29 Facts About Jens Spahn

Jens Spahn 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.

Jens Spahn 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, Jens Spahn announced his intention to stand for election as her successor in December 2018.

Jens Spahn was eliminated in the first round of voting; the position instead went to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Jens Spahn was born on 16 May 1980 in Ahaus, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Jens Spahn grew up with his two younger siblings in the village of Ottenstein in the north of Westmunsterland.

Jens Spahn graduated in 1999 from the Episcopal Canisius school in Ahaus.

In 2003, Jens Spahn began studying political science and law at the University of Hagen.

Jens Spahn became a member of the Junge Union Deutschlands in 1995, aged 15.

Jens Spahn was the chair of the Borken district JU from 1999 to 2006.

In December 2014 Jens Spahn unexpectedly stood for a place on the CDU's ruling council against health minister Hermann Grohe, in a contest widely seen as crystallizing the generational tensions within the party.

Jens Spahn has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Angela Merkel as Chancellor, and stood in the CDU leadership campaign in 2018 after Merkel announced that she would not seek re-election as party leader.

Jens Spahn has been a member of the Ahaus City Council since 1999.

Jens Spahn first became a member of parliament in the 2002 elections.

Jens Spahn co-founded a cross-party group of young MPs pushing for the integration of intergeneration equity as a national objective into Germany's Basic Law.

In 2015, Jens Spahn became Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance under minister Wolfgang Schauble in the third cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Jens Spahn was in charge of representing Germany in the negotiations on the annual budget of the European Union.

Global health In 2019, Jens Spahn visited four countries in sub-Saharan Africa to witness up close the fight against Ebola.

Covid-19 pandemic On 20 October 2020, Jens Spahn stated on morning TV: 'At least we know what the main causes of [COVID-19] infection are.

Jens Spahn developed symptoms and tested positive the next day, which suggests he was infectious while attending the party.

In March 2021, the "Burda mask deal" caused a major political storm when it was revealed that the Burda company had delivered half a million medical masks to the Jens Spahn-led Federal Ministry of Health for $4.50 each, without the Ministry having first put the deal out to open tender.

Since December 2021, Jens Spahn has been serving as one his parliamentary group's deputy chairs, under the leadership of successive chairs Ralph Brinkhaus and Friedrich Merz.

An economic liberal and openly gay Roman Catholic, Jens Spahn has combined a platform of lower taxes and less red tape with support for same-sex marriage.

Jens Spahn particularly criticized the arbitrary intervention of federal labour minister Olaf Scholz in the form of a surprise announcement on pensions formula.

Jens Spahn received many insults and threats in the form of anonymous letters, inter alia, and complained of this in the media.

The Senior Citizens Union announced it would do everything to prevent his re-election, but Jens Spahn received the support of former president of Germany Roman Herzog.

In November 2018, Jens Spahn called for Childless Tax where Childless people should be paying much more towards care and pension insurance than those who have started a family.

In 2021, Jens Spahn publicly called for Germany to reduce its over-reliance on China in many areas and to do more to diversify its export markets by sealing and finalising more trade deals with other countries and regions such as Canada.

Jens Spahn is an honorary member of FC Bayern Munich.