Steffen BilgerFederal Minister for Transport

Parliamentary work · 2009–2026

Seventeen years of parliamentary work

Steffen Bilger has been a member of the German Bundestag for seventeen years. In that time he has represented a constituency, sat on committees, spoken in the plenary, organised his parliamentary group, served in government twice and, in opposition, held government to account. This page brings those strands together and points to the detailed sheets.

  1. The work on one chart
  2. Five kinds of work
  3. Scrutiny from both sides
  4. Inside the group
  5. The detailed sheets

Overview

The work on one chart

Each lane shows one kind of role and when he held it. The constituency lane runs unbroken; everything else changes roughly every four years.

Scale: October 2009 to October 2026. The two short segments at the right are First Parliamentary Secretary (May 2025 – July 2026) and Federal Minister for Transport (since July 2026).

Kinds of work

Five kinds of work

A member of the Bundestag does several jobs at once. Bilger's career has given each of them a different weight at different times.

I

Representation

Winning Ludwigsburg five times in a row, keeping a constituency office and taking local concerns to Berlin. Constituency · Ludwigsburg

II

Committee work

Nine years on the transport committee, plus the Joint Committee, the Mediation Committee, the Wahlausschuss and advisory councils. Committee work

III

Plenary debate

Speeches on transport, environment, energy and agriculture, and short procedural interventions as group manager. Questions and debates · Speeches

IV

Organisation

Chair of the Junge Gruppe, deputy group chair and First Parliamentary Secretary: the work of holding a group together. Leadership

V

Government

Speaking for a ministry in parliament, first as Parliamentary State Secretary, now as minister. State Secretary · Minister

Oversight

Scrutiny from both sides

Parliament's second great task, after passing laws, is holding the government to account. Bilger has done it from the opposition benches and been on the receiving end from the government bench.

In the opposition years from 2021 to 2025 the CDU/CSU used the full set of parliamentary instruments against the Scholz government. Bilger was involved in several documented cases. On 19 April 2023 he opened an Aktuelle Stunde (topical debate) that his group had requested on the continued use of nuclear power. On 3 March 2023 he spoke for two CDU/CSU motions on the EU's Euro 7 emissions standard and on climate-neutral fuels, which were later rejected by the governing majority. On 1 December 2023 he spoke in the first reading of a CDU/CSU motion against a ban on climate-neutral combustion engines. Motions of this kind rarely pass when tabled by the opposition; their purpose is to force a debate and put the government's position on record.

In government, the direction reverses. As Parliamentary State Secretary from 2018 to 2021 Bilger spoke for the transport ministry in the Bundestag. Since July 2026 he answers to parliament as minister: on 8 September 2026 he took the oath of office before the Bundestag and, the same day, presented his ministry's draft budget for 2027 and faced replies from the AfD, the Greens and the Left. Ministers can also be summoned to committees and must take part in the weekly government question time when it is their turn.

Steffen Bilger standing in the plenary chamber among seated members of parliament, reading from a sheet of paper
Bilger standing among seated members in the Bundestag plenary, reading from his notes.

Between those two positions lies a third kind of work that belongs to neither government nor opposition: the procedure of the house itself. As First Parliamentary Secretary Bilger negotiated the agenda with the other groups and spoke on procedural motions, for example on 11 July 2025, when he moved to take three constitutional judge elections off the agenda, and on 16 September 2025, when he defended shorter debating times in a budget week.

Inside the group

The informal parliament

Much parliamentary work happens in circles that never appear on the plenary record. The CDU/CSU group's own website lists Bilger as a member of three of its internal groupings: the Arbeitnehmergruppe (employees' group), the group for expellees, repatriates and German minorities, and the Parlamentskreis Mittelstand (small and medium-sized business circle).

From 2009 he was deputy chair of the Junge Gruppe, the caucus of the group's younger MPs, and its chair from 2014 to early 2018. The same caucus later caused him difficulty as First Parliamentary Secretary, when it opposed the coalition's pensions package in 2025. According to Wikipedia, citing the Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung, he also belongs to the "Pizza Connection", an informal discussion circle of CDU/CSU and Green MPs.

Junge Gruppe
Deputy chair from 2009; chair 2014 – Feb 2018
Group memberships
Arbeitnehmergruppe; Vertriebene, Aussiedler und deutsche Minderheiten; Parlamentskreis Mittelstand
Transport circles
Led the Parlamentskreis Elektromobilität; chair of the MIT-Verkehrsforum since 2013 (per Wikipedia)
Cross-party
"Pizza Connection" with Green MPs (per Wikipedia)

The detailed sheets

Follow a single strand

Each sheet takes one part of the parliamentary record and sets out the sources.

Sheet P.01

Bundestag career

Five elections, five terms, and how his responsibilities evolved.

Open sheet Sheet P.02

Constituency

The direct mandate, the results ledger and the sixteen municipalities.

Open sheet Sheet P.03

Committee work

Memberships by term and what each body does.

Open sheet Sheet P.04

Questions and debates

Documented plenary appearances and the instruments of scrutiny.

Open sheet Sheet P.05

Parliamentary State Secretary

Representing the transport ministry, 2018–2021.

Open sheet Sheet P.06

Parliamentary leadership

Deputy chair in opposition, then manager of the majority.

Open sheet Sheet P.07

First Parliamentary Secretary

The judge election, the pensions vote and the arithmetic of 316.

Open sheet Sheet P.08

Legislative work

Bills and motions connected with his roles.

Open sheet

Sources

  1. Deutscher Bundestag — Biography of Steffen Bilger
  2. CDU/CSU-Fraktion — Steffen Bilger (internal group memberships)
  3. Steffen Bilger — Politische Stationen
  4. Wikipedia — Steffen Bilger (MIT-Verkehrsforum, Parlamentskreis Elektromobilität, Pizza Connection)
  5. Deutscher Bundestag — Debate on the coalition's environment policy (12 Jan 2022)
  6. Deutscher Bundestag — Euro 7 and climate-neutral fuels (3 Mar 2023)
  7. Deutscher Bundestag — Union motions on Euro 7 rejected (21 Sep 2023)
  8. Deutscher Bundestag — Aktuelle Stunde on nuclear power (19 Apr 2023)
  9. Deutscher Bundestag — Motion on climate-neutral combustion engines (1 Dec 2023)
  10. Deutscher Bundestag — Rules of procedure debate on the judge elections (11 Jul 2025)
  11. Deutscher Bundestag — Rules of procedure debate, budget week (16 Sep 2025)
  12. Deutscher Bundestag — Transport budget 2027, first reading (8 Sep 2026)
  13. Pfalz-Express — Bilger und Linnemann als Minister vereidigt (8 Sep 2026)