Matthias Wissmann (born April 15, 1949 in Ludwigsburg) is the president of the Verband der Automobilindustrie.
Since 1999 he has been a partner with the law firm WilmerHale.[1]
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Wissmann studied law at the university of Bonn. He became a member of K.D.St.V. Alania Bonn, a catholic student fraternity that is member of the Cartellverband.
Since 1965, Wissmann has been active in politics. He became member of the political youth organisation Junge Union and in 1968 of the CDU. From 1973 to 1983 Wissmann was federal leader of the Junge Union. Between 1998 and 2000 he was federal treasurer of the CDU.
In 1976, Wissmann was elected to the German Bundestag for the Christlich-Demokratische Union. He laid down his parliamentary mandate by May 31, 2007 to become the president of the German automobile industry association, VDA, from June 1, 2007.
In 1981, he was chairman of the commission Jugendprotest im demokratischen Staat (youth protest in the democratic state) until 1983. In the years 1983 - 1993 he was the spokesman of his parliamentary party for economy. From 1998 to 2002 Wissmann was the chairman of the parliamentary committee for economy and technology. Since 2002 he was the chairman of the parliamentary committee for the affairs of the European Union.
On January 21, 1993 Wissmann became federal minister of research and technology in the government of chancellor Helmut Kohl. Only four month later, after the resignation of Günther Krause, he became federal minister of transport on May 13 1993. Wissmann left the government after his party lost the federal elections on September 27, 1998.