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") 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 Common ...

, and from 2004 to 2009 a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the 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 adopts ...

Life and career

Pflüger's faster was a pastor and his mother a catechist. 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 town in the middle of Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany, capital and largest town of the district Calw. It is located in the Northern Black Forest and is a ...

, 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 known for its ruined castle, Hohennagold Castle, and for its road viad ...

, 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 (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...

. 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 peac ...

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

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' *Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina *Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *Gree ...

. 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 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 election was a coalition of the All ...

, specialising in the

anti-nuclear movement The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, natio ...

, 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 ''Graswurzelrevolution'' (English: ''Grassroots Revolution'') is an anarcho-pacifist magazine founded in 1972 by Wolfgang Hertle in West Germany. It focuses on social equality, anti-militarism and ecology. The magazine is considered the most ...

''. 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 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 ...

. 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, pt, Fórum Social Mundial ) 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-hegemoni ...

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 {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

, 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 The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...

, 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 (french: Assemblée parlementaire franco-allemande; german: Deutsch-Französische Parlamentarische Versammlung, ''DFPV'') is a joint body of the German Bundestag and the French National Assembly formed to ...

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 electe ...

, 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 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 Federal elections were held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 overhang and leveling seats determined thereafter. The Christian Democr ...

and was elected. He also stood in the constituency of

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

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 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 The Left (Germany) MEPs Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime members Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag for The Left