and sad." The Philipp-Mißfelder Forest in the Negev desert, Israel was named in his honor. Political positions Within the CDU In the Christian Democratic Union, Mißfelder was known for launching discussions about the party's conservative roots. In 2007, he played a key role in forming the CDU's Einstein Connection, an internal group which aims to reinforce conservatism within the party. Mißfelder was a key defender of party member Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the German defense minister who was forced to resign his office after a scandal, calling internal criticism of Guttenberg "offensive". Domestic politics Mißfelder was known for his outspoken positions on social and fiscal issues. He gained international attention in 2003 when he said, "I take no stock in 85-year-old people getting hip replacements paid by social welfare". The statement led to demands that he resign from party organs and helped launch a debate over the failing German social welfare system. A similar controversy arose in February 2009 after Mißfelder asserted that a social welfare increase would essentially be a subsidy to the cigarette and liquor industry. Mißfelder was on-record saying that the German retirement age of 67 should be increased to 70. Additionally, he had argued that German healthcare funding reforms were putting too much of a strain on the younger generation. He voted against the 2008 German healthcare funding reform in the Bundestag, calling it "neither intergenerationally just, nor appropriate for the older generation". He took a hard line against G8 protestors in Germany, comparing them to the demobilised domestic terror organisation, the Red Army Faction. Foreign politics An influential voice on German foreign affairs, Mißfelder had spoken out against the possible entry of Turkey into the European Union but had supported UN actions in Libya, despite strong internal opposition within Germany. He strongly criticised famed German author Günter Grass when the latter controversially wrote a poem largely interpreted as being critical of Israel. After it was revealed that the US government was able to intercept encrypted communications from smartphones, Mißfelder declared that the situation was not one for politicians to engage in, but instead "is a topic between the American government, the NSA and the producers (of the phones)". In March 2013, Mißfelder praised former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder for speaking out against the War in Iraq. In May 2014, he made headlines when he was one of few German politicians to take part in a birthday