Wolfgang Tiefensee (born 4 January 1955) 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). He was the Federal Minister for Transport, Building and Urban Development in the

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are t ...

cabinet led by

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

between 2005 and 2009. Since 2014, he has been the State Minister of Economy, Science and the Digital Society in the government of

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

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 or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. It ...

Bodo Ramelow Bodo Ramelow (; born 16 February 1956) is a German politician who has served since 4 March 2020 as Minister-President of Thuringia, an office he previously held from 2014 to 5 February 2020. He is the first head of a German state government to ...

Career

Originally an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, Tiefensee turned to politics in 1989, during the democratization process of the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. He became a member of the

SPD 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 ...

in 1995.

Mayor of Leipzig, 1998–2005

Tiefensee was elected

mayor of Leipzig This is a list of mayors of Leipzig since 1778. Since 1877, their title is ''Oberbürgermeister'', rather than ''Bürgermeister''. *1778–1801: Carl Wilhelm Müller *1794–1813?: Christian Gottfried Hermann *1814–1830: Ludwig Ferdinand Weber ...

in 1998, and was re-elected with 67.1% of the vote in April 2005. Before 2005, he declined offers of a position in the federal government, stating his place was in Leipzig. As mayor, he put great effort into

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

's bid to host the

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. While Leipzig unexpectedly won the campaign to tender the German bid, the middle-sized city did not get past the first round of the international competition, which was in fact won by

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 2002, Tiefensee was part of the 15-member commission that developed the so-called

Hartz reforms The Hartz concept, also known as Hartz reforms or the Hartz plan, is a set of recommendations submitted by a committee on reforms to the German labour market in 2002. Named after the head of the committee, Peter Hartz, these recommendations went o ...

, a set of recommendations to reform the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

labour market as part of

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 ...

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ...

’s

Agenda 2010 The Agenda 2010 is a series of reforms planned and executed by the German government in the early 2000s, a Social-Democrats/ Greens coalition at that time, which aimed to reform the German welfare system and labour relations. The declared objectiv ...

. Later that year, following the 2002 federal elections, he declined Schröder’s offer to join his government.

Role in national politics

In 2007, Tiefensee chaired talks following which EU transport ministers agreed unanimously to end talks with a private consortium contracted to develop the

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

satellite navigation system and to spend €2.4 billion ($3.2 billion) to build it themselves instead. Also during his tenure as Germany's transport minister, Tiefensee announced the little-known architect Francesco Stella as the winner of a competition to find an architectural design for the controversial reconstruction of the Berlin Stadtschloss in 2008. In 2012, Tiefensee succeeded

Garrelt Duin Garrelt Duin (born 2 April 1968) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Education Duin was born in Leer, Lower Saxony. From 1987 to 1995 he studied law and Protestant theology at Bielefeld and Göttingen. In 1995 he com ...

as spokesperson of the SPD parliamentary group on economic affairs. In the negotiations to form a ''

Grand Coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are t ...

'' of chancellor

's Christian Democrats ( CDU together with the Bavarian

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social Un ...

) and the SPD following the 2013 federal elections, he was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on economic policy, led by

Ilse Aigner Ilse Aigner (born 7 December 1964) is a German politician and member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). Aigner was born in Feldkirchen-Westerham, Bavaria, and entered Angela Merkel's grand coalition cabinet as Federal Minister of ...

and

Hubertus Heil Hubertus Heil (born 3 November 1972) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel and the first c ...

Career in state politics

Tiefensee resigned from his seat in parliament when he became State Minister of Economy, Science and the Digital Society in the government of

in 2014. As one of the state's representatives at the Bundesrat, he serves on the Committee on Cultural Affairs and on the Committee on Economic Affairs. In early 2018, Tiefensee was elected chairman of the SPD in Thuringia, succeeding

Andreas Bausewein Andreas Bausewein (born 5 May 1973) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who serves as mayor of Erfurt. Political career In 1990 Bausewein joined the SPD. From 1995 to 2004 he was state chairman of the party's youth orga ...

. He was confirmed in the November 2018 party conference. In May 2020, Tiefensee announced that he would not stand in the

next Thuringian state election The next Thuringian state election will be held no later than between August and December 2024 to elect the 8th Landtag of Thuringia. The current government is a minority government consisting of The Left (Germany), The Left, the Social Democrati ...

but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

Regulatory agencies

* Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (BNetzA), Alternate Member of the Advisory Board (2009-2013), Member of the Advisory Board (since 2014)

Corporate boards

* Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), Member of the Supervisory Board * Thüringer Aufbaubank (TAB), Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2014) * Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft Thüringen (LEG), Ex-Officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2014) *

Carl Zeiss Foundation The Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung (Carl Zeiss Foundation), legally located in Heidenheim an der Brenz and Jena, Germany, and with its administrative Headquarter in Stuttgart, is the sole shareholder of the two companies Carl Zeiss AG and Schott AG. It was ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board (since 2014) *

KfW The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment bank, investment and Development finance institution, development bank, based in Frankfurt ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board (2005-2009)

Non-profit organizations

* Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2018) *

Friedrich Ebert Foundation The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (''German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: FES'') is a German political party foundation associated with, but independent from, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 as the ...

(FES), Member of the Board of Trustees * ''

Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie (Against Oblivion – For Democracy) is a German organization promoting diversity, tolerance and democratic participation, and opposing racism, prejudice and right-wing and left-wing extremism. It focuses in ...

'', Chairman (since 2012) * German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), Member of the Political Advisory Board * Institute for Germany Studies (IDF),

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * Wittenberg Center for Global Ethics, Member of the Board of Trustees * Sepsis-Stiftung, Member of the Board of TrusteesAbout Us
Sepsis-Stiftung. * German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), Member of the Political Advisory Board (2009-2015)

Personal life

Tiefensee, whose father was the musician and conductor Siegfried Tiefensee, is also known for playing the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

, a talent that he successfully incorporated into Leipzig's Olympic bid. His brother, , is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest and was professor of

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at the

University of Erfurt The University of Erfurt (german: Universität Erfurt) is a public university located in Erfurt, the capital city of the German state of Thuringia. It was founded in 1379, and closed in 1816. It was re-established in 1994, three years after Germ ...

from 1997 to 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiefensee, Wolfgang 1955 births Living people People from Gera People from Bezirk Gera German Roman Catholics Ministers of the Thuringia State Government Transport ministers of Germany Construction ministers of Germany Mayors of Leipzig Members of the Bundestag for Saxony Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany