Peter Struck

Peter Struck
Struck in 2001
German Federal Minister of Defence
In office July 19, 2002 – November 22, 2005
Chancellor	Gerhard Schröder
Preceded by	Rudolf Scharping
Succeeded by	Franz-Josef Jung
Personal details
Born	January 24, 1943 (1943-01-24) Göttingen, Lower Saxony
Nationality	Germany
Political party	Social Democratic Party
Alma mater	University of Göttingen University of Hamburg
Profession	Lawyer

Peter Struck (born 24 January 1943 in Göttingen) was the German Minister of Defence under chancellor Gerhard Schröder from 22 October 2002 until 2005. A lawyer, Struck is a member of the Social Democratic Party.

Education

• 1962: Abitur
• 1964: Member of the SPD

Struck studied law at the universities of Göttingen and Hamburg. In 1971 he graduated to Dr. iur. (Doctor of Laws).

Politics

Peter Struck was a member of the Bundestag from 1980 until 2009. From 1990 to 1998 he was whip (Parlamentarischer Geschäftsführer) of the SPD parliamentary group. From 1998 to 2002 he was chairman of the SPD parliamentary group. In 2002 he succeeded Rudolf Scharping as Defence Minister, and served in that position until 2005. After the elections Struck became Fraktionschef (whip) of the SPD's Bundestag faction once again, until his retirement in 2009.

Controversies

When an elderly man was severely beaten up in Munich by two immigrant youths, Struck claimed that his political opponent, Roland Koch, was probably happy for the beating because now Koch could start a supposedly polemic discussion about problems with young violent immigrants. When Koch demanded an apology, Struck replied "Bite me!". In a Parliament debate some days later, Jürgen Gehb, CDU Speaker for law politics, said that "we will try to continue working with you, but with minimal contact to your backside".

Citations

Peter Struck is famous for two citations:

• "Germany is not only defended in Hindelang any more, but also at the Hindu Kush."

as Minister of Defence, reconciling the traditional view of the Bundeswehr as defence-only army with the problems of asymmetric war.

• "Legislation always obeys the First Struckian Law: No bill comes out of Parliament in the form it came into Parliament."

as SPD whip, rather humorously describing the legislative process.

See also

• Politics of Germany

External links

• Biography at Bundestag.de