Tobias Pflüger (born 1 February 1965) is a German politician of The Left serving as one of six deputy leaders of the party since 2014. From 2017 to 2021 he was a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

, and from 2004 to 2009 a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

Life and career

Pflüger's father was a pastor and his mother a

catechist Catechesis (; from Greek language, Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of Conversion to Christia ...

. He grew up in

Möglingen Möglingen is a municipality in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 13 km northwest of Stuttgart, and 5 km west of Ludwigsburg. Möglingen has the headquarter of the "Württemberger Weingärtner-Zen ...

Calw Calw (; previously pronounced and sometimes spelled Kalb accordingly; ) is a Landstadt, town in the middle of Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany, capital and largest town of the Calw (district), district Calw. It is located in the North ...

, and

Nagold Nagold () is a town in southwestern Germany, bordering the Northern Black Forest. It is located in the '' Landkreis'' (district) of Calw (Germany/Baden-Württemberg). Nagold is recorded for the first time in a historical document dating back to ...

, where he graduated from the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium in 1985. He then studied political science and empirical cultural studies at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

. Pflüger has been active in the

peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pe ...

since the 1980s. At the age of 16, he joined

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *The Greens – The Green Alternative, Austria *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * The Greens (Benin) *The Greens (Bulgaria) * Greens of Bosnia and He ...

. From 1989 to 1993, he was research assistant to Christine Mussler-Frohne, a Green member of the

Landtag of Baden-Württemberg The Landtag of Baden-Württemberg is the diet (assembly), diet of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It convenes in Stuttgart and currently consists of 154 members of five political parties. The majority before the 2021 Baden-Württemberg ...

, specialising in the

anti-nuclear movement The Anti-nuclear war movement is a new social movements, social movement that opposes various nuclear technology, nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified them ...

, energy, and peace policy. In 1996, he co-founded the ''Information Centre on Militarisation'' (IMI). Until 2004 he was a member of the organisation's board and a consultant for domestic and foreign issues. For several years he was a member of the editorial board of the journal ''Science and Peace''. From 1997 to 2003, he was co-editor and frequent author of the magazine '' Graswurzelrevolution''. From January 2000 to December 2002, Pflüger held a doctoral fellowship from the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, but did not submit a dissertation. Since late 2002, he has been an active member of the scientific advisory board of Attac. He participated in the

European Social Forum The European Social Forum (ESF) was a recurring conference held by members of the alter-globalization movement (also known as the Global Justice Movement). In the first few years after it started in 2002 the conference was held every year, but late ...

in Florence (2002), Paris (2003), London (2004), Athens (2006), and Malmö (2008), as well as the

World Social Forum The World Social Forum (WSF, ) is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemonic globalization. The Worl ...

in Mumbai (2004), Porto Alegre (2005), Caracas (2006), and Nairobi (2007). In 2003 he participated in numerous events concerning the topics of German participation in the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, Bundeswehr and defence policy,

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

in the EU, and the EU Constitution, among others. In January 2019, Pflüger was a guest on a Sea-Watch ship in the Mediterranean. The same year, he became a member of the

Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly The Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly (, ''APFA''; , ''DFPV'') is a joint body of the German Bundestag and the French National Assembly formed to enable cooperation between both houses. Background The French and German parliaments had p ...

Political career

Though originally a member of the Greens, Pflüger left the party in 2001. In the

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elect ...

, he ran for the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), though he did not join the party. He was elected to the European Parliament and served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He ran for re-election in the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...

in tenth place on The Left list, but was not elected. In March 2006, Pflüger signed the founding appeal of the Anti-Capitalist Left, a radical internal faction of the PDS/Left. He joined The Left in May 2008. In May 2010, he became a member of the party executive; in 2014, he was elected co-deputy chairman of the party. Pflüger ran for the

in fourth place on The Left list in the

2017 German federal election The 2017 German federal election was held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the List of members of the 19th Bundestag, members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 Overhang seat, overhan ...

and was elected. He also stood in the constituency of

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

and won 7.3% of votes. In the 19th Bundestag, he was a member of the defence committee and a substitute member of the committees on foreign affairs and EU affairs. He ran for the Bundestag again in the

2021 German federal election The 2021 German federal election was held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, ...

in sixth place on the Baden-Württemberg party list, but lost re-election.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfluger, Tobias 1965 births Living people Politicians from Stuttgart MEPs for Germany 2004–2009 Die Linke MEPs Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime members Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag for Die Linke