Political career
Early career
Friedrich began his national political career as an aide to Michael Glos,a senior CSU official in parliament. [4]
Friedrich has been a member of the Bundestag since the 1998 federal elections,. [4] He was deputy chairman of the investigating committee for party donations from 1999 until 2002 and for electoral fraud from 2002 until 2004. From 2002 until 2005 he was also judicial counselor of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.
Following the 2005 federal elections,when his party joined a Grand Coalition with Angela Merkel as Chancellor,Friedrich became deputy chairman of the parliamentary group under the leadership of Volker Kauder,covering the portfolio of housing and development. [5] Between 2007 and 2009,he was one of 32 members of the Second Commission on the modernization of the federal state,which had been established to reform the division of powers between federal and state authorities in Germany.
In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the 2009 federal elections,Friedrich led the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on transport and building policies;his co-chair from the FDP was Patrick Döring.
From 2009,Friedrich led the CSU in parliament,replacing Peter Ramsauer. During that time,he was said to have enjoyed a good relationship with Merkel and to have often sided with national interests over Bavarian ones. [3] Economic policy was widely seen as his passion as he has supported raising the retirement age to 67 despite opposition from CSU leader Horst Seehofer. [3] He also played a behind-the-scenes part in crafting Germany's response to the euro zone crisis. [3]
Federal Minister of the Interior,2011-2013
On 3 March 2011 Friedrich succeeded Thomas de Maizière as Federal Minister of the Interior [1] who replaced Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. The fact that Friedrich,like Guttenberg,came from the northern Bavarian area of Upper Franconia meant that his appointment ensured the regional balance of power within the CSU was maintained. [3]
On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the diplomatic relations between German and India,Friedrich participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the two countries’governments in Delhi in May 2011. [6] On 7 June 2011 he attended the state dinner hosted by President Barack Obama in honor of Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House. [7]
European integration
In early 2012,Friedrich became Chancellor Angela Merkel’s first Cabinet member to suggest Greece’s exit from the euro. In an interview with Der Spiegel ,he said Greece would have better chances of overhauling its economy and restoring growth if it left the euro area. [8]
In late 2012,Friedrich called for the immediate suspension of the visa-free regime for Serbia and Macedonia after more than 7,000 citizens of the two countries applied for asylum in Germany within one year. [9]
Surveillance
In the wake of the US National Security Agency's (NSA) internet surveillance scandal around PRISM in 2013,Friedrich was long perceived as not particularly devoted to investigating the full scope of NSA spying activities in Germany. [10] Instead,he defended the NSA's methods and promptly demanded legislation changes,in order to be able to expand surveillance of communication traffic by the German Bundesnachrichtendienst as well. [11] In an effort to point out how valuable information provided by the NSA can be for Germany,he argued that forty-five terror attacks had been prevented by the Prism program,including five in Germany;however,he soon back-peddled,unable to pinpoint the five instances. [12] In a later interview with Münchner Merkur newspaper,Friedrich held that Edward Snowden was not a victim of political persecution. [13]
Later career
Following the 2017 elections,Friedrich was elected as one of the vice presidents of the German Parliament,under the leadership of President Wolfgang Schäuble. In this capacity,he also joined the parliament's Council of Elders,which –among other duties –determines daily legislative agenda items and assigns committee chairpersons based on party representation.
In 2020,Friedrich co-founded the “China-Bridge”initiative,a non-profit networking association to strengthen links between Germany and China. [17] [18]
In 2024,Friedrich announced that he would not stand in the 2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term. [19]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
