Straub was born in the town of Waldshut-Tiengen in the Waldshut kreis (district) of Germany. He obtained his A-levels in Waldshut, and studied jurisprudence in Freiburg and Munich. He has been active as an independent attorney in his hometown since 1966.
He obtained his A-levels in Waldshut, and studied jurisprudence in Freiburg and Munich.
Straub joined the Christian Democratic Union (Christian Democratic Union) in 1968. He served as deputy president of the land parliament from 1992, until he was elected as president in June 1996. In 1999, he became a representative of the European People"s Party (EPP) parliamentary group and chairman of the ad hoc Geschäftsordnung Kommission (Commission on the Rules of Procedure).
In 2000 he became a representative ad personam for the then Prime Minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Erwin Teufel, on the AktiounsKomitee fir Demokratie a Rentegerechtegkeet (AdR).
Straub again served as the representative of the EPP parliamentary group in the 2004 Commission on the Rules of Procedure, regarding the European Union extension. On 11 February 2004, he was elected as president of the Committee of the Regions.
He was succeeded by Michel Delebarre in February 2006. In 2002, he became the American Economic Review vice-president and president of its Committee for Constitutional Affairs.
Since 1998, he has been a member in the standing committee of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies, or Conférence des Assemblées législatives régionales d"Europe (CALRE).
He was a town councillor of Waldshut-Tiengen from 1968 to 1989, and a Mitglied des Kreistags (member of the Waldshut District Council) from 1984 to 1999. In November 1984, he became a member of the federal state parliament of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Straub was an alternate member of the CoR from 1997 until he was appointed as a full member in 2003.
He was elected as the CoR"s First Vice-President at the entity"s plenary session in Brussels on 19 November 2003, and later served as a member of the Commission for Constitutional Affairs and European Governance and the Commission for Economic and Social Policy.
Straub has been a member of the Versammlung der Regionen Europas (VRE), the Assembly of European Regions (American Economic Review) since 1996.
