Jens Georg Spahn is a German politician who served as Federal Minister of Health in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union , he has been the member of the lower house of the federal parliament, the Bundestag , for Steinfurt I – Borken I since 2002.
At the time of his election in 2002, Spahn – at age 22 – was the youngest member of the CDU in the German parliament. He has since then served in the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and currently in the 20th Bundestags and is one of the main sponsors of pension reform in Germany. He was a member of the Committee of Health of the 17th Bundestag and the CDU/CSU parliamentary group's spokesperson on health. He served as Minister of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.
When Chancellor Angela Merkel stated her intention not to seek re-election for the CDU party leadership in 2018, Spahn announced his intention to stand for election as her successor in December 2018. He was eliminated in the first round of voting; the position instead went to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Following Kramp-Karrenbauer's decision to resign in February 2020, he announced that he would not run for the party's leadership but instead endorse candidate Armin Laschet. His alliance with Laschet proved successful, as his ally became CDU party leader on 16 January 2021 and candidate for chancellor of the CDU/CSU party alliance on 19 April 2021.
Wikipedia
“The health of the population (due to COVID-19 outbreaks) takes precedence over economic interest.”
Jens Spahn (2020) cited in: " Coronavirus is now a 'worldwide pandemic,' German health minister says https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-is-now-a-worldwide-pandemic-german-health-minister-says/a-52634082" in DW.
