thumbnail, Troost in 2014 Axel Troost (1 September 1954 – 6 January 2023) was a German economist and politician. He was a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

from 2005 to 2017 and a brief period in 2021. From 2012, he was one of the four Vice Chairmen of his party (

Die Linke The Left (german: Die Linke; stylised as and in its logo as ), commonly referred to as the Left Party (german: Die Linkspartei, links=no ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of th ...

Life

Education and career

Born in

Hagen Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...

, Troost obtained

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

Schule Schloss Salem Schule Schloss Salem (Anglicisation: ''School of Salem Castle'', ''Salem Castle School'') is a boarding school with campuses in Salem and Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It offers the German Abitur, as well as the Intern ...

in 1973, and studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

Philipps-Universität Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

, where he obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

(

Dr. rer. pol. A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

) in 1982 with a thesis on the subject of national debt and credit institutes – public borrowing in the context of the overall lending and service operations of commercial banks. Troost was head of the Working Group on Alternative Economic Policy (Arbeitsgruppe Alternative Wirtschaftspolitik) since 1981 and managing director of the Progress Institute for Economic Research (PIW GmbH) in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

and

Teltow Teltow [] is a town in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. Geography Teltow is part of the agglomeration of Berlin. The distance to the Berlin city centre is , while the distance to Potsdam is . The Teltow Canal links the ...

since 1984. He also worked as managing director of the Office for Structural Research Rostock (BÜSTRO) in

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...

from 1990 to 2001.

Political career

Troost was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

) from 1970 to 1973 and a member of the German Communist Party ( DKP) from 1976 to 1984. He later co-founded the Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice ( WASG) and served as a member of its federal executive committee from 2005 to 2007. Troost was a member of the federal executive committee of the Left Party since the Left Party.PDS merged with the WASG. He was deputy chairman of the Left Party since 3 June 2012.

Parliamentary activities

Troost was a Member of the German

since 2005. He served as spokesman on financial policy for the Left Party parliamentary group. During the 16th electoral term, he was a substitute member of the Second Joint

- Bundesrat Commission on Modernising the Federal System and a member of the

Hypo Real Estate The Hypo Real Estate Holding AG is a holding company based in Munich, Germany which comprises a number of real estate financing banks. The company's activities span three sectors of the real estate market: commercial property, infrastructure and ...

(HRE) committee of inquiry, which shed light on the company's operations during the financial crisis. In the 17th electoral term, Troost was one of the Parliamentary Secretaries and a member of the Finance Committee and the Subcommittee on Local Government Affairs. Troost stood as a candidate for direct election representing the Leipzig-Land constituency and was re-elected to the

via the party list of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

(on fourth position) in 2013. He continued to serve as spokesman on financial policy during the 18th electoral term, and assumed the role of spokesman for the Bundestag group of Left Party parliamentarians from Saxony. Troost was also a member of the administrative council of the

Federal Financial Supervisory Authority The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (german: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) better known by its abbreviation BaFin is the financial regulatory authority for Germany. It ...

(BaFin).

Other activities

Troost was a member of the executive committee of the Institute of Modern Solidarity (ISM) since 2010 and one of its five spokespersons since 2014. He was a long-standing member of

Attac The Association pour la Taxation des Transactions financières et pour l'Action Citoyenne (''Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions and Citizen's Action'', ATTAC) is an activist organisation originally created to promote the e ...

and the German Federation of Democratic Scientists (BdWi). After years of membership in the

IG Metall IG Metall (; IGM; German: ''Industriegewerkschaft Metall'', "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of Ger ...

trade union, Troost joined the United Services Union (Ver.di) in 2009.

Personal life and death

Axel Troost was married and had two children. He died on 6 January 2023, at the age of 68.

Publications (in English)

Axel Troost, Lisa Paus
''A European Clearing Union – The Monetary Union 2.0''
March 2011 Axel Troost, Philipp Hersel
''How a Socialization of the German Banking System might look''
2012, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York Klaus Busch, Axel Troost, Gesine Schwan, Frank Bsirske, Joachim Bischoff, Mechthild Schrooten, Harald Wolf
''A Europe built on solidarity is possible. Pamphlet for another European Union''
November 2016

References

External links

Troost's Homepage in German

Biography at the Bundestag

Profile at the Bundestag Group of Left Party

Arbeitsgruppe Alternative Wirtschaftspolitik (Working Group on Alternative Economic Policy)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Troost, Axel 1954 births 2023 deaths German economists Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians German Communist Party members Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative politicians Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag for Saxony Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag for The Left Alumni of Schule Schloss Salem People from Hagen