Peter Harry Carstensen (born 12 March 1947) is a German politician, in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. From 2005 to 2012 he was

Minister President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary system, parliamentary or semi-presidential system, semi-presidential system of government where ...

of the state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

, serving as

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 ful ...

of the Bundesrat in 2005/06.

Early life, education and career

Carstensen was born in

Elisabeth-Sophien-Koog Elisabeth-Sophien-Koog is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It occupies a small part in the northwest of Nordstrand peninsula. The municipality is located in and named after the polder (german: Koog) ...

Nordstrand Nordstrand may refer to: Places ;Germany * Nordstrand, Germany, a peninsula in Germany * Nordstrand (Amt), a former municipality in Nordfriesland, Germany ;Norway * Nordstrand, Norway, a borough in Oslo, Norway * Søndre Nordstrand, a borough in ...

, on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

coast of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. He passed his

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 ...

in 1966 and worked in agriculture before beginning a course of study in agronomy in 1968, finishing in 1973 as a qualified engineer. During his studies Carstensen became a member of the ''

Landsmannschaft A Landsmannschaft (; Latin ''natio'', plural nationes) is a German fraternity of several fraternity forms called ''Studentenverbindung''. The older forms of ''Landsmannschaften'' were part of corporations and are closely aligned with the beginn ...

Troglodytia im Coburger Convent'' and did not leave the organisation until 1998. In 1976 he passed the Second State Examination (''Zweites Staatsexamen'') to become a teacher, following which he was employed as a teacher of agriculture at the

Bredstedt Bredstedt ( nds, Bredstedt; da, Bredsted; North Frisian: ''Bräist'', ) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated near the North Sea coast, approximately 20 km northwest of Husum. Notable pe ...

Agricultural School and also as an economics adviser in the Agricultural Ministry of Schleswig-Holstein until 1983.

Family

Peter Harry Carstensen is widowed and has two daughters. His younger daughter is the ceramicist Anja-Christina Carstensen. In August 2004 the ''Bild'' newspaper hunted for a new wife with Carstensen’s agreement - a decision that he later regretted. On his 60th birthday, Carstensen publicly announced his new relationship with Sandra Thomsen, a lawyer born in 1971. Two and a half years later — on 31 December 2009 — the two were married in the Friesenstube of the Island Hotel Arfsten in Wrixum.

Political career

Carstensen has been a member of the CDU since 1971. From 1986 to 1992 he was leader of the local CDU in the

Nordfriesland Nordfriesland (; da, Nordfrisland; frr, Nordfraschlönj ), also known as North Frisia, is the northernmost district of Germany, part of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. It includes almost all of traditional North Frisia (with the exception o ...

district, becoming leader on 2 June 2002.

Member of Parliament, 1983–2005

From 1983 Carstensen 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 1994 to 2002 he was chairman of the committee for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry (after the renaming of the corresponding ministry in 2001 the committee became responsible for Consumer Protection, Nutrition and Agriculture). In his last parliamentary term he was a full member of the committee. From October 2002 Carstensen was chairman of the CDU/CSU working party for Consumer Protection, Nutrition and Agriculture in the Bundestag. Peter Harry Carstensen was the representative of

Nordfriesland – Dithmarschen Nord Nordfriesland – Dithmarschen Nord (English: North Frisia – Dithmarschen North) is an electoral constituency (German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituen ...

, receiving 44.3% of all votes cast in the 2005 election. Carstensen left the Bundestag on 20 April 2005. He has been a member of the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein since 2005.

Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein, 2005–2012

Carstensen was the CDU's candidate for premier of Schleswig-Holstein in the state election of 20 February 2005; he led the CDU to its best result since

Uwe Barschel Uwe Barschel (13 May 1944 – 11 October 1987) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister-President in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. Having assumed office of Minister-President at the age of 38, Ba ...

’s resignation in 1987 with 40.2% of all votes cast, making the CDU the strongest party in the state parliament for the first time since 1983. However, the coalition of the CDU and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) failed to obtain a majority by some 700 votes. The

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

(SPD) office-holder

Heide Simonis Heide Simonis (; born 4 July 1943 in Bonn as Heide Steinhardt) is a German Author and Politician. She is a member of the SPD. From 1993 to 2005 she served as the Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein. She was the first woman to serve as head ...

thus tried to form a minority cabinet of the SPD and

Bündnis '90/Die Grünen Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (fo ...

(the Green party) tolerated by the Danish minority party SSW. From 1 March to 27 April 2005 Carstensen was leader of the CDU in the state parliament. In the vote to decide the premier of Schleswig-Holstein in the opening session of the state parliament on 17 March 2005 incumbent Heide Simonis (SPD) did not receive the required majority. Subsequently successful negotiations between the SPD and CDU led to the formation of a grand coalition between SPD and CDU. On 27 April 2005 Carstensen was finally elected premier of the state of Schleswig-Holstein with a majority of 54 votes (out of the grand coalition’s 59). In February 2009, Carstensen and Mayor

Ole von Beust Ole von Beust (born 13 April 1955) is a former German politician who was First Mayor of Hamburg from 31 October 2001 to 25 August 2010, serving as President of the Bundesrat from 1 November 2007 on for one year. He was succeeded as mayor by Ch ...

of Hamburg agreed on a €13 billion

bailout A bailout is the provision of financial help to a corporation or country which otherwise would be on the brink of bankruptcy. A bailout differs from the term ''bail-in'' (coined in 2010) under which the bondholders or depositors of global sys ...

of state-owned shipping financier HSH Nordbank. The two states were forced to intervene after the

SoFFin The SoFFin (Sonderfonds Finanzmarktstabilisierung - Special Financial Market Stabilization Funds) is a program of the German government with the purpose to stabilize and restore confidence in the financial system. It was created in the middle of th ...

fund, which had been set up by the federal government in 2008 to stabilize the financial markets, said it could not help out HSH Nordbank until it got rid of all its bad debts. In July 2009 Carstensen announced that he would seek early state elections as a result of ongoing quarrels within the coalition government. After the Elections of 27 September 2009 Carstensen was reelected on 27 October 2009. Carstensen has also been President of the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house of parliament. He served as a CDU delegate to the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...

for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

in 2010 and 2012.

Political positions

Ahead of the Christian Democrats’

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

in 2018, Carstensen publicly endorsed

Friedrich Merz Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (born 11 November 1955) is a German lawyer and politician, serving as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 31 January 2022 and as leader of the Union parliamentary group as well as the Leader of ...

to succeed Angela Merkel as the party’s chair.CDU-Parteitag: Carstensen kritisiert Günther
'' NDR'', December 4, 2018.

Recognition

Carstensen was awarded the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany (

Bundesverdienstkreuz The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

) in 1996.

References

This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the German-language Wikipedia.

External links