Reiner Haseloff: career, wife and children of the CDU politician

Rainer Haselhoff has been Prime Minister of the State of Saxony-Anhalt since 2011.

The CDU politician has also been President of the Federal Council since November 1, 2020.

Wittenberg - Rainer Haselhoff (* 19.02.1954) was born in Bülzig and after graduating from high school in 1972, he first completed basic military service with the National People's Army in what was then the GDR.

This was finally followed by a degree in physics at the Technical University in Dresden.

Haselhoff graduated with a degree in physics.

In the early 1990s, Rainer Haselhoff received his doctorate in physics from the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Parallel to his scientific career, Rainer Haselhoff was politically active from a young age.

As early as 1976 he joined the then CDU of the GDR.

Since the fall of the Wall, Rainer Haselhoff has been a member of the state board of the CDU Saxony-Anhalt.

In 2011 Haselhoff was finally elected Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt.

Rainer Haselhoff career in state politics

From May 2002 the CDU politician held the office of State Secretary in the Ministry of Economics and Labor in Saxony-Anhalt. After the 2006 elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Haselhoff was finally appointed Minister of Economics in Saxony-Anhalt under the then Prime Minister Wolfgang Böhmer (born January 27, 1936). After Böhmer did not run for the following elections in 2011 for reasons of age, Rainer Haselhoff was nominated as the top candidate by the state party congress of the CDU in April 2010 for the 2011 state elections.

The CDU was finally able to win the state elections, but the result did not quite match the election prognoses.

Nevertheless, the CDU continued to be the strongest force in the country with 32.5 percent and was able to continue the grand coalition with the SPD that had existed since 2006, but this time with Rainer Haselhoff as Prime Minister.

Rainer Haselhoff's political career at a glance:

• 1990 to 2002 member of the district council of the Wittenberg district

• Since 1990 member of the state board of the CDU Saxony-Anhalt

• Since 2008 member of the federal executive committee of the CDU

• Since 2011 Prime Minister of the State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt

Rainer Haselhoff Chairman of a "Kenya Coalition"

In the state elections in 2016, the CDU was again the strongest force, but with only 29.5 percent of the vote. Thus, the previously existing coalition of SPD and CDU missed a majority. Another partner had to be found in order to successfully form a government. Finally an agreement was reached between the SPD, CDU and the Greens. In 2016, Rainer Haselhoff became the first chairman of a so-called “Kenya coalition”. Due to differences on the subject of "broadcasting fees" Haselhoff dismissed the previously incumbent Minister of Economics, Stahlknecht

The reason for this was an unsettled interview that was published in the “Magdeburger Volksstimme”.

The main question was whether the black-red-green coalition in Saxony-Anhalt could break due to the differences of opinion on the subject of “broadcasting fees”.

There were differing views within the governing coalition due to the planned increase in the radio license fee.

Haselhoff had already indicated several times in advance that the planned increase in the Federal Council would be blocked and thus attracted attention nationwide.

Rainer Haselhoff dealing with the alternative for Germany, AfD

After the AfD became the second strongest force in the state elections in 2016 and achieved 24.3 percent just behind the CDU, all democratic parties categorically ruled out cooperation with the alternatives for Germany.

Rainer Haselhoff also took a clear stand against what he saw as the “undemocratic” party.

Nonetheless, there have been repeated voices in the past that the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt must move more to the right again.

The right wing of the CDU in particular expressed indirect sympathy for cooperation with the AfD on several occasions.

With regard to the AfD, Haselhoff made it clear several times that this party was completely outside the values ​​of the Union and that there would be no cooperation.

Rainer Haselhoff is again the top candidate of the CDU in the state elections in 2021

It has been certain since autumn 2020 that Rainer Haselhoff will run again for the CDU as the top candidate in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on June 6, 2021. The decision was made at a meeting with the then CDU country chief Stahlknecht and General Secretary Sven Schulze (* July 31, 1979). The reason for the renewed candidacy was that Haselhoff enjoyed great trust in the population, especially with regard to dealing with the corona pandemic.

In fact, Haselhoff was supposed to be confirmed as a top candidate by the CDU regional assembly of representatives on November 21.

Due to the ongoing corona pandemic, however, this event was repeatedly postponed and only held on February 20, 2021.

The delegates there clearly voted for Haselhoff with 95 percent.

In the current polls on the upcoming state elections, the CDU was most recently around 30 percent and would therefore become the strongest force in parliament in Magdeburg after the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt in 2021.

The state parliament can be found on Google Maps directly on Magdeburg Cathedral Square.

However, Rainer Haselhoff confirms criticism from the media

However, Rainer Haselhoff's good election result was overshadowed by persistent criticism.

The reason for this was the adherence to the requirement to be present at the state representative assembly despite the corona pandemic.

Above all, the critics criticized the risk that such an event would go hand in hand, especially since the tables at the event were quite narrow.

There was further criticism for the fact that the participants did not have to wear masks.

In order to mitigate the risks, all participants at the state representative assembly had to present a negative test result in advance of the event.

However, this could not be older than 24 hours.

In addition, neither media representatives nor guests were allowed to attend the event.

A total of around 100 delegates were invited to the event in Dessau-Roßlau.

Rainer Haselhoff on social media

In the past, the Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt has been noticed again and again through statements on social media.

Haselhoff mainly uses the Twitter portal to communicate with the public.

Most recently, Haselhoff even made headlines nationwide and only because of a tweet with the content: "Ä": The reason for the unsuccessful tweet, which nevertheless earned 15,000 likes on Twitter and Facebook, was a phone call from Saxony-Anhalt's Minister of Social Affairs, Petra Grimm-Benne (* April 27, 1962), who distracted Haselhoff while the Twitter app was still open on his smartphone.

Thus, the incomplete tweet was canceled prematurely by mistake.

After Haselhoff became aware of his mishap, he commented again on Twitter with the words: "What a randomly sent individual letter generates interesting reactions".

So he took the mishap with humor.

Rainer Haselhoff family and private life

Rainer Haselhoff has a brother and a sister. Haselhoff has been married to his wife Gabriele since 1976. The couple live together in Wittenberg. His children, two sons, have already started families of their own. Thus, Rainer Haselhoff is now five times grandfather. Rainer Haselhoff belongs to the Catholic denomination and is thus the first Catholic Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt. The long-time CDU Prime Minister is considered to be linked to his home country. So it is not surprising that he still lives with his wife of many years not far from his place of birth in Wittenberg.