Reul was born in Langenfeld, Rhineland. The son of a mayor, Reul joined the youth wing of the CDU, the Junge Union, at the age of 18. In 1975, while still a student at University of Cologne, he became a town councillor in his hometown of Leichlingen, near Cologne, and served for 17 years.[2] From 1981 until 1985, he worked as a secondary school teacher.
Political career
Career in state politics, 1985–2003
In the 1985 state elections, Reul gained a seat in the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia and occupied it for 19 years.[3] In parliament, he was his political group's spokesperson on education policy from 1985 to 1991. Between 1991 and 2003, he served as Secretary General of the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia, under the leadership of successive chairmen Norbert Blüm (1993–99) and Jürgen Rüttgers (1999-2003).[4]
From 2012, Reul was a member of the European Parliament's delegation for relations with the Korean Peninsula. He had previously been a member of the delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China between 2004 and 2012.
In addition to his committee assignments, Reul was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Long Term Investment and Reindustrialisation,[6] the Sky and Space Intergroup (SSI)[7] and the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development.
During his time in office, Reul oversaw investigations into the 2018 Münster attack[11] and the Bottrop and Essen car attack in 2018/2019.[12] In 2020, he ordered an investigation into police officers’ use of force following a public outcry over a video of a police officer detaining a minor by kneeling on his neck.[13]
Reul was a CDU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2017 and 2022.[16] Since 2012, he has been serving on the Presidium of the CDU, under the leadership of successive chairs Angela Merkel (2012–2018), Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (2018–2021) and Armin Laschet (2021). In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) together with the Bavarian CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) following the 2013 German elections, he led the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on banking regulation and the Eurozone; his co-chair from the SPD was Martin Schulz.[17]
Institute for Mining and Energy Law at the Ruhr University Bochum, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2013)[24]
Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Member of the Broadcasting Council (2003–2009), Substitute Member of the Broadcasting Council (since 2009)
Controversy
Shortly after the CDU donations scandal and amid the campaign for the state elections in 2000, Reul became the target of public criticism when he – in his capacity as Secretary General of the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia – had his party pay for a private trip to the Bayreuth Festival.[25]