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Frank Schäffler (born 22 December 1968) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has served as a member of the Bundestag from 2005 until 2013 and since 2017.
Early life and career
Schäffler was born 1968 in the German town of Schwäbisch Gmünd and studied business administration at the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences. He later worked as an insurance salesman.
Political career
Schäffler entered the liberal FDP in 1987 and first served as a member of the Bundestag from 2005 until 2013. During that time, he was a member of the Finance Committee.
In 2011, Schäffler led a group of fellow eurosceptic MPs from the FDP who collected enough signatures to force a non-binding inner-party referendum on the question of whether the party should oppose the creation of the €500 billion European Stability Mechanism and instead take a much tougher line opposing bail-outs for debt-strapped members of the eurozone. The referendum was widely seen as destabilizing the coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel amid the European debt crisis. In the run-up to the vote, he became the target of attacks from the party's leadership, including from foreign minister Guido Westerwelle and FDP Secretary General Christian Lindner, who described Schäffler as "Germany's David Cameron"; Lindner subsequently resigned from his position. In 2012, Schäffler co-founded the Alliance Against the ESM.
In 2014, he co-founded Prometheus — Das Freiheitsinstitut, a member of the Atlas Network.
In the 2017 elections, Schäffler was re-elected and joined the parliament again. In parliament, he first served on the Finance Committee again from 2018 until 2021 before moving to the Budget Committee and the Committee on Digitization. In addition to his committee assignments, he has been a deputy chairman of the German-Swiss Parliamentary Friendship Group.
In the negotiations to form a so-called traffic light coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Green Party and the FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Schäffler was part of his party's delegation in the working group on European affairs, co-chaired by Udo Bullmann, Franziska Brantner and Nicola Beer.
In 2023, Schäffler announced his candidacy to challenge Lukas Köhler as deputy chair of the FDP parliamentary group; in an internal vote, however, he ultimately lost against Köhler.
Other activities
Corporate boards
- Bitcoin Group SE, Member of the Supervisory Board (-2018)
Non-profit organizations
- Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund (KENFO), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022)
- Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), Member of the Administrative Council (since 2018)
- Federation of German Consumer Organisations (VZBV), Member of the Advisory Board on Financial Markets
- Friedrich August von Hayek Foundation, Member
Political positions
Schäffler is considered to be a libertarian. He denies the scientific consensus on climate change.
References
- "Frank Schäffler | Libertäre Plattform". 16 August 2019. Archived from the original on 16 August 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
- Kirschbaum, Erik (28 September 2011). "Ostracised German euro rebel defends 'no' vote". Reuters.
- "Deutscher Bundestag - Frank Schäffler". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 27 September 2019.
- ^ Peel, Quentin (14 December 2011). "German coalition party hit by resignation". Financial Times.
- "German minister attacks eurosceptics in own ranks". Reuters. 28 October 2011.
- "Prometheus". lobbypedia.de (in German (formal address)). Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- Westervelt, Amy; Dembicki, Geoff (12 September 2023). "Meet the Shadowy Global Network Vilifying Climate Protesters". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- "Ampel-Koalition: Das sind die Verhandlungsteams von SPD, Grünen und FDP". Deutschlandfunk (in German). 27 October 2021. Archived from the original on 1 November 2021.
- Roßbach, Henrike (20 September 2023). "FDP: Frank Schäffler macht die Wahl zum Fraktionsvorstand spannend". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German).
- "Wahlvorschläge für Kuratorium des Kenfo" (in German). Bundestag. 27 April 2022. (press release)
- Administrative Council Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).
- Bohsem, Guido. "Zurück ins 19. Jahrhundert". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 27 September 2019.
- http://www.frankschaeffler.deich-bin-ein-klimaskeptiker/
CDU and CSU
SPD
FDP
LINKE
GRUENE
- 1968 births
- Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia
- Living people
- Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025
- Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021
- Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013
- Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009
- Members of the Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (Germany)
- Bielefeld University alumni