader of the Christian Democratic Union
In office
16 January 2021 – 20 January 2022
LeaderArmin Laschet
Preceded byArmin Laschet
Succeeded byCarsten Linnemann
Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance
In office
3 July 2015 – 14 March 2018
ChancellorAngela Merkel
MinisterWolfgang Schäuble
Peter Altmaier (acting)
Preceded bySteffen Kampeter
Succeeded byChristine Lambrecht
Member of the Bundestag
for Steinfurt I – Borken I
Assumed office
17 October 2002
Preceded byConstituency established
Personal details
Born
Jens Georg Spahn

(1980-05-16) 16 May 1980 (age 44)
Ahaus, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
(now Germany)
Political partyChristian Democratic Union
Spouse
(m. 2017)
Alma materUniversity of Hagen
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Bank teller
  • Lobbyist
[1]
WebsiteOfficial website

Jens Georg Spahn (born 16 May 1980) is a German politician who served as Federal Minister of Health in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he has been the member of the lower house of the federal parliament, the Bundestag (German: Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages, MdB), for Steinfurt I – Borken I since 2002.

At the time of his election in 2002, Spahn – at age 22 – was the youngest member of the CDU in the German parliament. He has since then served in the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and currently in the 20th Bundestags and is one of the main sponsors of pension reform in Germany. He was a member of the Committee of Health of the 17th Bundestag and the CDU/CSU parliamentary group's spokesperson on health. He served as Minister of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.

When Chancellor Angela Merkel stated her intention not to seek re-election for the CDU party leadership in 2018, Spahn announced his intention to stand for election as her successor in December 2018.[2] He was eliminated in the first round of voting; the position instead went to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.[3] Following Kramp-Karrenbauer's decision to resign in February 2020, he announced that he would not run for the party's leadership but instead endorse candidate Armin Laschet.[4] His alliance with Laschet proved successful, as his ally became CDU party leader on 16 January 2021[5][6] and candidate for chancellor of the CDU/CSU party alliance on 19 April 2021.[7]

  1. ^ Knight, Ben (26 February 2018). "Angela Merkel's new coalition 'won't address lobbying in Germany'". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  2. ^ "Merz will CDU-Chef werden: 'Wir brauchen in der Union Aufbruch und Erneuerung'". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  3. ^ Connolly, Kate (7 December 2018). "Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer elected Merkel's successor as CDU leader". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  4. ^ SPIEGEL, DER (25 February 2020). "'Es kann nur einen Parteichef geben' – DER SPIEGEL – Politik". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  5. ^ SPIEGEL, DER (16 January 2021). "Armin Laschet zum neuen CDU-Vorsitzenden gewählt". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  6. ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche, Merkels Getreuer – Armin Laschet ist neuer CDU-Chef | DW | 16 January 2021 (in German), retrieved 20 June 2021
  7. ^ Lohse, Eckart; Berlin. "Machtkampf mit Markus Söder: CDU-Vorstand deutlich für Laschet als Kanzlerkandidat". FAZ.NET (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 20 June 2021.

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