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Green founder:
Katharina Beck is the only Green with founding experience to move into the Bundestag.
Photo: christine fiedler
The general election is over.
And while the grand coalition discussions begin in Berlin, one thing is already clear: only a few entrepreneurs have moved into parliament.
This can be found in the elected list of the Federal Returning Officer.
Some of those standing for election even missed their entry into the Bundestag.
Thus, the number of entrepreneurs in Berlin is likely to decrease compared to the previous legislature.
At that time, according to the Foundation for Family Businesses, it was 78. The foundation distanced itself from the study.
MEPs would interpret the term too broadly.
Most of the candidates with an entrepreneurial background were from the CDU and CSU.
Although in the run-up to the election some prominent middle-class representatives resigned their political commitment after the Union's lobby scandals.
Union entrepreneurs with moderate success
The business representatives of the CDU and CSU were able to move into the Bundestag primarily through direct mandates. For example,
Christian von Stetten (51)
, the chairman of the SME parliamentary group, defended his direct mandate in the Schwäbsich Hall-Hohenhlohe constituency in Baden-Württemberg. The constituency is considered the home of the middle class. This fact is likely to have simplified the election campaign by von Stetten, who inherited the Holding Schloss Stetten and its holdings in the company. Speaking of SMEs:
Carsten Linnemann
(44) is the head of the party-affiliated SME Union. He will also sit in the Bundestag again in the coming legislative period. Prior to his career in politics, Linneman was in the financial industry. He worked as an economist for Deutsche Bank and the industrial bank IKB.
Former Transport Minister
Alexander Dobrindt
(51)
brings
corporate
experience to
the sister party CSU
. He ran the mechanical engineering company Holzner. Now the top candidate of the CSU in Bavaria is moving back into the Bundestag thanks to his direct mandate. Dobrindt's predecessor as Minister of Transport,
Peter Ramsauer
(67), was also re-elected. The trained master miller is also the owner of the Talmühle in Traunwalchen, which has been family-owned since 1553.
The Union had no reason to be happy on election Sunday.
After 16 years in the government under Angela Merkel, she achieved a historically poor election result.
Some active entrepreneurs in the ranks of the CDU also suffered the defeat.
For example
Joe Chialo
, whom Armin Laschet presented a few weeks
ago
as part of his competence team.
After losing to the SPD in the Berlin-Spandau constituency, Chialo will continue to head his record label Airforce1 Records.
Also
Angelika Westerwelle
and
Sandra Möller
(52) were not sent by voters to Berlin.
Social Democrats are more managers than founders
When the first forecasts appeared, the Social Democrats in Berlin cheered. Olaf Scholz could become the next Federal Chancellor if he successfully forms a coalition. The number of founders and managers who will sit in parliament for the Scholz party, on the other hand, is fairly manageable: self-employed entrepreneurs are rare in the party.
Daniel Schneider
(44) belongs to that small group. Schneider won the direct mandate in Cuxhaven. There in the coming year - after the inevitable corona break - the Deichbrand music festival, which he co-founded, will also rise. Schneider is the managing director.
Andreas Schwarz
(56) had to file for bankruptcy with its shipping for wooden toys in 2018. A major customer had gone bankrupt. In this year's election, things went better for Black. He also got a seat in the Bundestag.
Although the number of founders among the Social Democrats is small, there are still a few managers in the party.
For example
Matthias-Mieves
(35), who will move into the Bundestag for the first time.
The Telekom manager was most recently responsible for the innovation program and investment management in Bonn.
He is also the owner of a nursing service.
In order to reconcile his engagements with being a politician, he took a sabbatical year for 2021.
Florian Post
(40) from Stadtwerke München was unable to benefit from his party's victory.
Post is manager for energy policy at Stadtwerke München.
He will no longer do politics in the Bundestag.
Post was put on a bad place on the list and lost the race for a direct mandate.
A green founder
The Greens fell short of the expectations that many observers, and not least the party, had of themselves.
Nevertheless, they could become chancellor makers together with the FDP.
In any case, the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag is already richer by one facet.
The Hamburg top candidate
Katharina Beck
(38)
founded the consulting company "Brave New World Delüx".
Before the election, Beck worked for the management consultancy Accenture.
There she was director for sustainability strategy.
Apart from Beck, the Greens have few entrepreneurs and managers in their ranks.
Nevertheless, the party was approaching the economy long before the general election.
Former DAX board member moves into parliament for FDP
Like the Greens, the FDP will play an important role in the coming weeks. And, as party leader Christian Lindner always emphasizes, campaigning for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship in Germany. The number of active entrepreneurs among the Liberals is also falling.
According to his own statements,
Volker Redder
(62) founded more than a dozen companies. He is still the managing partner of the IT consultancy i2dm today. In addition, Redder heads the Association of Family Entrepreneurs in Bremen.
Lencke Wischhusen (
36), ran behind Redder on the Bremen state list and missed the entry into the Bundestag. Even
Alexander Kulitz
(40) has not been selected.
In North Rhine-Westphalia,
Carl-Julius Cronenberg
(59)
moves
back into parliament via the state list.
Before his first legislative period in 2017, the FDP politician headed the traditional family business.
Cronenberg lost the election campaign in the Hochsauerlandkreis against a prominent CDU candidate - Friedrich Merz.
The liberal parliamentary group will be the only one in the Bundestag to have a former DAX board member.
Thomas Sattelberger
(72, formerly at Daimler, Lufthansa, Continental and Deutsche Telekom and, in addition to his mandate outside of election campaign times, also an mm columnist) ran in fifth place on the Bavarian state list and thus remains in parliament.
Marginal parties with few entrepreneurs
The left had to tremble for a long time about its entry. Although the party stayed below the five percent hurdle, it will still be represented in the next Bundestag thanks to the basic mandate clause. The only entrepreneurial member of the parliamentary group:
Anke Domscheit-Berg (53)
. After working at Accenture, McKinsey and Microsoft, Domscheit Berg founded his own company for fiber optic expansion. The future mandate was not only involved in many companies. Before joining the Left, she was also part of the Pirate Party and the Greens.
At the other end of the political spectrum, at the AfD,
Edgar Naujok
(61)
moves
into the Bundestag
for the first time
.
Naujok belongs to the Leipzig IT system provider Allyson, he won his constituency in Leipzig-Land.
Party leader
Tino Chrupalla
(46) also won his direct mandate.
Before his political career, Chrupalla had a painting business.
Top candidate
Alice Weidel
(42) has no experience as an entrepreneur.
But was employed by well-known companies such as Goldman Sachs and Allianz.
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