Hubertus Heil
Hubertus Heil (born 3 November 1972 in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony) is a German politician. In 2005 he became general secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In September 2009, after immense losses for the SPD during the German federal election, Heil announced his resignation from this position for November.[1] Andrea Nahles succeeded him as general secretary in November 2009.
After receiving his Abitur in 1992 Heil first served his Zivildienst, then began studying sociology and political science at the University of Potsdam and the FernUniversität Hagen in 1995. From 1995 to 1997 Heil was executive director of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Arbeitnehmerfragen, a leftist study group inside the SPD, representing the workers' wing of the party, although he was reputed to belong to the undogmatical reform socialist wing during his Juso time.
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[edit] Party career
Hubertus Heil joined the SPD in 1988. At first he was engaged at the Jusos and he was their chairman in the district of Braunschweig from 1991 to 1995. Today he is deputy cairman of the SPD in Braunschweig.
In November 2005 the then designated party leader Matthias Platzeck proposed the relatively unknown Heil as candidate for the new secretary general, after Franz Müntefering had resigned as SPD chairman and the elected general secretary Andrea Nahles had abandoned. Heil was elected new general secretary of the SPD, but he received only 61,2% of the votes, about 20% less than his predecessor Klaus Uwe Benneter.
He has described himself as an anti-communist.[2]
[edit] Parliamentary career
Heil has been a member of the Bundestag since 1998. He was a member of the executive board of the SPD's parliamentary group from 2002 to 2004. In 2005 Heil was for the third time directly elected into the Bundestag by winning in his electoral district Gifhorn-Peine.
[edit] References
- ^ "Steinbrück und Heil geben Parteiämter auf" (in German). Der Spiegel. 29 September 2009. http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,652077,00.html. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
- ^ "Das Problem liegt bei der PDS" (in German). Der Spiegel. 15 September 2006. http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,437210,00.html. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
[edit] External links
- Official website (German)
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Klaus Uwe Benneter |
General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 2005-2009 |
Succeeded by Andrea Nahles |
