Dagmar Gabriele Wöhrl (néeWinkler; born 5 May 1954) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). She was elected to the German Bundestag six times, serving from 1994 to her retirement in 2017. From 2005 until 2009 she was a Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. She has served as Chairwoman of the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development of the German Bundestag. She was also a member of the 'Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with Arabic-Speaking States' in the Middle East.
Born in Stein, Bavaria, Wöhrl represented Germany in various beauty pageants: the 1973 Miss Universe beauty pageant where she did not place; the Miss International 1977 beauty pageant where she placed as first runner-up; the Miss World 1977[1] beauty pageant (after she won the Miss Germany beauty pageant 1977) where she placed as second runner-up; and the 1977 Miss Europe beauty pageant (held in March 1978 having been postponed in 1977, yet still called Miss Europe 1977) where she placed as first runner-up.
Political career
Wöhrl (right) with members of her party at the Germany federal election
In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the 2009 federal elections, Wöhrl was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on economic affairs and energy policy, led by Guttenberg and Rainer Brüderle. She later served as Chairwoman of the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development of the German Bundestag.[2] She was also a member of the 'Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with Arabic-Speaking States' in the Middle East, which is in charge of maintaining inter-parliamentary relations with Bahrain, Irak, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and the Palestinian territories.
From 2009, Wöhrl also served on the Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs, where she was her parliamentary group's rapporteur on creative industries.
In April 2016, Wöhrl announced that she would not stand in the 2017 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[3]
Political positions
Wöhrl in 2008
Development policy
When several Western countries froze their official development assistance for Uganda in response to the country's Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2014, Wöhrl warned that "stopping all the aid would only hit the poorest of poor once again."[4]
Peace-keeping on the African continent
During her time in parliament, Wöhrl voted in favor of German participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions as well as in United Nations-mandated European Union peacekeeping missions on the African continent, such as in Somalia – both Operation Atalanta and EUTM Somalia – (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015), Darfur/Sudan (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015), South Sudan (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015), Mali – both EUTM Mali and MINUSMA – (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016), the Central African Republic (2014), and Liberia (2015). She abstained from the vote on extending the mandate for Operation Atalanta in 2011.
European integration
On 27 February 2015, Wöhrl voted against the Merkel government's proposal for a four-month extension of Greece's bailout; in doing so, she joined a record number of 29 dissenters from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group who expressed skepticism about whether the Greek government under Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras could be trusted to deliver on its reform pledges.[5] On 17 July, she voted against the government's proposal to negotiate a third bailout for Greece.[6]
Other activities
Television appearances
By early 2017, media reported that Wöhrl would be joining the jury of Die Höhle der Löwen, a VOX reality television format featuring entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas in order to secure investment finance from a panel of venture capitalists.[7]
Wöhrl is married to the German CEO Hans Rudolf Wöhrl. In 2001, she was subject of much media coverage after her younger son Emanuel died because of an accident.[citation needed] Her older son Marcus ran for the European Parliament in 2004.
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