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Jens Böhrnsen

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Jens Böhrnsen
President of Germany
Acting
In office
31 May 2010 – 30 June 2010
Preceded byHorst Köhler
Succeeded byChristian Wulff
President of the Senate and Mayor
of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen
In office
8 November 2005 – 15 July 2015
DeputyThomas Röwekamp
Karoline Linnert
Preceded byHenning Scherf
Succeeded byCarsten Sieling
President of the Bundesrat
In office
1 November 2009 – 31 October 2010
First Vice PresidentPeter Müller
Preceded byPeter Müller
Succeeded byHannelore Kraft
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
in the Bürgerschaft of Bremen
In office
July 1999 – 8 November 2005
Preceded byChristian Weber
Succeeded byCarsten Sieling
Member of the
Bürgerschaft of Bremen
for Bremen
In office
8 June 1995 – 8 November 2005
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded byKarin Garling
ConstituencySocial Democratic Party List
Personal details
Born (1949-06-12) 12 June 1949 (age 75)
Bremen-Gröpelingen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, West Germany (now Germany)
Political partySocial Democratic Party
Spouse
Birgit Rüst
​
(m. 2011)​
Children2
Parent
ResidenceBremen
Alma materUniversity of Kiel
University of Hamburg
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Judge
  • Lawyer
WebsiteOfficial Bremen government website

Jens Böhrnsen (born 12 June 1949) is a German politician of the SPD who served as President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen from 2005 to 2015. From 1 November 2009 until 31 October 2010 he was President of the Bundesrat. As such, he was acting head of state of Germany from the resignation of President Horst Köhler on 31 May 2010 until the election of Christian Wulff on 30 June 2010. Böhrnsen resigned in 2015 after his party sustained losses in state parliament election.

Böhrnsen is a lawyer by profession and served as a judge in Bremen from 1978 to 1995, when he became a full-time politician.

Background

Böhrnsen was born on 12 June 1949 in Gröpelingen, then a workers' district of Bremen, to parents active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and labor unions. His father, Gustav Böhrnsen, a communist turned social democrat, was also an SPD politician and served as chairman of the SPD group in the Parliament of Bremen 1968-1971.[1] Jens Böhrnsen joined the SPD in 1967.[1] At the University of Kiel, he studied law, and concluded his studies with the first Staatsexamen in 1973, and the second Staatsexamen in 1977 at the University of Hamburg.[1] He worked as an assessor in Bremen's administration, thereafter as a judge for 17 years, before he was elected to the Parliament of Bremen (Bürgerschaft).[1]

Political career

In 1999, Böhrnsen was elected head of the SPD group of the Parliament of Bremen.[1] On 8 November 2005, Bremen's legislative assembly elected Böhrnsen as mayor after he had won the Social Democrat primary for the office, which had become vacant with the resignation of Henning Scherf. as a mayor and head of senate of Bremen.[1]

Recently, Böhrnsen has been involved in the debate revolving around a modernization of Germany's constitution. In the process, he rejected demands for the state of Bremen to merge with Lower Saxony to form a new northern state (a unit within Germany's federal system) — a demand that had been making the rounds as Bremen is not only the smallest German state, but has also been saddled with an extraordinary amount of debt for the past 15 years. After the 2007 state elections, Böhrnsen abandoned the coalition with the Christian Democrats (CDU) and instead started a coalition with the Greens. He is longlisted for the 2008 World Mayor award.

As president of the Senate of Bremen, Böhrnsen was elected President of the German Bundesrat for the year 2009–2010, starting 1 November 2009.[1] This office rotates between the heads of government of the states of Germany following a defined schedule. According to the German constitution,[2] the head of the Bundresrat is the designated substitute for the President of Germany.[1] When Horst Köhler resigned from the presidency on 31 May 2010, Böhrnsen assumed the functions of head of state of Germany until the election of a successor by a Federal Convention.[1][3] The successor was Christian Wulff, who assumed office upon his election on 30 June 2010.

After his party lost more than five percentage points in the state election on 10 May 2015, Böhrnsen retired as head of government. His successor was Carsten Sieling.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Böhrnsen übernimmt Köhlers Amtsgeschäfte". Spiegel Online. 31 May 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  2. ^ "Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany". www.gesetze-im-internet.de.
  3. ^ "Interview zum Köhler-Rücktritt: "Das hat es noch nicht gegeben"". tagesschau.de.
Political offices
Preceded by President of the Senate and
Mayor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen
2005–2015 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the German Bundesrat
2009–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of Germany
Acting
2010 		Succeeded by
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