Martin Bangemann

Martin Bangemann (15 November 1934 – 28 June 2022) was a German politician and a leader of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 1985 to 1988. He was German Federal Minister of Economics and European Commissioner.

Life and career


Bangemann was born on 15 November 1934 in Wanzleben. He studied law in Tübingen and Munich, and earned a Dr. jur. (not equivalent to J.D., but a PhD in law) in 1962 with a dissertation entitled Bilder und Fiktionen in Recht und Rechtswissenschaft (Imagery and fiction in law and jurisprudence). He qualified as an attorney in 1964. In 1963, he joined the FDP. He worked as a lawyer in Baden-Württemberg.

In 1972, he was elected to the Bundestag and became briefly Secretary General of the FDP.

Bangemann was a member of the European Parliament from 1973 to 1984; from 1976 to 1979 he was vice-chairman, from 1979 to 1984 chairman of the Liberal and Democratic Group. From 1978 to 1979 he was vice-chair of the Committee on Budgets.

Bangemann was the German Federal Minister of Economics from 1984 to 1988. Problems in his tenure were high unemployment and the steel, coal and shipyard crises.

In 1988, Bangemann joined the European Commission. He was Commissioner for the internal market and industrial affairs in the Delors Commission from 1989 to 1995. He was then Commissioner for Industrial affairs, Information & Telecommunications Technologies in the Santer Commission from 1995 to 1999.

As commissioner he led a "high-level group" that drew up the report "Europe and the Global Information Society" in 1994. This document contained recommendations to the European Council on the measures that Europe should take regarding information infrastructure. It became known as the "Bangemann report" and influenced many EU policies.

He then moved from European politics to the board of the Spanish group Telefónica. In addition, Bangemann ran a consulting agency.

He was married and had five children.

Bangemann died from a heart attack at his home in Deux-Sèvres on 28 June 2022 at the age of 87.