Joachim Pfeiffer

Early life and career

Pfeiffer studied business economics at the University of Stuttgart. From 1992-1997, he worked for the electricity supply company Energie Versorgung Schwaben AG (EVS), where he was involved in controlling, mergers and acquisitions and public-private partnerships. He received his doctorate in 1997, and from 1997 until 2002 he was the head of economic and employment promotion activities for Stuttgart. Since 2006, he has been giving lectures on energy policy at the Institute of Energy Economics and the Rational Use of Energy at the University of Stuttgart.

Political career

Pfeiffer has represented the Waiblingen constituency since the 2002 election. During the first coalition government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005-2009, he served as the CDU/CSU parliamentary group’s coordinator for energy issues and as deputy spokesperson for economic affairs. In 2008, Pfeiffer led a legislative effort to cut price subsidies for renewable energies by as much as 30 percent the following year; lawmakers eventually compromised on an 8 to 10 percent annual decrease over the subsequent three years.

In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the 2009 federal elections, Pfeiffer was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on economic affairs and energy policy, led by Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Rainer Brüderle. He has since served as the CDU/CSU parliamentary group’s spokesperson for economic affairs.

In March 2012, Pfeiffer was made deputy chairman of the Advisory Board of the Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway.

Following the 2013 federal elections, Pfeiffer was part of the CDU/CSU team in the negotiations with the SPD on a coalition agreement. He is also a member of the German-French Parliamentary Friendship Group as well as of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the ASEAN States. Since November 2015, he has been member of an informal German-Russian working group on energy cooperation, convening parliamentarians of both the German Bundestag and the Russian State Duma as well as business representatives from both countries.

Political positions

During the eurozone crisis, Pfeiffer supported Germany’s stance that it would oppose any plan to introduce euro bonds, calling them “poison.”

On a 2011 trip to Tajikistan, he expressed support for the Rogun Dam project, calling "the best project for the development of the region.“

When EADS and its American partner Northrop Grumman in 2010 cited unfair competition for abandoning their joint bid for a $35 billion contract to build tanker jets for the US military, Pfeiffer publicly called the move "a scandalous, unacceptable act.“ In a parliamentary debate over the government’s decision on the sale of more than 200 model 2A7+ Leopard tanks to Saudi Arabia in 2011, Pfeiffer reasoned that it is in Germany's interest "to offer our employees in the defense industry long-term prospects." In a 2015 interview with DPA news agency, he held that Germany must do everything possible – including arms exports – to support Saudi Arabia and similar states, arguing that these countries would help to stabilize the "powder keg" in the Middle East.

Corporate boards

Non-profits