From 27 June 2017 until 26 October 2021, Armin Laschet served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Between 22 and 31 January 2022, he was the Leader of the Christian Democratic Union. After serving as Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from January 24, 2022 to October 26, 2021, he became a Member of the German Bundestag. Before and during his early political career, Laschet got a legal degree and worked as a writer. He was first elected to the German Bundestag in 1994, and then to the European Parliament two years later, in 1999. In North Rhine-Westphalia, he became a member of the state cabinet in 2005. As head of the state party in 2012, he was elected Prime Minister in 2017. Members of his own CDU and the liberal Free Democratic Party were in his Cabinet (FDP).
