Peer Steinbrück

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Peer Steinbrück
Federal Minister of Finance  Germany
In office 22 November 2005 – 27 October 2009
Preceded by	Hans Eichel
Succeeded by	Wolfgang Schäuble
Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia
In office November 6, 2002 – June 24, 2005
Preceded by	Wolfgang Clement
Succeeded by	Jürgen Rüttgers
Finance minister of North Rhine-Westphalia
In office February 22, 2000 – November 6, 2002
Preceded by	Heinz Schleußer
Succeeded by	Jochen Dieckmann
Minister of Economy of North Rhine-Westphalia
In office October 28, 1998 – February 21, 2000
Preceded by	Bodo Hombach
Succeeded by	Ernst Schwanhold
Minister of Economy of Schleswig-Holstein
In office May 19, 1993 – October 28, 1998
Preceded by	Uwe Thomas
Succeeded by	Horst Günter Bülck
Born	January 10, 1947 (1947-01-10) (age 62) Hamburg, Germany
Nationality	Germany
Political party	Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
Alma mater	University of Kiel
Profession	Economist (Diplom)
Website	peer-steinbrueck.de

Peer Steinbrück (born January 10, 1947 in Hamburg) is a German social democratic politician. From 2005 to 2009 he served as German Federal Minister of Finance in the cabinet of Angela Merkel.

[edit] Early political career, Minister President

After having been trained as an officer of the reserve of the Bundeswehr, Steinbrück studied economics in Kiel. He graduated in 1974.

After graduation Steinbrück worked for several German ministies and, from 1978 to 1981, in the office of then German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. In the 1980s, Steinbrück was Chief of Staff to the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Johannes Rau.

In 1993, he became Minister of Economy and Infrastructure in the State of Schleswig-Holstein. He then returned to North Rhine-Westphalia, where he became Minister of Economy and Infrastructure in 1998 and Finance Minister in 2000.

From 2002 to 2005, Peer Steinbrück served as Minister President (Ministerpräsident) of North Rhine-Westphalia. He headed a coalition government between the SPD and the Green Party.

In the state election on May 22, 2005 Steinbrück´s SPD lost to the Christian democratic (CDU) opposition. This loss also had consequences for federal politics: then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who already was enfeebled by weak opinion polls and criticism within his own party, announced to call for an early federal election for the Bundestag. This ultimately resulted in the German federal election, 2005.

[edit] German Finance Minister

After the 2005 Bundestag election, SPD and CDU formed a grand coalition under the leadership of new Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). Peer Steinbrück became finance minister of Germany. Since 2005, he also has been deputy chairman of the SPD. He is generally considered a member of the more conservative wing of the party.

In December 2008, Steinbrück controversially attacked the British Keynesian approach to economic policy in an interview with Newsweek.^[1] He raised scepticism about the effectiveness of large fiscal stimulus packages and criticised the resulting increase in public debt.

Steinbrück also was a sharp critic of the Swiss banking secrecy, which in 2009 caused some tensions between Germany and Switzerland. ^[2]

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Peer Steinbrück

• Peer Steinbrück's Homepage (German)
• Interview with Peer Steinbrück: "Kennen Sie denn Hawaii-Toast?" (German, sbznet.de)

[edit] References

v • d • e The First Merkel Cabinet, 22 November 2005 – 28 October 2009 Franz Müntefering/Olaf Scholz (since 22 Nov 2007) (SPD) | Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) | Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) | Brigitte Zypries (SPD) | Peer Steinbrück (SPD) | Michael Glos/Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (since 10 Feb 2009) (CSU) | Horst Seehofer/Ilse Aigner (since 31 Oct 2008) (CSU) | Franz Josef Jung (CDU) | Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) | Ulla Schmidt (SPD) | Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD) | Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) | Annette Schavan (CDU) | Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (SPD) | Thomas de Maizière (CDU)

v • d • e Ministers-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Rudolf Amelunxen · Karl Arnold · Fritz Steinhoff · Franz Meyers · Heinz Kühn · Johannes Rau · Wolfgang Clement · Peer Steinbrück · Jürgen Rüttgers