Olav Gutting Explained
Olav Gutting (born 14 October 1970) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2002.
Early life and education
Gutting was born 1970 in the West German town of Bruchsal and studied jurisprudence at the University of Mannheim.[1]
Political career
In 2001 Gutting entered the CDU and became already in 2002 nominee of his party in the electoral ward of Bruchsal – Schwetzingen. He has been a member of the Bundestag since the 2002 elections, representing Bruchsal – Schwetzingen.[2]
In parliament, Gutting has been serving on the Finance Committee. In this capacity, he is his parliamentary group’s rapporteur on the so-called solidarity surcharge (or).[3]
Within the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Gutting has been part of the leadership since 2013, under successive chairmen Volker Kauder (2013-2018) and Ralph Brinkhaus (since 2018). He was one of the MPs who voted for Brinkhaus to oust Kauder in 2018.[4] Later that year, he ran for the post of deputy chairman but lost against Andreas Jung.[5] [6]
Other activities
- Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund (KENFO), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022)[7]
- KfW, Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (since 2019)[8]
- German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2022)[9]
Political positions
Within the CDU, Gutting is regarded as critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to enter into a coalition government with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) after the 2017 elections.[10] In June 2017, he voted against Germany's introduction of same-sex marriage.[11] In early 2020, he co-founded an informal cross-party group of MPs from the CDU, CSU and FDP parties who opposed a potential coalition government between CDU/CSU and the Green Party.[12]
Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election, Gutting publicly endorsed in 2020 Friedrich Merz to succeed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as the party's chair;[13] he later also expressed support for a candidacy of Jens Spahn.[14]
Controversy
In March 2021, Gutting and other members of the Union parliamentary group came under criticism for their lobbying activities for the authoritarian Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev.[15] [16] The controversy became known under the name of "Aserbaidschan-Affäre"[17] [18] in Germany and is related to the earlier "Caviar Diplomacy" corruption allegations in the Council of Europe.[19]
Notes and References
- Web site: Deutscher Bundestag - Olav Gutting. Deutscher Bundestag.
- Web site: Olav Gutting. CDU/CSU-Fraktion.
- Christian Ramthun (1 February 2022), Union erhöht den Druck: Das Soli-Problem des Christian Lindner Wirtschaftswoche.
- Guy Chazan (September 26, 2018), Merkel’s loss of right-hand man represents unprecedented revolt Financial Times.
- Beate Tenfelde (October 9, 2018), Wieder eine Kampfkandidatur: Ein Hauch von Anarchie in der CDU Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.
- https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/cdu-csu-bundestagsfraktion-andreas-jung-zum-neuen-fraktionsvize-gewaehlt-a-1232396.html Andreas Jung zum neuen Unionsfraktions-Vize gewählt
- https://www.kenfo.de/en/about-us/governance Governance
- https://www.kfw.de/KfW-Group/About-KfW/Berichtsportal-2018/Gesch%C3%A4ftsbericht-2018/Report-of-the-Board-of-Supervisory-Directors/ 2018 Annual Report: Report of the Board of Supervisory Directors
- https://www.bvmw.de/ueber-uns/gremien/politischer-beirat/ Political Advisory Board
- Guy Chazan (February 7, 2018), German conservatives smart at coalition concessions Financial Times.
- https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article166099805/Diese-Unionsabgeordneten-stimmten-fuer-die-Ehe-fuer-alle.html Diese Unionsabgeordneten stimmten für die Ehe für alle
- https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/liberal-konservativer-kreis-bundestagsabgeordnete-bilden.1939.de.html „Liberal-konservativer Kreis“: Bundestagsabgeordnete bilden neues Forum
- Walter Serif (September 12, 2020), „Ich werde Merz wählen“ Mannheimer Morgen.
- Lukas Eberle, Florian Gathmann, Christoph Hickmann, Timo Lehmann, Veit Medick and Sabrina Winter (October 9, 2020), Kampf um CDU-Parteivorsitz: "Hinter Spahn können sich alle versammeln" Der Spiegel.
- Web site: How an Authoritarian Regime Infiltrated a Government in the Heart of Europe. 2021-04-10. www.vice.com. 29 March 2021 . en.
- Web site: 2021-03-13. Aserbaidschan-Affäre belastet CDU Karlsruhe-Land: Von der Stutensee-Mafia zur Baku-Connection. 2021-04-10. Badische Neueste Nachrichten. de.
- Web site: Aserbaidschan-Affäre: CDU-Bundestagsabgeordneter Olav Gutting räumt Kontakte ein. 2021-04-10. www.rnz.de. de.
- Web site: Aktuell. S. W. R.. Kritik an Karlsruher CDU-Abgeordneten wächst. 2021-04-10. swr.online. de.
- Web site: Caviar Diplomacy - How Azerbaijan silenced the Council of Europe ESI. 2021-04-10. www.esiweb.org.