Leader of the Free Democratic Party | |
---|---|
Vorsitzender der Freien Demokratischen Partei | |
Member of | Federal Executive Presidium |
Formation | 12 December 1948 |
First holder | Theodor Heuss |
Website | Christian Lindner's official website |
The Leader of the Free Democratic Party (German : Vorsitzender der Freien Demokratischen Partei) is the most senior and leading political figure within the Free Democratic Party (FDP), a centre-right and liberal political party in Germany with parliamentary representation. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) is, historically, also one of the most significant political parties in Germany. Since 6 December 2013, the office has been held by Christian Lindner, who succeeded Philipp Rösler. [1]
The Leader of the Free Democratic Party is supported by a General Secretary who, since 19 September 2020, has been Volker Wissing.
Portrait | Name (Born–Died) | Term of office | State | Chancellor | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Took office | Left office | Days | |||||
1 | Theodor Heuss (1884–1963) | 12 December 1948 | 12 September 1949 | 274 days | Baden-Württemberg | None Konrad Adenauer | |
2 | Franz Blücher (1896–1959) | 12 September 1949 | 6 March 1954 | 4 years, 175 days | North Rhine-Westphalia | Konrad Adenauer | |
3 | Thomas Dehler (1897–1967) | 6 March 1954 | 26 January 1957 | 2 years, 326 days | Bavaria | Konrad Adenauer | |
4 | Reinhold Maier (1889–1971) | 26 January 1957 | 28 January 1960 | 3 years, 2 days | Baden-Württemberg | Konrad Adenauer | |
5 | Erich Mende (1916–1998) | 28 January 1960 | 30 January 1968 | 8 years, 2 days | North Rhine-Westphalia | Konrad Adenauer Ludwig Erhard Kurt Georg Kiesinger | |
6 | Walter Scheel (1919–2016) | 30 January 1968 | 1 October 1974 | 6 years, 244 days | North Rhine-Westphalia | Kurt Georg Kiesinger Willy Brandt Helmut Schmidt | |
7 | Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1927–2016) | 1 October 1974 | 23 February 1985 | 10 years, 145 days | North Rhine-Westphalia | Helmut Schmidt Helmut Kohl | |
8 | Martin Bangemann (1934–2022) | 23 February 1985 | 8 October 1988 | 3 years, 228 days | Baden-Württemberg | Helmut Kohl | |
9 | Otto Graf Lambsdorff (1926–2009) | 8 October 1988 | 11 June 1993 | 4 years, 246 days | North Rhine-Westphalia | Helmut Kohl | |
10 | Klaus Kinkel (1936–2019) | 11 June 1993 | 10 June 1995 | 1 year, 364 days | Baden-Württemberg | Helmut Kohl | |
11 | Wolfgang Gerhardt (1943–2024) | 10 June 1995 | 4 May 2001 | 5 years, 328 days | Hesse | Helmut Kohl Gerhard Schröder | |
12 | Guido Westerwelle (1961–2016) | 4 May 2001 | 13 May 2011 | 10 years, 9 days | North Rhine-Westphalia | Gerhard Schröder Angela Merkel | |
13 | Philipp Rösler (born 1973) | 13 May 2011 | 7 December 2013 | 2 years, 208 days | Lower Saxony | Angela Merkel | |
14 | Christian Lindner (born 1979) | 7 December 2013 | Incumbent | 10 years, 281 days | North Rhine-Westphalia | Angela Merkel Olaf Scholz | |
The Free Democratic Party is a liberal political party in Germany.
Christian Wolfgang Lindner is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as the Federal Minister of Finance since 8 December 2021. He has been the party leader of the FDP since 2013 and a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) for North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017, previously holding a seat from 2009 until 2012.
Christian Dürr is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2017. Since December 2021 he has been leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag.
Katja Suding is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) was a member of the German Bundestag from 2017 to 2021. She served as chairwoman of her party's parliamentary group in the Hamburgische Bürgerschaft from 2010 until 2017.
Tobias Lindner is a German economist and politician of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen who has been serving as member of the Bundestag since 2011, as a list member for Rhineland-Palatinate. Since December 8, 2021, he has been Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office.
Nicola Beer is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a vice president of the European Investment Bank since 2024, under the leadership of president Nadia Calviño.
Linda Teuteberg is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2017, she was elected as General Secretary of the FDP on 26 April 2019 and thereby became part of the party's leadership around chairman Christian Lindner. Lindner asked for and received her resignation effective 19 September 2020.
Dagmar Rosenfeld is a German journalist. She has been deputy editor-in-chief of Die Welt since 2016.
Frank Schäffler is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has served as a member of the Bundestag from 2005 until 2013 and since 2017.
Moritz Körner is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He is member of the board of the Free Democratic Party in Germany.
Marco Buschmann is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Justice in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet since 2021. He has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2009 to 2013 and again since 2017.
Torsten Herbst is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Saxony since 2017. In 2021, he was elected whip of the FDP parliamentary group.
Katja Hessel is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Bavaria since 2017.
Frank Sitta is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Saxony-Anhalt from 2017 until 2021.
Bettina Stark-Watzinger is a German economist and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as Minister of Education and Research in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet since 2021. She has been a member of the Bundestag from the state of Hesse since 2017.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since July 2024. Before that she served as Member of the German Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2017 to 2024. She also had been the Chair of the Defence Committee of the Bundestag since 2021.
Johannes Vogel is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2009 until 2013 and since 2017.
Volker Wissing is a German lawyer, former judge and politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as the party's General Secretary since 2020, and as Minister for Transport in the federal government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 2021. He previously was the Deputy Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate in the state government under Minister-President Malu Dreyer from 2016 to 2021 and a member of the German Parliament from 2004 to 2013.
Daniela Schmitt is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as State Minister for Economics, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture in the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate since 2021. From 2013 until 2021, she was Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture under minister Volker Wissing
Yvonne Gebauer is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as the State Minister for School and Education of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2017 to 2022. She was active in the local politics of her home city Cologne before being elected to the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2012. She has served on her party's state board since 2016.