Peter Kurz (born 1962) is a German politician of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
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 ...
(SPD).
He is the
Lord mayor of
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
.
Life
Peter Kurz was born on November 6, 1962, in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
,
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
, Germany.
[https://www.mannheim.de/sites/default/files/2020-02/Lebenslauf%2520OB%2520Dr.%2520Kurz%2520Flie%25C3%259Ftext%2520-%2520deutsch%2520-.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjl1oyt9t_rAhUP66QKHaeZBIQQFjAKegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw3jev_CcvVOY7CQmOIwDAVV ] He attended the Tulla-Gymnasium in Mannheim. From 1983 to 1989, he studied law at the universities of Mannheim and Heidelberg and passed his first state examination in 1989. He then worked as a trainee lawyer in Mannheim (Amts- und Landgericht, Staatsanwaltschaft, Verwaltungsgerichtshof, Rechtsanwaltskanzlei), Speyer (
Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaften), Heidelberg (Finanzamt) and San Diego (Rechtsanwaltskanzlei). In 1992, he passed his second state examination and became an assistant at the chair for civil law, commercial and business law at the University of Mannheim. In 1994 Peter Kurz became a judge at the Karlsruhe Administrative Court. A year later he received his doctorate. Until he was elected mayor for schools, culture, sports and swimming pools in 1999, he worked as a judge at the Karlsruhe Administrative Court.
Since 2007, he is the
Lord mayor of Mannheim.
Peter Kurz is married and has two children.
Political career
Peter Kurz joined the SPD while still at school and became involved with
Jusos
Working Group of Young Socialists in the SPD (german: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Jungsozialistinnen und Jungsozialisten in der SPD, Jusos) is a volunteer youth organization of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
As of 2021, there are over ...
, the party's working group for young people. From 1984 to 1989, he served as a member of the District Council of
Schwetzingerstadt/Oststadt in Mannheim and thereafter, up to 1999, as a councillor in Mannheim and member of various supervisory boards. In 1985, Peter Kurz founded the association "Biotopia", which he managed up to the beginning of 1999.
In early 1994, Peter Kurz assumed the chairmanship of the SPD parliamentary group in the municipal council, an office which he held up to 1999. He became a member of the SPD state executive board in Baden Wuerttemberg in 1995 (up to 2005). Peter Kurz assumed the office of full-time Deputy Mayor for Education, Culture and Sport in Mannheim in 1999. The decision to set up the first full-time primary school in Mannheim was passed during his period in the office of Deputy Mayor for Education.
On 17 June 2007 he was elected to succeed
Gerhard Widder (SPD) as mayor of the city. In 2010 Peter Kurz successfully campaigned for the retention of the Jobcenter. On 14 June 2015 he won 46.8% of the votes in the first ballot of the mayoral election before being elected to a second period of office on 8 July, taking 52% of the votes in the second ballot, in which he went head-to-head with
Peter Rosenberger (CDU).
Since January 2009, Peter Kurz has been on the board of trustees of the European Society of Young Academics (Europäische Jungakademiker-Gesellschaft). In December 2014, Mannheim was awarded the title UNESCO City of Music. The application was particularly championed by Kurz.
In 2018, Kurz was elected President of the
Baden-Wuerttemberg Association of German Cities (Städtetag Baden-Württemberg) and voted into the steering committee of the
Association of German Cities
Association may refer to:
*Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
*Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry
*Voluntary associatio ...
(Städtetag Deutschland).
Since April 2019, Kurz has chaired the
Carlo-Schmid Foundation (Carlo-Schmid-Stiftung).
European and international activities
From April 2018 to January 2020, Peter Kurz represented the German Cities in the European Committee of the Regions (CoR). He has been a deputy member since January 2020.
At European level, Peter Kurz has also been a deputy member of the steering committee of the German section of the
Council of European Municipalities and Regions
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) is the largest organisation of local and regional governments in Europe. Its members are 60 national associations of towns, municipalities and regions from 41 countries that are part of th ...
(CEMR) since 2010. The CEMR represents the interests of around 100,000 municipal and regional authorities throughout Europe. The international work of the CEMR is continued in the
United Cities and Local Governments
United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is an umbrella international organisation for cities, local and regional governments, and municipal associations throughout the world that is concerned with representing and defending the interests of ...
(UCLG). Here, Peter Kurz sits on the World Council as one of five German municipal representatives and, as one of two German mayors as a member of the Executive Bureau.
Peter Kurz was actively involved in the establishment of the Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM) in 2016 and was deputy chairperson up to November 2019. At the Annual General Meeting of the GPM, which took place in Durban, South Africa, from 9 to 11 November 2019, Peter Kurz was appointed as chair. The GPM is a global movement of mayors which advocates the rights of cities and their majors and the "Right to the City". It is a member of the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments.
From 17 to 20 October 2016 Peter Kurz took part in the HABITAT III Conference of the United Nations in Quito, Ecuador. There, Mannheim's municipal leader had the opportunity, as one of only 40 mayors from around the world, to issue a statement at the World Assembly of Mayors, and delivered a plea for the significance of cities.
A major role in international engagement is played by the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, of the United Nations which are implemented in Mannheim through the "Mannheim 2030" Mission Statement. In September 2019, as the first German municipal representative invited to do so, Peter Kurz had the opportunity to give what is known as a "voluntary local review" at the SDG Summit in New York, and thus present the strategies employed by the City of Mannheim to implement the SDGs at municipal level. At this multi-day summit, Peter Kurz also represented the UCLG, the GPM and the CEMR.
Peter Kurz was among the speakers at both the 9th World Urban Forum 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the 10th World Urban Forum 2020 in Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates, hosted by UN-Habitat. Here too he spoke on the City of Mannheim's strategies to implement the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN at municipal level.
On 14 September 2021, Mayor Dr Peter Kurz received the World Mayor International Award 2021. The prize was awarded to Peter Kurz for his commitment to cooperation between cities worldwide. He stands firm in his belief that only cooperation can solve international challenges and influence national developments.
Supervisory board mandates
Peter Kurz chairs the following supervisory boards of municipal subsidiaries and holdings:
*
MVV Energie
MVV Energie AG ( en, MVV Energy) is a publicly listed company based in Mannheim and one of Germany's leading energy suppliers, operating in both Germany as well as Europe.
The value chain of MVV Energie AG covers: generation, trading, distri ...
*
MVV GmbH
Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging Maastricht (), commonly known as MVV Maastricht (, ) or simply as MVV, is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Maastricht. Founded on 2 April 1902, MVV Maastricht currently compete in the Eerst ...
*
Klinikum Mannheim
*
GBG – Mannheimer Wohnungsbaugesellschaft GBG may refer to:
Transportation
* Galesburg Municipal Airport, in Illinois, United States
* Gorebridge railway station, in Scotland
* Gramsbergen railway station, in the Netherlands
Other uses
* Gbanzili language
* G beta-gamma complex
* ...
*
mannheimer gründungszentren gmbh Mannheimer is a German language surname, meaning a person from Mannheim. Spelling variants include Manheimer and Mannerheim. It may refer to:
* Albert Mannheimer (1913–1972), American writer
* Anna Mannheimer (born 1963), Swedish journalist
* Car ...
*
Popakademie Baden-Württemberg
The Popakademie Baden-Württemberg ''(University of Popular Music And Music Business)'' is a German public conservatory for popular music based in Mannheim, Germany. Established in 2003 by the state of Baden-Württemberg, it was the first institu ...
(chief chairman)
Honorary appointments
*Member of the executive board of the Baden-Wuerttemberg Association of German Cities (Städtetag Baden-Württemberg)
*Member of the Board of the non-profit Association "Future Metropolitan Region Rhine-Neckar" (Zukunft Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar)
*Chair of the Regionalforum ICE-Knoten Rhein-Neckar
Awards
*In November 2010, Peter Kurz was awarded the "Star of David" award, specially made for him, by the UJA Federation New York.
* In April 2022, Peter Kurz received the
Royal Jubilee Medal.
External links
Official websitePeter Kurz' profileon spd.de
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurz, Peter
Living people
1962 births
Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians
Politicians from Mannheim