Kurt Beck (born 5 February 1949) is a German politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SPD), who served as the 7th Minister President of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

from 1994 to 2013 and as the 55th

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the Bundesrat in 2000/01. In May 2006, he succeeded

Matthias Platzeck Matthias Platzeck (born 29 December 1953) is a German politician. He was Minister President of Brandenburg from 2002 to 2013 and party chairman of the SPD from November 2005 to April 2006. On 29 July 2013 Platzeck announced his resignation fro ...

as chairman of the German

(SPD). He resigned from that post in September 2008. On 28 September 2012 Beck announced his resignation from the post of minister-president. He was succeeded by social minister Malu Dreyer. Following Peter Struck's death in 2012, Beck – together with Dieter Schulte – became the chair of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation; he served until 2020, when he was replaced with Martin Schulz.

Biography

Beck was born in

Bad Bergzabern Bad Bergzabern () is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, on the German Wine Route in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated near the border with France, on the south-eastern edge of the Palatinate forest, approximately ...

, to the bricklayer Oskar Beck and his wife Johanna. Both his parents had their roots in the town Kapsweyer in southern Rhenish Palatinate. He grew up in Steinfeld. From 1963 to 1968, he became an electrician. After military duty in 1968 and 1969, he graduated from an evening school in 1972. Since then, he served as an employee representative on works councils.

Political career

After joining the SPD in 1972, mainly because of the Party's programme as well as the personality of

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ger ...

, Beck became chairman of the SPD of Rhineland Palatinate in 1993 and deputy chairman of the federal party in 2003. He served in this function until 14 May 2006. Beck has been active in local affairs since 1974, when he was first elected a member of the

Kreistag In all German states, except for the three city states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a ''Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the (official term in all but two states) or (official term in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia ...

. From 1989 to 1994, he was mayor of his hometown Steinfeld. From 1979, he was a directly elected member of the

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non ...

, in which he served as the speaker for social affairs of the

Parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliame ...

of the SPD (from 1982 to 1985) and as a member of the governing body of the group from 1985 to 1991, when he was elected chairman.

Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, 1994–2013

On 26 October 1994 Kurt Beck was elected Minister President of

, succeeding Rudolf Scharping. He was re-elected three times, in 1996,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

. As Minister President he was known for his centrist approach, which is also apparent from the choice of his coalition partner (the liberal FDP instead of the left-wing

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

, with which the SPD has recently allied itself). In this respect, he follows the policy of Scharping. In March 2006, Beck's SPD gained an absolute majority in the state elections; Beck offered to continue the coalition but since the FDP declined, the SPD formed a government without a partner. After

Edmund Stoiber Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU) between 1999 and 2007. In 2002, he ...

resigned in 2007, Beck was the senior Minister President in Germany. During his time in office, Beck's decisions in Rhineland-Palatinate to increase efficiency in the state government via administrative reorganisation, and to introduce full-day schooling and free kindergartens, drew national attention. The state also emerged as one of the country’s top economic performers. When the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

closed dozens of camps and barracks with the loss of 100,000 jobs, Beck's government invested heavily in retraining schemes, creating 40,000 new jobs. In 2000 and 2001, Beck was

of the Bundesrat, one of his duties as Minister President. In September 2012, Beck announced his resignation. He had been under pressure for weeks over the bankruptcy of the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around the village a ...

motorsports complex in Rhineland-Palatinate, one of the world's most famous race tracks.

Chairman of the SPD, 2006–2008

When

had to resign for medical reasons in 2006, Beck was officially elected as chairman of the SPD with the approval of 95% of the delegates. He became the party’s fourth chairman in seven years. Beck decided not to join the cabinet and succeed

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

Franz Müntefering because it would have prevented him from criticizing Chancellor Angela Merkel's

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

. According to public opinion polls during his time as party chairman, his possibilities of becoming

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

, if he had run for this office in the 2009 election, had been very limited. According to

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. Hist ...

, only 16% of Germans would have elected him in the hypothetical case of a direct vote against Angela Merkel. During his time in office as party leader, Beck most notably negotiated an agreement with Merkel’s Christian Democrats in April 2017 on a partial

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of national railway

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...

's passenger and freight divisions. Meanwhile, Beck's decision in early 2008 to allow regional cooperation with the

left-wing populist Left-wing populism, also called social populism, is a political ideology that combines left-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric often consists of anti- elitism, opposition to the Establishment, and speaking for the ...

Left Party in western German state parliaments caused a rift within his party and triggered a slump in opinion poll ratings for the SPD and him personally. On 7 September 2008, Beck resigned as chairman at a party meeting in Werder, Brandenburg and Frank-Walter Steinmeier was chosen as the SPD candidate for Chancellor in the 2009 election, while Franz Müntefering replaced Beck as chairman after an interim of Steinmeier. At the time, he said that he was a victim of intrigue inside the SPD.

Life after politics

In March 2017, Beck was appointed the government's official commissioner for the victims of the attack at the Christmas market at Berlin's Breitscheidplatz on 19 December 2016. Later that year, together with German Justice Minister Heiko Maas, he presented his final report.

Controversies

Henrico Frank

Near the end of 2006, Beck recommended to Henrico Frank, an unemployed construction worker from

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, to wash himself and shave so he could get a job. Following a media controversy about Beck's behaviour, Frank declined all jobs offered to him by the state chamber. Later, he was hired as a punk rock expert for iMusic TV.

Afghanistan

In April 2007, Beck proposed a peace conference in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

with the inclusion of "moderate Taliban". The Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, thus accused him of being naïve. He compared the idea of "moderate Taliban" to distinguishing between moderate and radical right-wing extremists in

. The German public mostly ignored the affair.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Boehringer Ingelheim, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2013)

Non-profit organizations

* Stiftung Hambacher Schloss, Chair of the Advisory Board (since 2020) * European Foundation for the Speyer Cathedral, Chairman of the Board of Trustees * ''Denkwerk Demokratie'', Member of the Advisory Board * Fritz Walter Foundation, Chair of the Advisory Board * Stefan Morsch Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2013) * Stiftung Institut für Herzinfarktforschung (IHF), Member of the Board of Trustees * Stiftung Tausendgut, Member of the Board of TrusteesBoard of Trustees
Stiftung Tausendgut.

Honours and awards

:1983: Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany :2001: Grand Cross of the

Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five r ...

:2004 Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany : Grand Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleo ...

: Grand Cross of the Order Pro Merito Melitensi of the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

: Commander of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

of the French Republic :1997: Honorary Master of the Palatine Crafts :2005: Business Award of the Union of medium-sized enterprises : Order of Merit of the Senate of the Republic of Chile : Honorary Citizen of

Opole Opole (; german: Oppeln ; szl, Ôpole) ; * Silesian: ** Silesian PLS alphabet: ''Ôpole'' ** Steuer's Silesian alphabet: ''Uopole'' * Silesian German: ''Uppeln'' * Czech: ''Opolí'' * Latin: ''Oppelia'', ''Oppolia'', ''Opulia'' is a city l ...

, Poland : Honorary doctorate from Francis Marion University (USA) : Honorary Citizen of the southern Chinese province of

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...

: Commandeur of the wine fraternity Chevaliers du Tastevin, France

Personal life

Beck is Catholic. He lives with his wife, Roswitha, whom he married in 1968 in

Steinfeld, Rhineland-Palatinate Steinfeld is a municipality in Südliche Weinstraße district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, span ...

. They have one son (Stefan Beck).

References

External links

Interview with the BILD, Part One, German

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Kurt 1949 births Living people People from Bad Bergzabern German Roman Catholics Presidents of the German Bundesrat Members of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Ministers-President of Rhineland Palatinate