Patrick Sensburg

Patrick Ernst Hermann Sensburg (born 25 June 1971) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Patrick Sensburg
Chair of the Election Monitoring, Immunity and Rules of Procedure Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 February 2018
Preceded by	Johann Wadephul
Chair of the German Parliamentary Committee investigation of the NSA spying scandal
In office 9 April 2014 – 28 June 2017
Preceded by	Clemens Binninger
Member of the Bundestag for Hochsauerlandkreis
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 September 2009
Preceded by	Friedrich Merz
Personal details
Born	25 June 1971 Paderborn, West Germany (now Germany)
Citizenship	German
Nationality	Germany
Political party	CDU
Alma mater	University of Trier University of Luxembourg German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer
Website	patrick-sensburg.de

Before joining politics, Sensburg worked as Professor of Public Law and European Law. He has been a member of the German Parliament since 2009, representing the constituency Hochsauerlandkreis in North Rhine-Westphalia. After he completed his military service Sensburg became lieutenant colonel of the reserve in 2014.[1] Since 2019 Sensburg is president of the Reservist Association of Deutsche Bundeswehr.[2]

Education and professional career

Sensburg was born in Paderborn. He studied law and political science and graduated with his first state law exam and a master's degree in political science in 1997. In 1999 he completed his Second State Law Examination. He was a research assistant at the University of Hagen, where he completed his doctorate.[3]

From 2000 to 2006 Sensburg practiced as a lawyer with main focus on municipal law and local tax law. Since then he has been a lecturer at the Hagen Law School for the training of certified specialists in administrative law. From 2006 to 2008 he was a professor at the Federal University of Applied Administrative Sciences in the Department Branch of Federal Criminal Police; he was a member of the senate of the university.[4] Since 2008 he is Professor for Public Law and European Law at the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration and management of North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster.[5] Furthermore, he has been lecturing from 2009 to 2012 European Law at the Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration (RISEBA).[6] Since 2018 Patrick Sensburg is visiting professor at the University of Vienna[7] as well as at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE).[8]

Political career

Patrick Sensburg with Angela Merkel

Sensburg has been a member of the CDU since 1989. From 2004 to 2009, he was Deputy Mayor of the City of Brilon and Group Chairman in the City Council of Brilon.

Since the 2009 elections, Sensburg has been a member of the German Parliament. He first served on the Committee on Legal Affairs and, as an alternate member, on the Committee on Internal Affairs. Between 2009 and 2017 he chaired the Subcommittee on European Law.[9] On 10 April 2014 he was elected as Chairman of the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on the NSA in the 2013-2017 term.[10][11]

Since 2018, Sensburg has been chairing the Committee on Scrutiny of Elections, Immunity and the Rules of Procedure.[12] Furthermore, he is a member of the Parliamentary Oversight Panel (PKGr), which provides parliamentary oversight of Germany's intelligence services BND, BfV and MAD, and of the Council of Elders.[13]

Political positions

Domestic politics

Patrick Sensburg, 2019

In June 2017, Sensburg voted against Germany's introduction of same-sex marriage.[14] Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, he publicly endorsed Friedrich Merz to succeed Angela Merkel as the party's chair.[15]

German military mission in Iraq 2014

In August 2014, Sensburg supported the decision of deploying the Bundeswehr into Iraq against the organization known as "IS". In addition, Sensburg pointed to the responsibility of Germany towards the people in the refugee camps there: "The protection of the population from the atrocities of the IS militia is our humanitarian responsibility and in our own best interest".[16]

NSA inquiry committee

As chairman of the NSA inquiry committee, Sensburg presented on 28 June 2017 the final report to President of the Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, with more than 1,800 pages, saying: "There was a lot of consensus, but also different views in the evaluation".[17] The final report was subsequently discussed in the German Bundestag. It became apparent that the coalition and the opposition determined the results differently. Sensburg pointed out that Edward Snowden has encouraged public debate in Germany on the discussion of how to handle with data protection of privacy. Despite some criticism, the Committee of Inquiry of all parliamentary groups in the Bundestag has in principle been reckoned a successful work.[18][19]

Reservist Association of Deutsche Bundeswehr

On 9 November 2019, Patrick Sensburg, who is a retired lieutenant colonel, was elected by the delegates of the 20th Federal Delegates Assembly of the Association of German Armed Forces Reservists in Bonn as President.[20] In March 2020, Sensburg stressed that the reserve "rifle at heel" was in place when many reservists volunteered to help and support during the COVID 19 pandemic.[21] By early April, more than 15,000 reservists had volunteered.

Other activities

• Federal Agency for Civic Education (BPB), Member of the Board of Trustees
• Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS), Member of the Advisory Board[22]
• Association of German Foundations, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board
• University of Hagen, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board

References

1. (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "Opinion: CDU deludes itself with conservative folklore | DW | 24.08.2016". DW.COM. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
2. "Das Präsidium". Reservistenverband (in German). Retrieved 2020-05-03.
3. "FernUniversität in Hagen" (PDF).
4. Kürschners Volkshandbuch Deutscher Bundestag. Bad Honnef: Hrsg.: Klaus-J. Holzapfel. 2018. p. 256. ISBN 978-3-95879-084-1.
5. Redaktion|Homepage. "Profile". www.fhoev.nrw.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-25.
6. "Latest Users Module". myriseba.riseba.lv. Archived from the original on 2016-11-10. Retrieved 2019-01-10.
7. "Team". eur-int-comp-law.univie.ac.at (in German). Retrieved 2018-12-11.
8. "Patrick Sensburg". IMBA. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
9. "Deutscher Bundestag - Prof. Dr. Patrick Sensburg". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-25.
10. Huggler, Justin (2015-06-18). "German spy inquiry could demand access to British intelligence secrets". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
11. Decker, Markus. "Patrick Sensburg neuer Vorsitzender: Ein Jurist und Offizier leitet NSA-Ausschuss". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-25.
12. "German Bundestag - Scrutiny of Elections, Immunity and the Rules of Procedure". German Bundestag. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
13. "German Bundestag - Council of Elders". German Bundestag. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
14. Diese Unionsabgeordneten stimmten für die Ehe für alle Die Welt, June 30, 2017.
15. Lorenz Redicker (December 6, 2018), Klare Mehrheit für Merz bei südwestfälischen CDU-Delegierten Westfalenpost.
16. "Irak: CDU-Abgeordneter will Bundeswehrsoldaten in den Irak schicken". ZEIT ONLINE (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-25.
17. (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "NSA spying scandal committee presents controversial final report | DW | 28.06.2017". DW.COM. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
18. tagesschau.de. "Patrick Sensburg, CDU, zum NSA-Abschlussbericht". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-25.
19. Dolderer, Dr. Winfried. "Deutscher Bundestag - Ergebnisse des NSA-Ausschusses im Plenum gegensätzlich bewertet". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-25.
20. "Liveblog zur 20. BDV - Sensburg zum Präsidenten gewählt". Reservistenverband (in German). Retrieved 2020-05-02.
21. "Verbandspräsident Sensburg sagt Bundeswehr volle Unterstützung zu". Reservistenverband (in German). Retrieved 2020-05-02.
22. Advisory Board, Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS).

External links

• Patrick Sensburg personal website (in German)
• Biography, German Bundestag
• Biography, University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration and management of North Rhine-Westphalia