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Matthias Miersch

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Matthias Miersch
Miersch in 2014
General Secretary of the
Social Democratic Party
Acting
Assumed office
8 October 2024
LeaderSaskia Esken
Lars Klingbeil
Preceded byKevin Kühnert
Member of the Bundestag
for Hannover-Land II
Assumed office
18 October 2005
Preceded byHorst Schild
Personal details
Born (1968-12-19) 19 December 1968 (age 55)
Hannover, Lower Saxony, West Germany (now Germany)
CitizenshipGerman
Political partySocial Democratic
Alma materLeibniz University Hannover
OccupationCriminal defense lawyer

Matthias Miersch (born 19 December 1968) is a German criminal defense lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Member of the German Parliament since 2005, representing the Hannover-Land II district. He focusses on environmental policy.[1] On 8 October 2024 Miersch was appointed as provisional secretary general of the Social Democratic Party.

Since 2013, Miersch has been a member of the party's executive board under successive chairpersons Sigmar Gabriel (2013-2017), Martin Schulz (2017-2018), Andrea Nahles (2018-2019), Norbert Walter-Borjans (2019–2021), Saskia Esken (since 2019) and Lars Klingbeil (since 2021).

Early life and education

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Born in Hannover, Miersch studied law at the Leibniz University Hannover and the German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer. From 1988 until 1995, he volunteered for the St. John Accident Assistance.

Political career

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Miersch has been a member of the German Bundestag since the 2005 national elections. In parliament, he served on the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (2005–2017) and the Committee on Legal Affairs (2005–2009).

In addition, Miersch was a member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board for Sustainable Development (2006-2009) and the Parliamentary Commission on the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (2014-2016).[2] In 2014, he joined the parliamentary body in charge of appointing judges to the Highest Courts of Justice, namely the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG), the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH), the Federal Labour Court (BAG), and the Federal Social Court (BSG).

In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the SPD following the 2013 federal elections, Miersch was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on the environment and agriculture, led by Katherina Reiche and Ute Vogt. From 2014 to 2016, he was one of the members of the country's temporary National Commission on the Disposal of Radioactive Waste, chaired by Ursula Heinen-Esser and Michael Müller.[3]

Within his parliamentary group, Miersch belongs to the Parliamentary Left, a left-wing movement.[4] He served as spokesperson on environmental policy between 2009 and 2013. In 2015, he was elected to the parliamentary group's executive board under the leadership of chairman Thomas Oppermann. Since 2017, he has been the group's deputy chairman, under successive chairs Andrea Nahles (2017-2019) and Rolf Mützenich (since 2019).

In 2019, Miersch succeeded Stefan Schostok as chairman of the SPD in Hannover.[5]

In the negotiations to form a so-called traffic light coalition of the SPD, the Green Party and the FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Miersch led his party's delegation in the working group on environmental policy; his co-chairs from the other parties are Oliver Krischer and Lukas Köhler.[6]

Other activities

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  • Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2018)[7]
  • Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Member of the Committee on Sustainable Development (since 2016)
  • Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2009)[8]
  • Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld, Substitute Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2009)
  • Deutsche Umweltstiftung, Member of the Advisory Board[9]
  • spw – Zeitschrift für sozialistische Politik und Wirtschaft, Member of the Editorial Board[10]
  • Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), Member
  • Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), Member

Personal life

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Miersch is openly homosexual and married to his partner.[11]

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References

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  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Abschlussbericht der Kommission Lagerung hoch radioaktiver Abfallstoffe" (PDF).
  3. ^ Abschlussbericht der Kommission Lagerung hoch radioaktiver Abfallstoffe
  4. ^ Members Parlamentarische Linke.
  5. ^ Adam Nossiter (15 January 2019), Miersch soll Schostok-Nachfolger im SPD-Bezirk Hannover werden Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 11 May 2019.
  6. ^ Andreas Apetz and Thomas Kaspar (22 October 2021), Ampel-Koalition: Alle Verantwortlichen, AGs und Themen im Überblick Frankfurter Rundschau.
  7. ^ Bernd Westphal wird neuer Beirats-Vorsitzender beim Wirtschaftsforum der SPD Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , press release of 7 June 2018.
  8. ^ "DBU - the Board of Advisors of the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt - the board of the foundation- and thus the most important body- has controlling functions and agrees about important decisions". Archived from the original on 12 August 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  9. ^ Board Deutsche Umweltstiftung.
  10. ^ Editorial board Archived 16 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine spw – Zeitschrift für sozialistische Politik und Wirtschaft’'.
  11. ^ Offizielle Website von Matthias Miersch