Wolfgang Bosbach is a German politician and member of the conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which he joined in 1972. Bosbach (born in 1952) was a directly elected member of the Bundestag from 1994 to 2017, representing Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, and the deputy parliamentary group leader of his party from 2003 to 2005. In August 2011, Bosbach became the first senior CDU MP to say he would not vote for legal changes to allow the European Financial Stability Facility to buy sovereign bonds on the market. He later criticized the permanent rescue mechanism – called European Stability Mechanism – was a step toward a European transfer union. Following the 2013 federal elections, Bosbach was part of the CDU/CSU team in the negotiations with the SPD on a coalition agreement. A lawyer by profession, Bosbach is a partner at Winter, Jansen & Lamsfuß in Bergisch Gladbach. In August 2016, Bosbach announced that he would not stand in the 2017 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term due to his deteriotating health.