Roland Koch

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Roland Koch (born 24 March 1958) is a German jurist and former conservative politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the 7th Minister President of Hesse from 7 April 1999, immediately becoming the 53rd President of the Bundesrat, completing the term begun by his predecessor as Minister President, Hans Eichel, until his resignation on 31 August 2010. During his time in office, Koch was widely regarded as one of Chancellor Angela Merkel's main rivals within the CDU.<ref>Patrick McGroarty (26 May 2010), Party Ally—and Potential Rival—of Germany's Merkel Plans to Resign Wall Street Journal.</ref><ref>Roland Koch Calls It Quits: Merkel Loses an Adversary and an Ally Spiegel Online, 25 May 2010.</ref>

Early life and education

Template:Expand section Koch was born in Frankfurt am Main. He studied law and graduated in 1985. In 1979, Koch became the youngest person to hold the office of chairman of the CDU in Main-Taunus district.

Political career

From 1983 until 1987, Koch served as vice-chair of the federal youth organization of the CDU.

In the 1987 state elections, Koch was elected to the State Parliament of Hesse. From 1989 until 1997 he was also a member of the Main-Taunus district council and parliamentary leader of the local CDU group. In 1991 he became vice-chair of the CDU parliamentary group, and in 1993 its chair. Until then Koch had been a city council member in his hometown of Eschborn.

From 1998 onward, Koch was chair of the CDU in Hesse.Template:Citation needed

Minister-President of Hesse, 1999–2010

In the state elections in 1999, the CDU began collecting signatures to document the resistance in the population to plans of the federal government to make dual citizenship easier for foreigners to obtain. Because some people viewed this as "collecting signatures against foreigners", this campaign was portrayed as "xenophobic".<ref>staatsbuergerschaft Rhein Zeitung online, 5 January 1999</ref> Koch won the election and displaced the incumbent, Hans Eichel. Under his leadership, the CDU achieved the best result for the party there in 60 years.<ref>Christopher Rhoads (3 February 2003), German Voters Place Focus On Economy Instead of Iraq Wall Street Journal.</ref>

In 2003, Koch and Peer Steinbrück, the Social Democrat premier of North Rhine Westphalia, together drew up a plan to reduce tax breaks and subsidies, including those on coal by 12 percent over several years. The subsidies were a particularly sensitive issue in North Rhine-Westphalia, where most of the coal mines are located.<ref name="nytimes.com">Judy Dempsey (13 October 2005), New German Finance Minister Likely to Help Merkel's Agenda New York Times.</ref>

Ahead of the 2004 German presidential election, Koch publicly endorsed Wolfgang Schäuble as the Christian Democrats’s candidate to succeed incumbent President Johannes Rau.<ref>Hans-Ulrich Jörges and Hans Peter Schütz (30 December 2003), Roland Koch: "Ja, ich bin für Wolfgang Schäuble" Stern.</ref>

Under the leadership of party chairwoman Angela Merkel, Koch was elected vice-chairman of the CDU in November 2006, alongside Jürgen Rüttgers, Annette Schavan and Christian Wulff.<ref>CDU-Stellvertreter: Merkels bunte Truppe n-tv, 27 November 2006.</ref> By 2007, he and Rüttgers, his counterpart from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, agreed on approving a merger of their respective state-owned banks, WestLB and Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba).<ref>Beat Balzli, Wolfgang Reuter and Steffen Winter (20 November 2007), Trouble Ahead For State-Owned Banks in Germany Bloomberg News.</ref> WestLB was eventually broken up in 2012 after years of losses and controversy.

Prior to the Hesse state election of 2008 Koch was once again accused of using xenophobic tactics by pledging to get tough on youth crime, which is concentrated among immigrant and minority groups. In the course of the election he lost his party's majority in the Hessian Parliament, but remained acting Minister President as his SPD challenger Andrea Ypsilanti was unable to form a government. Since none of the parties was able to build a majority coalition, they decided to give the voters another chance to produce a workable result.

In the January 2009 election the FDP made significant gains which allowed Koch to form a conservative-liberal coalition government, reelecting him as the Minister President of the State of Hesse. Ahead of the 2009 federal elections, he was tipped as a potential finance or economics minister in a coalition government of CDU/CSU and FDP.<ref>Bertrand Benoit (18 January 2009), Hesse win gives Merkel an electoral edge Template:Webarchive Financial Times.</ref><ref>Roland Koch Calls It Quits: Merkel Loses an Adversary and an Ally Spiegel Online, 25 May 2010.</ref>

In his capacity as Minister-President, Koch held various other positions, including the following:

• Fraport, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (1999–2003)
• ZDF, Member of the Board of Directors (2002–2011)<ref>Thomas Zorn (10 December 2010), Roland Koch verlässt ZDF-Verwaltungsrat Focus.</ref>
• Hessische Kulturstiftung, Chairman of the Board of Trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Template:Webarchive Hessische Kulturstiftung, Wiesbaden.</ref>

On 25 May 2010 Koch announced his withdrawal from the active politics. At the time, he said he had informed Merkel of his plan to leave politics more than a year before.<ref>Roland Koch Calls It Quits: Merkel Loses an Adversary and an Ally Spiegel Online, 25 May 2010.</ref> He resigned as Minister-President of Hesse on 31 August 2010.<ref>Liveticker: Die Pressekonferenz zum Koch-Rückzug Template:Webarchive from fr-online.de, 25 May 2010 (downloaded on 25 May 2010)</ref> He hinted that he was departing politics in order to become active in the business world.<ref>Koch tritt zum 31. August als Ministerpräsident zurück (Live-Ticker) Template:Webarchive from ft.de, 25 May 2010</ref>

Political positions

Koch was seen as a rhetorically gifted politician; critics have accused him of populism.<ref>Sueddeutsche Zeitung online Template:Cite web "Most brutal populism" - Hesse Prime Minister Roland Koch faces a spate of criticism on his statements about foreign teenage criminals</ref> A sometimes polarizing figure on his party's right, Koch proved to be one of the main defenders of business and financial interests within his party.<ref>Quentin Peel and James Wilson (19 July 2010), Koch reassures on German regulation Financial Times.</ref> In 2010, Koch and Merkel clashed over budget cuts, as Koch proposed cutbacks in education and research that Merkel opposed. He also suggested that a law passed to provide a guaranteed child-care facilities for children under 3 would have to be reconsidered.<ref>Judy Dempsey (11 May 2010), German Lawmakers Warn of Budget Cuts International Herald Tribune.</ref> In his final years as Minister-President, he largely worked smoothly with Merkel.<ref>Patrick McGroarty (26 May 2010), Party Ally—and Potential Rival—of Germany's Merkel Plans to Resign Wall Street Journal.</ref> Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, Koch publicly endorsed Friedrich Merz to succeed Angela Merkel as the party's chair.<ref>Christian Rothenberg (5 December 2018), So groß sind die Lager der Unterstützer für Merz, Spahn und Kramp-Karrenbauer Handelsblatt.</ref>

On foreign policy, Koch forged a friendship with the Dalai Lama and supported the self-determination of Tibet.<ref>Judy Dempsey (23 September 2007), Despite censure from Beijing, Merkel meets with Dalai Lama in Berlin New York Times.</ref>

Life after politics

On 29 October 2010, Koch was announced as designated chief executive officer of Bilfinger Berger, Germany's second-largest builder.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the following years, he orchestrated a reshuffle at the company away from civil engineering and construction in favor of higher-margin industrial services.<ref>Georgina Prodhan (3 September 2014), Bilfinger warns on profit again after CEO exit Reuters.</ref> During his tenure, Bilfinger Berger also agreed with the United States Department of Justice in 2013 to pay $32 million to resolve U.S. criminal charges that it bribed Nigerian officials to obtain contracts on a gas project in the African nation.<ref>Bilfinger to pay $32 mln over U.S. corruption charges Reuters, 9 December 2013.</ref> In August 2014, he stepped down from the position on mutually agreed terms after he took responsibility for two profit warnings.<ref>Ludwig Burger (4 August 2014), Bilfinger CEO quits after second profit warning since June Reuters.</ref>

In 2015, Koch opened a law firm in Frankfurt.<ref>Enrico Sauda (14 November 2015), Roland Koch eröffnet Kanzlei Frankfurter Neue Presse.</ref> Since 2017, he has also been a Professor of Management Practice in Regulated Environments at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.<ref>Roland Koch Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.</ref>

Koch was a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2017<ref>Ralf Euler (23 November 2016), 45 Hessen wählen mit Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.</ref> in 2022.<ref>Virologin, Anwältin, Ex-Landeschef: Wer für Hessen den Bundespräsidenten wählt Hessenschau, 8 December 2021.</ref>

In 2025, the representatives of public sector employers – Nancy Faeser and Karin Welge – appointed Koch as their arbitrator in a dispute with employees; appointed by the German Civil Service Federation and United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Hans-Henning Lühr served as his counterpart in the talks.<ref>Steffen Herrmann (19 March 2025), Ausgerechnet Roland Koch soll Tarifverhandlungen retten: Ein rotes Tuch am Verhandlungstisch Frankfurter Rundschau.</ref>

Other activities

Corporate boards

• Template:Ill Verwaltungs AG, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2017)<ref>Alfons Frese (27 January 2017), Dussmann: Zoff an der Spitze Der Tagesspiegel.</ref>
• Vodafone Germany, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2015)<ref>Members of the Supervisory Board Vodafone Germany.</ref>
• UBS Deutschland, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (2011–2021)<ref>Roland Koch wird Aufsichtsrat der UBS Deutschland Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 9 November 2010.</ref><ref>Wittig löst Ex-Politiker Koch bei UBS Europe als Aufsichtsratchef ab Handelsblatt, 28 June 2021.</ref>

Non-profit organizations

• Ludwig Erhard Foundation, Chairman of the Board (since 2020)<ref>Tanja Kewes (29 November 2020), Neustart bei der Ludwig-Erhard-Stiftung: Zwei junge Frauen neben Roland Koch neu im Vorstand Handelsblatt.</ref>
• Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), Member of the Board of Trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Konrad Adenauer Foundation.</ref>
• American Chamber of Commerce in Germany (AmCham Germany), Member of the Board of Directors<ref>Board of Directors American Chamber of Commerce in Germany (AmCham Germany).</ref>
• German Tuberous Sclerosis Association, Patron (since 2010)<ref>Patrons Template:Webarchive German Tuberous Sclerosis Association.</ref>
• Rheingau Musik Festival, Chairman of the Board of Trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Rheingau Musik Festival.</ref>
• Senckenberg Nature Research Society, Member of the Board of Trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Senckenberg Nature Research Society.</ref>
• Städel Museum, Member of the Board of Trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Städel Museum.</ref>

Recognition

• 2018 – Alfred Dregger Medal

Controversy

In February 2018, Bilfinger announced it would sue Koch and other former executives of the company for at least 100 million euros ($123 million) in damages for alleged breaches of duty in compliance and mergers.<ref>Ilona Wissenbach and Georgina Prodhan (20 February 2018), Bilfinger to seek compliance damages from former executives Reuters.</ref>

Personal life

His father Karl-Heinz Koch was a politician in Hessen. Koch and his wife Anke have two sons. He is a Roman Catholic.<ref>Bundesrat Roland Koch Template:Webarchive Bundesrat de</ref>

External links

• Homepage of Roland Koch Template:In lang
• Template:HessBib PPN