Nico Lange

Nico Lange

Nico Lange (born 23 March 1975) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Defence Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s chief of staff since 2019.

Early life and education

Lange was born 1975 in Berlin and studied political science at the University of Greifswald.[1] As part of his military service, he served in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Kosovo.

Career

On a scholarship of Robert Bosch Foundation, Lange taught international relations at Saint Petersburg State University from 2004 until 2006.

From 2006 to 2012 Lange headed the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation office in Kyiv.

From 2012 until 2017, Lange led the foundation's domestic policy team in Berlin.[2] In this capacity, he was appointed by CDU Secretary General Peter Tauber to a commission tasked with drafting proposals for reforming the party between 2013 and 2017.[3] In 2014, he chaired a task force on the future of political parties in Germany. He was also member of a CDU working group committee on domestic policy reforms. After the CDU lost elections in Baden-Württemberg in 2016, Lange accompanied the party's deputy chairman Thomas Strobl when he toured the state visiting local chapters and discussing with members.[3]

From 2017 until 2018, Lange headed the foundation's Washington office.

In April 2018 Lange became deputy general manager of the CDU, under the leadership of newly elected chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.[4] Since 2019, he has been serving as Kramp-Karrenbauer's chief of staff at the Federal Ministry of Defence.

Controversy

In June 2010 Lange was arrested for supposed espionage by the Ukrainian counterespionage agency, the Security Service of Ukraine.[5] After a harsh diplomatic intervention by the German government, Lange was released after some hours, citing Ukrainian officials, that a ´misapprehension´ had taken place.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Der Maschinist" Cicero August 2019, p. 38 (in german)
  2. ^ "3 reasons why Angela Merkel won't change on migration". 18 March 2016.
  3. ^ a b Amann, Melanie; Neukirch, Ralf (30 January 2018). "Search for Merkel Successor Leads to Kramp-Karrenbauer". Der Spiegel.
  4. ^ Roßmann, Robert (6 April 2018). "Kramp-Karrenbauer baut CDU-Zentrale um". Süddeutsche.de.
  5. ^ "Kritische Äußerungen: Ukraine hält deutschen Stiftungschef stundenlang fest - SPIEGEL ONLINE". Der Spiegel. 27 June 2010.
  6. ^ Tagesspiegel. 30.06.2010 p. 6 (in german)


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