David McAllister

David James McAllister (born 12 January 1971[1]) is a German politician who has been a member of the European Parliament since 2014. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party. He is the current Vice President of the European People's Party and he is also Vice Chairman of the International Democrat Union. He was appointed Chair of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee in February 2017.[2] On 1 July 2010 McAllister was elected Minister-President of the state of Lower Saxony,[3][4] succeeding Christian Wulff, who resigned following his election as President of Germany. Until his election defeat on 19 February 2013, he headed a coalition government with the liberal FDP, the Cabinet McAllister. In the 2014 European elections, McAllister was elected a Member of the European Parliament as the CDU's top candidate in Lower Saxony.[5] A lawyer by profession, he served as chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the Lower Saxon Parliament from 2003 to 2010 and was elected chairman of the state party in 2008. In November 2016 he left the chairman post, and announced that he sees his political future in Europe. McAllister holds both German and British citizenship. Following his election as Minister-President, he was described as a rising star in the CDU and, at the time, as a potential successor to Angela Merkel.[6] He has more recently been mentioned as a possible future European Commissioner.