Ronald Pofalla

Ronald Pofalla
Federal Minister of Special Affairs
Chief of the Chancellery
In office
28 October 2009 – 17 December 2013
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Preceded by Thomas de Maizière
Succeeded by Peter Altmaier
Member of the Bundestag
Incumbent
Assumed office
1990
Personal details
Born May 15, 1959
Weeze, Northrhine-Westphalia
Nationality German
Political party CDU
Alma mater University of Cologne
Profession Lawyer
Website www.ronald-pofalla.de

Ronald Pofalla (born May 15, 1959 in Weeze) is a German politician. He was the Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery and a Federal Minister for Special Affairs from 2009 to 2013 as part of the Second Merkel Cabinet.

From 2004 to 2005 he was deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU's parliamentary group in the Bundestag, and served as the Secretary General of the CDU from 2005 to 2009, when he was appointed to cabinet, succeeding Thomas de Maizière as Chief of Staff.

Pofalla studied social pedagogy at the Fachhochschule in Kleve. After finishing with a Diplom in 1981 he studied law at the University of Cologne. In 1991 he passed the second Staatsexamen. Since that time Pofalla has been licensed to work as a lawyer.

Pofalla has been a member of the CDU since 1975. At first he was engaged in the Junge Union. He was chairman of the JU in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1986 to 1992.

Ronald Pofalla has been repeatedly criticized for being rude towards other representatives of the Bundestag and other secretaries of the German government. In September 2011 he seriously insulted Wolfgang Bosbach, senior group leader of the CDU/CSU-group in the Bundestag after an in-house discussion about the enhancement of the European Financial Stability Facility.[1]

In January, 2014 it was reported that Pofalla would be joining the supervisory board of Deutsche Bahn, the partly state-owned national rail network. According to news reports he was taking up a “specially created lobbying post” said to carry compensation of more than a million euros a year.[2] His successor in the Bundestag is Thorsten Hoffmann.

References

  1. ↑ "Merkel Ally Under Fire for Profanity-Ridden Tirade". Der Spiegel.
  2. ↑ "German Politician’s Rush to Lobbying Brings Scorn". New York Times. January 3, 2014.

External links

Media related to Ronald Pofalla at Wikimedia Commons