Olav Gutting (born 14 October 1970) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2002.
Olav Gutting | |
|---|---|
 Olav Gutting in 2009 | |
| Member of the Bundestag | |
| Assumed office 2002 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 October 1970 Bruchsal, West Germany (now Germany) |
| Citizenship | German |
| Political party |  German:CDU  EU:European People's Party |
| Alma mater | University of Mannheim |
Early life and education
Gutting was born 1970 in the West German town of Bruchsal and studied jurisprudence at the University of Mannheim.[1]
Political career
In 2001 Gutting entered the CDU and became already in 2002 nominee of his party in the electoral ward of Bruchsal – Schwetzingen. He has been a member of the Bundestag since the 2002 elections, representing Bruchsal – Schwetzingen.[2]
In parliament, Gutting has been serving on the Finance Committee. In this capacity, he is his parliamentary group’s rapporteur on the so-called solidarity surcharge (Solidaritätszuschlag or Soli).[3]
Within the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Gutting has been part of the leadership since 2013, under successive chairmen Volker Kauder (2013-2018) and Ralph Brinkhaus (since 2018). He was one of the MPs who voted for Brinkhaus to oust Kauder in 2018.[4] Later that year, he ran for the post of deputy chairman but lost against Andreas Jung.[5][6]
Other activities
- Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund (KENFO), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022)[7]
- KfW, Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (since 2019)[8]
- German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2022)[9]
Political positions
Within the CDU, Gutting is regarded as critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to enter into a coalition government with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) after the 2017 elections.[10] In June 2017, he voted against Germany's introduction of same-sex marriage.[11] In early 2020, he co-founded an informal cross-party group of MPs from the CDU, CSU and FDP parties who opposed a potential coalition government between CDU/CSU and the Green Party.[12]
Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election, Gutting publicly endorsed in 2020 Friedrich Merz to succeed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as the party's chair;[13] he later also expressed support for a candidacy of Jens Spahn.[14]
Controversy
In March 2021, Gutting and other members of the Union parliamentary group came under criticism for their lobbying activities for the authoritarian Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev.[15][16] The controversy became known under the name of "Aserbaidschan-Affäre"[17][18] in Germany and is related to the earlier "Caviar Diplomacy" corruption allegations in the Council of Europe.[19]