Ulrich Furler
Ulrich Furler | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Defence | |
| Assumed office 28 June 2019 | |
| Chancellor | Otto von Hößlin |
| Preceded by | Adolf Grönsfelder |
| Minister of the Interior | |
| In office 27 June 2009 – 4 June 2011 | |
| Leader | Dietrich Wittmann |
| Preceded by | Uwe Hildebrandt |
| Succeeded by | Theophilus Specht |
| Minister of Economy and Industry | |
| In office 13 July 2006 – 27 June 2009 | |
| Leader | Dietmar Klügmann |
| Preceded by | Jürgen Mittag |
| Succeeded by | Gert Heffelfinger |
| Minister of Social Affairs and Employment | |
| In office 18 May 1999 – 16 June 2003 | |
| Leader | Rasa Šimonytė |
| Preceded by | Lorenz Sternberg |
| Succeeded by | Timo Waibel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 June 1957 Kotzenberg, Roetenberg, Werania |
| Political party | National Consolidation Party |
| Spouse | Vanessa Buchardt |
| Alma mater | Imperial Academy of Weisstadt |
Other offices held
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Ulrich Furler (born 12 June 1957) is a Weranian politician who has served as Minister of Defence since 2019. He previously served as Minister of the Interior (2009-2011), Minister of the Economy (2006-2009) and Minister of Social Affairs (1999-2003). Furler was a member of the Volkstag from the 1987 election to 2013, when he opted to successfully run for the Herrstag where he has sat ever since. Throughout his political career Furler has been a member of the National Consolidation Party.
The son of a NKP politician Furler joined the party at a young age, quickly rising through the ranks. In 1987 he was elected to the Volkstag where he became a member of the neoconservative wing of the party supporting supply-side economics, a strongly interventionist foreign policy and social conservatism particularly in regards to issues surrounding migration and assimilation. Furler became a member of Rasa Šimonytė's first cabinet as Minister of Social Affairs and Employment. Whilst in Social Affairs Furler attained a reputation for being tough on welfare fraud leading to a reorganisation in the ministry to cut back on social benefits. These moves were unpopular and in 2003 he was dropped from the Šimonytė cabinet. Whilst serving on the backbenches Furler soon became a prominent factional leader in the NKP, becoming a prominent voice for the pro-business, socially conservative faction within the party. His criticism of Šimonytė made him amongst the most high profile critics of the Chancellor within the governing party.
Furler returned to Cabinet in 2006 when the newly appointed Chancellor Dietmar Klügmann made him Minister of the Economy and Industry, where Furler promoted fiscally conservative and market driven policies in the aftermath of the 2005 financial crisis. He backed Dietrich Wittmann to become Chancellor in 2009 and as result became Interior Minister that year, where Furler was criticised for what was seen as discriminatory immigration policies.
When the NKP re-entered opposition in 2011 Furler continued to operate as a prominent factional leader within the party, a trend that continued after his election to the Herrstag in 2013. Following the 2015 federal election Furler strongly supported the candidature of Otto von Hößlin for NKP president, and has since emerged as one of his strongest supporters. Furler was reappointed to cabinet in 2019 following the NKP's victory in elections that year in the post of Minister of Defence.
Furler is considered to be a conservative within the NKP strongly supporting free-market and socially conservative politics. He is said to be one of the most powerful men in the party as a de facto factional leader for the traditionalist right of the party. Furler has come criticism for his links to businesses which some have questioned as being corrupt, having sat on the boards of several companies from 2011 to 2019. Furler has dismissed such criticisms stating such roles were mostly unofficial and that he resigned from all corporate roles in 2019 when he became minister.