Wolfgang Kubicki (born 3 March 1952) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) and member of the Bundestag from 1990 until 1992 and 2017 onwards. He has been vice chairman of the FDP in Germany since December 2013. Since 24 October 2017 he has served as Vice President of the Bundestag. From 1992 to 1993 and from 1996 to 2017 he served as chairman of the FDP-group in the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament.
Early life and education
After high school diploma in 1970 in Braunschweig Kubicki studied economics at the University of Kiel, where Peer Steinbrück was among his fellow students. He graduated in 1975. After that he worked for a consulting company and from 1978 in a Steuerberater ("tax advisor") office. From 1981 to 1983 he worked as a researcher for the FDP in the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag. He finished a second degree in law, completed while working, at the University of Kiel in 1982 with the first state examination. In 1985 he completed the second state examination and has worked as a lawyer since.
Political career
Kubicki joined the FDP in 1971. In 1972/73 he was deputy federal chairman of the Liberal University Association and in 1975/76 state chairman of the Young Democrats in Schleswig-Holstein. Subsequently, Kubicki was first elected to the state executive committee of the Schleswig-Holstein FDP in 1976, where he served until 1988, most recently as deputy state chairman.
From 1987 to 1989, he was chairman of the Rendsburg-Eckernförde FDP district association. He relinquished this office after his election as state chairman in September 1989. In September 1993, Kubicki resigned as state chairman in the wake of the Schönberg Landfill Affair. As state chairman, Kubicki was also a member of the Liberals' federal executive committee. He has done so again since 1997. He was also his party's top candidate in state elections in Schleswig-Holstein in 1992, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2017.
Kubicki lobbied since 2000 for Guido Westerwelle to be elected federal chairman of the FDP and to become parliamentary party leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Westerwelle thus pushed Wolfgang Gerhardt out of both positions at the time. In mid-December 2010, Kubicki publicly advocated for Westerwelle's replacement as party leader of the FDP in May 2011. He compared the situation of the FDP with the late phase of the GDR and blamed the party leadership for the poll results below 5%. He said that the FDP was not in a good position to be replaced.
In the 2012 state election, the FDP, with Kubicki as its top candidate, received a result of 8.2 percent of the second votes. While this was a significant loss compared to the 2009 state election, when 14.9 percent was achieved, it was still the second-best election result achieved in Schleswig-Holstein. Previously, the FDP had been eliminated from six state parliaments. Therefore, the result was considered an extraordinary success, which was mainly attributed to Kubicki and labeled the "Kubicki effect". In polls, he achieved 54 percent approval of the electorate of Schleswig-Holstein (compared to 18 percent for Philipp Rösler) and 63 percent saw large differences between the state and federal FDP. Although Kubicki had never been sparing with criticism of his own party's federal policies, he already emphasized in the ZDF election broadcast that this result, which was perceived as an election victory, was precisely also a success for the federal party. In doing so, he clearly countered putsch rumors against the chairman of the federal FDP Philipp Rösler that had previously arisen in public even before the end of the election evening. In August 2012, Kubicki announced his intention to run as the top candidate for the Schleswig-Holstein FDP in the 2013 federal election.
At the 2013 FDP federal party convention, Kubicki succeeded then-Development Minister Dirk Niebel, who was eliminated in the first round of voting, as an assessor on the federal presidium. Kubicki then won in a fight vote against Health Minister Daniel Bahr. The Extraordinary Party Congress of the FDP in December 2013 elected Kubicki as 1st Deputy to the new party leader Christian Lindner with 89.87% of the vote. The 2015 FDP Federal Party Congress confirmed Kubicki in this position with 94.2% of the vote, and the 2017 FDP Federal Party Congress with 92.29%.
Kubicki is a member of the FDP's Executive Committee.
Kubicki is a member of the advisory board of the German-Arab Society.