Thomas Strobl

Early life and education

Strobl grew up in Heilbronn. After high school diploma he studied law at Heidelberg University. In 1985 he completed the first, and after postgraduate studies in Speyer in 1988 the second state examination in Heidelberg. He then was a research fellow at Heidelberg University and from 1992 to 1996 a Parliamentary Advisor at the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg. Since 1996 he has worked as a lawyer.

Member of the Bundestag, 1998–2016

Strobl first became of a Member of the German Bundestag in the 1998 national elections. From 1998 to 2009, he served on the Committee for the Scrutiny of Elections, Immunity and the Rules of Procedure, which he chaired from 2005. Between 2009 and 2013, he was also a member of the parliament’s Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigning committee chairpersons based on party representation. From 2009, he also led the Bundestag group of CDU parliamentarians from Baden-Württemberg, one of the largest delegations within the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.

At state level, Strobl served as Secretary General of the CDU Baden-Württemberg from 2005 to 2011, under party chairmen Günther Oettinger (2005-2009) and Stefan Mappus (2009-2011). In this capacity, he participated in the coalition talks with both the liberal Free Democratic Party and the Green Party following the 2006 state elections and managed the CDU election camapaign in 2011.

Since 2011, Strobl has been chairman of the CDU in the state of Baden-Württemberg. In addition, he was elected vice chairman of the CDU in 2012 and has since been serving in the party’s national leadership under chairwoman Angela Merkel.

In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) following the 2013 federal elections, Strobl was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on internal and legal affairs, led by Hans-Peter Friedrich and Thomas Oppermann. He was later appointed deputy chairperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in charge of internal and legal affairs. In this capacity, he was part of the group’s leadership around chairperson Volker Kauder. In addition to his committee assignments, Strobl was also a member of the German-Maltese Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Baden-Württemberg's State Minister of the Interior, 2016–present

Ahead of the 2016 state elections, Strobl lost against Guido Wolf in a party-wide vote on who should run for the office of Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg.

After the elections, Strobl – alongside Guido Wolf – led the exploratory talks with the Alliance '90/The Greens party of Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann before starting formal coalition talks. Since May 2016, he has been serving as Deputy Minister-President and State Minister of the Interior, Digitisation and Migration in a coalition government of Greens and Christian Democrats in Baden-Württemberg(Cabinet Kretschmann II). As one of Baden-Württemberg's representatives at the Bundesrat, Strobl is a member of the Committee on Internal Affairs and of the German delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Political positions

After the Green Party won Baden-Württemberg’s state capital Stuttgart in 2012, Stroble publicly claimed that his party is "no longer in touch with the lifestyle of people in the cities."

In 2016, Strobl called for a tightening of German asylum rules, saying asylum-seekers should only be eligible for permanent residence in Germany after five years, rather than the current three.

Other activities

Recognition

Personal life

Since 1996, Strobl has been married to media manager Christine Schäuble, the oldest daughter of Wolfgang Schäuble.