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Wolfgang Tiefensee

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Wolfgang Tiefensee
Minister of Economics, Science and Digital Society of Thuringia
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 March 2020
Minister PresidentBodo Ramelow
Preceded byHimself
In office
5 December 2014 – 5 February 2020
Minister PresidentBodo Ramelow
Preceded byUwe Höhn
Succeeded byHimself
Deputy Minister President of Thuringia
In office
4 March 2020 – 31 August 2021
Minister PresidentBodo Ramelow
Preceded byHeike Taubert
Succeeded byGeorg Maier
Leader of theSocial Democratic PartyinThuringia
In office
11 March 2018 – 26 September 2020
DeputyAntje Hochwind
Diana Lehmann
Cornelia Klisch
Sven Schrade
Preceded byAndreas Bausewein
Succeeded byGeorg Maier
Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs
In office
22 November 2005 – 27 October 2009
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded byManfred Stolpe
Succeeded byPeter Ramsauer
Mayor of Leipzig
In office
1 July 1998 – 22 November 2005
Preceded byHinrich Lehmann-Grube
Succeeded byBurkhard Jung
Member of theLandtag of Thuringia
In office
26 November 2019– 4 December 2019
Succeeded byThomas Hartung
ConstituencySocial Democratic List
Memberof theBundestag
forSaxony
In office
27 October 2009– 11 December 2014
Succeeded byDetlef Müller
ConstituencySocial Democratic List
Personal details
Born(1955-01-04)4 January 1955(age 69)
Gera,East Germany
Political partySPD
ProfessionEngineer
Websitewolfgang-tiefensee.de

Wolfgang Tiefensee(born 4 January 1955) is a German politician of theSocial Democratic Party(SPD). He was theFederal Minister for Transport, Building and Urban Developmentin thegrand coalitioncabinet led byAngela Merkelbetween 2005 and 2009. Since 2014, he has been the State Minister of Economy, Science and the Digital Society in the government ofThuringia'sMinister-PresidentBodo Ramelow.

Career

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Originally anelectrical engineer,Tiefensee turned to politics in 1989, during the democratization process of theGerman Democratic Republic.He became a member of theSPDin 1995.[1]

Mayor of Leipzig, 1998–2005

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Tiefensee was electedmayor of Leipzigin 1998, and was re-elected with 67.1% of the vote in April 2005.[2]Before 2005, he declined offers of a position in the federal government, stating his place was in Leipzig.[3]

As mayor, he put great effort intoLeipzig's bid to host the2012 Olympic Games.While Leipzig unexpectedly won the campaign to tender the German bid,[4]the middle-sized city did not get past the first round of the international competition, which was in fact won byLondon.

In 2002, Tiefensee was part of the 15-member commission that developed the so-calledHartz reforms,a set of recommendations to reform theGermanlabour market as part ofchancellorGerhard Schröder’sAgenda 2010.Later that year, following the2002 federal elections,he declined Schröder’s offer to join his government.[5]

Role in national politics

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In 2007, Tiefensee chaired talks following which EU transport ministers agreed unanimously to end talks with a private consortium contracted to develop theGalileosatellite navigation system and to spend €2.4 billion ($3.2 billion) to build it themselves instead.[6]

Also during his tenure as Germany's transport minister, Tiefensee announced the little-known architect Francesco Stella as the winner of a competition to find an architectural design for the controversial reconstruction of theBerlin Stadtschlossin 2008.[7]

In 2012, Tiefensee succeededGarrelt Duinas spokesperson of the SPD parliamentary group on economic affairs. In the negotiations to form aGrand Coalitionof chancellorAngela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDUtogether with the BavarianCSU) and the SPD following the2013 federal elections,he was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on economic policy, led byIlse AignerandHubertus Heil.

Career in state politics

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Tiefensee resigned from his seat in parliament when he became State Minister of Economy, Science and the Digital Society in the government ofThuringia'sMinister-PresidentBodo Ramelowin 2014. As one of the state's representatives at theBundesrat,he serves on the Committee on Cultural Affairs and on the Committee on Economic Affairs.

In early 2018, Tiefensee was elected chairman of the SPD in Thuringia, succeedingAndreas Bausewein.He was confirmed in the November 2018 party conference.[8]

In May 2020, Tiefensee announced that he would not stand in thenext Thuringian state electionbut instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[9]

Other activities

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Regulatory agencies

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Corporate boards

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  • Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), Member of the Supervisory Board
  • Thüringer Aufbaubank(TAB), Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2014)
  • Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft Thüringen (LEG), Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2014)
  • Carl Zeiss Foundation,Ex-Officio Member of the Board (since 2014)
  • KfW,Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board (2005-2009)

Non-profit organizations

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  • Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2018)[11]
  • Friedrich Ebert Foundation(FES), Member of the Board of Trustees[12]
  • Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie,Chairman (since 2012)
  • German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), Member of the Political Advisory Board
  • Institute for Germany Studies (IDF),Ruhr University Bochum,Member of the Board of Trustees
  • Wittenberg Center for Global Ethics, Member of the Board of Trustees
  • Sepsis-Stiftung, Member of the Board of Trustees[13]
  • German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), Member of the Political Advisory Board (2009-2015)

Personal life

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Tiefensee, whose father was the musician and conductorSiegfried Tiefensee,is also known for playing thecello,a talent that he successfully incorporated into Leipzig's Olympic bid. His brother,Eberhard Tiefensee[de],is aCatholicpriest and was professor oftheologyat theUniversity of Erfurtfrom 1997 to 2018.

References

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  1. ^"Wolfgang Tiefensee, SPD".Biographies of members of the Bundestag(in German).German Bundestag.Archived fromthe originalon 20 February 2010.Retrieved9 February2010.
  2. ^"Ergebnisse der Oberbürgermeisterwahlen".leipzig.de(in German).Archivedfrom the original on 21 July 2017.Retrieved15 August2019.
  3. ^"Sein Leipzig lobt er sich"(in German).Archivedfrom the original on 15 August 2019.Retrieved15 August2019.
  4. ^"One Last Effort to Revive Leipzig Olympic Bid".Deutsche Welle. 12 November 2003.Archivedfrom the original on 15 August 2019.Retrieved15 August2019.
  5. ^Holger Kulick (16 October 2002),Schröders neuer Verkehrsminister: Stolpe, der UnverbesserlicheArchived13 September 2016 at theWayback MachineSpiegel Online.
  6. ^Andrew Bounds (8 June 2007),EU to spend $3bn more on GalileoFinancial Times.
  7. ^Carlos Albuquerque (7 January 2009),Berlin's city palace controversy refuses to dieArchived12 December 2018 at theWayback MachineDeutsche Welle.
  8. ^"Tiefensee als Landesvorsitzender der SPD wiedergewählt".mdr.de(in German). 11 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 15 August 2019.Retrieved15 August2019.
  9. ^Tiefensee tritt nicht erneut für SPD-Landesvorsitz anMitteldeutscher Rundfunk,29 May 2020.
  10. ^Advisory BoardFederal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway(BNetzA).
  11. ^Bernd Westphal wird neuer Beirats-Vorsitzender beim Wirtschaftsforum der SPDArchived16 June 2018 at theWayback MachineBusiness Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, press release of 7 June 2018.
  12. ^Board of TrusteesArchived17 June 2018 at theWayback MachineFriedrich Ebert Foundation(FES).
  13. ^About UsArchived18 April 2019 at theWayback MachineSepsis-Stiftung.
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