Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th minister-president of the state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU) between 1999 and 2007. In 2002, he ran for the office of Chancellor of Germany in the federal election, and in one of the narrowest elections in German history lost against Gerhard Schröder. On 18 January 2007, he announced that he would step down as minister-president and as party chairman by 30 September, after having been under fire in his own party for weeks.
Early life Stoiber was born in Oberaudorf in the district of Rosenheim in Bavaria. Prior to entering politics in 1974 and serving in the Bavarian Parliament, he was a lawyer and worked at the University of Regensburg.
Education and profession Stoiber attended the Ignaz-Günther-Gymnasium in Rosenheim, where he received his Abitur (high school diploma) in 1961, although he had to repeat one year for failing Latin. His military service was with the 1st Gebirgsdivision (mountain infantry division) in Mittenwald and Bad Reichenhall and was cut short due to a knee injury. Stoiber then studied political science and (from the fall of 1962) law at LMU Munich. In 1967, he passed the state law exam and then worked at the University of Regensburg in criminal law and Eastern European law. He received a doctorate in jurisprudence, and then in 1971 passed the second state examination with distinction.
In 1971, Stoiber joined the Bavarian State Ministry of Development and Environment.
Political career
In 1978, Stoiber was elected secretary general of the CSU, a post he held until 1982/83. In this capacity, he served as campaign manager of Franz-Josef Strauss, the first Bavarian leader to run for the chancellorship, in the 1980 national elections. From 1982 to 1986 he served as deputy to the Bavarian secretary of the state and then, in the position of State Minister, led the State Chancellery from 1982 to 1988. From 1988 to 1993 he served as State Minister of the Interior.
Minister-President of Bavaria, 1993–2007 In May 1993, the Landtag of Bavaria, the state's parliament, elected Stoiber as Minister-President succeeding Max Streibl. He came to power amid a political crisis involving a sex scandal, surrounding a contender for the state premiership.Hugh Williamson (17 January 2007), Stoiber crisis threatens Merkel's coalition Financial Times. Upon taking office, he nominated Strauss' daughter Monika Hohlmeier as State Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs.
In his capacity as Minister-President, Stoiber served as President of the Bundesrat in 1995/96. In 1998, he also succeeded Theo Waigel as chairman of the CSU.
During Stoiber's 14 years leading Bavaria, the state solidified its position as one of Germany's richest.Leadership Crisis in Bavaria: Edmund Stoiber To Step Down Spiegel Online, 18 January 2007. Already by 1998, under his leadership, the state had privatized more than $3 billion worth of state-owned businesses and used that money to invest in new infrastructure and provide venture capital for new companies.Edmund L. Andrews (14 September 1998), Conservatives Win Decisive Victory in Bavarian Election The New York Times. He was widely regarded a central figure in building one of Europe's most powerful regional economies, attracting thousands of hi-tech, engineering and media companies and reducing unemployment to half the national average.Hugh Williamson (1 October 2007), Stoiber steps aside and ends era in Germany Financial Times.
Candidate for Chancellor, 2002 In 2002, Stoiber politically outmaneuvered CDU chairwoman, Angela Merkel, and was declared the CDU/CSU's candidate for the office of chancellor by practically the entire leadership of the CSU's sister party CDU, challenging Gerhard Schröder. At that time, Merkel had generally been seen as a transitional chair and was strongly opposed by the CDU's male leaders, often called the party's "crown princess".
In the run up to the 2002 national elections, the CSU/CDU held a huge lead in the opinion polls and Stoiber famously remarked that "...this election is like a football match where it's the second half and my team is ahead by 2–0." However, on election day things had changed. The SPD had mounted a huge comeback, and the CDU/CSU was narrowly defeated (though both the SPD and CDU/CSU had 38.5% of the vote, the SPD was ahead by a small 6,000 vote margin, winning 251 seats to the CDU/CSU's 248). The election was one of modern Germany's closest votes.Jess Smee (17 January 2007), Stoiber quits after snooping row The Guardian.
Gerhard Schröder was re-elected as chancellor by the parliament in a coalition with the Greens, who had increased their vote share marginally. Many commentators faulted Stoiber's reaction to the floods in eastern Germany, in the run-up to the election, as a contributory factor in his party's poor electoral result and defeat. In addition, Schröder distinguished himself from his opponent by taking an active stance against the upcoming United States-led Iraq War. His extensive campaigning on this stance was widely seen as swinging the election to the SPD in the weeks running up to the election.
Later political career Stoiber subsequently led the CSU to an absolute majority in the 2003 Bavarian state elections, for the third time in a row, winning this time 60.7% of the votes and a two-thirds majority in the Landtag. This was the widest margin ever achieved by a German party in any state.Mark Landler (23 September 2002), Again, Bavaria's Favorite Is Germany's Runner-Up The New York Times.
Between 2003 and 2004, Stoiber served as co-chair (alongside Franz Müntefering) of the First Commission on the modernization of the federal state (Föderalismuskommission I), which had been established to reform the division of powers between federal and state authorities in Germany. In February 2004, he became a candidate of Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder for the presidency of the European Commission but he decided not to run for this office.Overture over for staunch Stoiber Financial Times, 10 June 2004.
Stoiber had ambitions to run again for the chancellorship, but Merkel secured the nomination, and in November 2005 she won the general election. He was slated to join Merkel's first grand coalition cabinet as Economics minister. However, on 1 November 2005, he announced his decision to stay in Bavaria, due to personnel changes on the SPD side of the coalition (Franz Müntefering resigned as SPD chairman) and an unsatisfactory apportionment of competences between himself and designated Science minister Annette Schavan. Stoiber also resigned his seat in the 16th Bundestag, being a member from 18 October to 8 November.
Subsequently, criticism grew in the CSU, where other politicians had to scale back their ambitions after Stoiber's decision to stay in Bavaria. On 18 January 2007, he announced his decision to stand down from the posts of minister-president and party chairman by 30 September. Günther Beckstein, then Bavarian state minister of the interior, succeeded him as minister-president and Erwin Huber as party chairman, defeating Horst Seehofer at a convention at 18 September 2007 with 58,1% of the votes. Both Beckstein and Huber resigned after the 2008 state elections, in which the CSU vote dropped to 43,4% and the party had to form a coalition with another party for the first time since 1966.
Life after politics Stoiber was first appointed in 2007 as a special adviser to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso to chair the "High level group on administrative burdens", made up of national experts, NGOs, business and industry organizations. Quickly nicknamed the "Stoiber Group", it produced a report in July 2014 with several proposals on streamlining the regulatory process.Quentin Ariès (15 September 2015), EU watchdog to probe appointment of Juncker adviser Politico Europe. Stoiber was re-appointed in December 2014 by Jean-Claude Juncker to the same role, from which he resigned after one year in late 2015.
Since his retirement from German politics in 2007, Stoiber has worked as a lawyer and held paid and unpaid positions, including:
Bundesliga Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees Commerzbank, Member of the Central Advisory Board Deloitte Germany, chairman of the Advisory BoardAdvisory Board Deloitte. (since 2009) Donner & Reuschel, Member of the Advisory BoardAdvisory Board Donner & Reuschel. FC Bayern Munich, Member of the Supervisory Board of the stock corporation and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the club. German-Russian Raw Materials Forum, Member of the Presidium Hanns Seidel Foundation, MemberBoard and Members, 2019 Hanns Seidel Foundation. Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, Member of the Honorary SenateHonorary Senate Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. LMU Munich, Member of the Board of Trustees Munich Security Conference, Member of the Advisory Council Nürnberger Beteiligungs-Aktiengesellschaft, Member of the Supervisory Board ProSiebenSat.1 Media, Member of the advisory board (since 2011)
Stoiber was a CSU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2017.Mitglieder bzw. Ersatzmitglieder der 16. Bundesversammlung Landtag of Bavaria, press release of 22 November 2016.
Political positions
Foreign policy
In his capacity as Minister-President, Stoiber made 58 foreign trips, including to China (1995, 2003), Israel (2001), Egypt (2001), India (2004, 2007) and South Korea (2007).Wolfgang Wittl (3 February 2016), Seehofer fehlt die Lust am Reisen Süddeutsche Zeitung.
In 2002, Stoiber publicly expressed support for the United States in their policy toward Iraq. During his election campaign, he made clear his opposition to war, and his support for the introduction of weapons inspectors to Iraq without preconditions as a way of avoiding war, and he criticized Schröder for harming the German-American alliance by not calling President George W. Bush and discussing the issue privately.Steven Erlanger (9 September 2002), Stance on Bush Policy Could Swing Election in Germany The New York Times. He also attacked German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer for his criticism of the U.S. position.William Boston (26 February 2002), As Stoiber Looks Past Economy, His Campaign Hits Shaky Ground The Wall Street Journal.
Stoiber is known for backing Vladimir Putin and there have been comparisons to Gerhard Schröder. One author called Stoiber a "Moscow's Trojan Horse".The German Election Campaign Has Commenced . The Trumpet. 2009 Putin is known to have given Stoiber "extreme forms of flattery" and privileges such as a private dinner at Putin's residence outside Moscow.Russia, Germany and Europe's Future . Ron Fraser. The Trumpet. 2008
European integration Stoiber has been said to be skeptical of Germany's decision to adopt the euro. In 1997, he joined the minister-presidents of two other German states, Kurt Biedenkopf and Gerhard Schröder, in making the case for a five-year delay in Europe's currency union.John Schmid (28 July 1997), Another German Premier Seeks Delay on the Euro International Herald Tribune. When the European Commission recommended that Greece be allowed to join the eurozone in 1998, he demanded that the country be barred from adopting the common currency for several years instead.Edmund L. Andrews (8 May 2000), Falling Euro, a Unity Currency, Instead Bolsters Dollar and Pound The New York Times. He is a staunch opponent of Turkey's integration into the European Union, claiming that its non-Christian culture would dilute the Union.