Annette Widmann-Mauz


Annette Widmann-Mauz is a German politician of the Christian Democrats. She is a member of the German Bundestag where she represents the electoral district of Tübingen. Since 2009 Widmann-Mauz has been serving as Parliamentary State Secretary in Chancellor Angela Merkel's second and third cabinet.

Political career

In the 1998 federal election Widmann-Mauz was elected from the CDU Baden-Württemberg list, the second largest chapter of her party. Four years later, in 2002, she was elected directly for the constituency of Tübingen. She has won each re-election in this electoral district at all federal elections since.
In her first legislative term, Widmann-Mauz joined the Committee on Health. Between 2005 and 2009, she served as her parliamentary group's spokesperson on health policy.
Since 2003, Widmann-Mauz has been serving as deputy chairwoman of the CDU Baden-Württemberg, under the leadership of successive chairmen Erwin Teufel, Günther Oettinger, Stefan Mappus and Thomas Strobl.
In the negotiations to form a coalition government of the Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats following the 2009 federal elections, Widmann-Mauz was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on health policy, led by Ursula von der Leyen and Philipp Rösler. On 29 October 2009 she became Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health. In the second Merkel cabinet, she first served alongside Daniel Bahr under the leadership of Minister Philipp Rösler and later under Bahr, who replaced Rösler in 2011. In 2011, she participated in the first joint cabinet meeting between the German government and the State Council of the People's Republic of China in Berlin.
Within her party, Widmann-Mauz has been a member of the CDU's national board under the leadership of successive chairwomen Angela Merkel and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer since 2012.
In the negotiations to form a third cabinet under Merkel following the 2013 federal elections, Widmann-Mauz led the working group on families, alongside Manuela Schwesig. In the new coalition government, she again served as Parliamentary State Secretary for Health, this time under the leadership of Minister Hermann Gröhe.
Since 2015, Widman-Mauz has been leading the Christian Democrats’ Women’s Union.
In the negotiations to form a fourth cabinet under Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Widmann-Mauz led the working group on families, alongside Angelika Niebler and Katarina Barley. In her role as Minister of State for Migration, Refugees and Integration, she has since been working in the Federal Chancellery under Merkel.

Other activities

Corporate boards

In 2014, Widmann-Mauz negotiated legislation requiring German companies to allot 30 percent of their non-executive board seats to women from 2016.
In June 2017, Widmann-Mauz voted against Germany’s introduction of same-sex marriage.
Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, Widmann-Mauz publicly endorsed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Angela Merkel as the party’s chair.