Hubertus Heil

Hubertus Heil
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
Assumed office
14 March 2018
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Preceded by Katarina Barley (Acting)
General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party
In office
2 June 2017 – 8 December 2017
Leader Martin Schulz
Preceded by Katarina Barley
Succeeded by Lars Klingbeil
In office
15 November 2005 – 13 November 2009
Leader Franz Müntefering
Matthias Platzeck
Kurt Beck
Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Acting)
Preceded by Klaus Uwe Benneter
Succeeded by Andrea Nahles
Member of the Bundestag
for Gifhorn – Peine
Assumed office
27 September 1998
Preceded by Engelbert Nelle
Personal details
Born Wolfgang-Hubertus Heil
(1972-11-03) 3 November 1972
Hildesheim, West Germany
(now Germany)
Political party Social Democratic Party
Children 2
Alma mater University of Potsdam
University of Hagen
Signature

Hubertus Heil (born 3 November 1972) is a German politician. In 2005 he became general secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In September 2009, after immense losses for the SPD during the German federal election, Heil announced his resignation from this position for November.[1] Andrea Nahles succeeded him as general secretary in November 2009. After Katarina Barley's appoinment as Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, he briefly returned to the office from 2 June to 8 December 2017. On 14 March 2018 Heil was appointed Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the fourth Merkel cabinet.

After receiving his Abitur in 1992 Heil first served his Zivildienst, then began studying sociology and political science at the University of Potsdam and the FernUniversität Hagen in 1995.

Political career

Hubertus Heil joined the SPD in 1988. At first he was active at the Jusos and he was their chairman in the district of Braunschweig from 1991 to 1995. From 1995 to 1997 Heil was executive director of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Arbeitnehmerfragen, a leftist caucus in the SPD, representing the workers' wing of the party, although he was reputed to belong to the undogmatical reform socialist wing during his Juso time.

Today Heil serves as chairman of the SPD in Braunschweig.

Member of the German Bundestag, 1998–present

Heil has been a member of the Bundestag since the 1998 German elections, representing the electoral district of Gifhorn-Peine. Between 1998 and 2005, he was a member of the Committee on Economic Affairs. In this capacity, he served as the SPD parliamentary group’s spokesperson for telecommunications and postal services from 2003. In addition to his committee assignments, he was a member of the executive board of the SPD parliamentary group under the leadership of chairman Franz Müntefering from 2002 to 2004.

In November 2005 the then designated party leader Matthias Platzeck proposed the relatively unknown Heil as candidate for the post of secretary general, after Franz Müntefering had resigned as SPD chairman and the elected secretary general Andrea Nahles did not take office. Heil was elected new secretary general of the SPD, but he received only 61.2 percent of the votes, about 20 percent less than his predecessor Klaus Uwe Benneter. He later served under Platzeck (2005-2006) as well as under his successors Kurt Beck (2006-2008) and Müntefering (2008-2009). During that time, he oversaw the drafing process of the party’s Hamburg Program, which has been the party platform since 2007.

Between 2009 and 2017, Heil served as deputy chairman of the SPD’s parliamentary group, under the leadership of successive chairmen Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2019-2013) and Thomas Oppermann (2013-2017). In this capacity, he was a member of the working groups on energy policy and municipal policy from 2009 until 2013. He was also an advisory member of the Commission for Fundamental Values of the Executive Committee of the SPD, a body led by Gesine Schwan.[2]

In the negotiations to form a grand coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2013 national elections, Heil led the SPD delegation in the working group on economic affairs; his co-chair from the CDU/CSU was Ilse Aigner.[3] Ahead of the 2017 elections, he contributed to the manifesto of SPD candidate Martin Schulz.[4] In the negotiations to form a fourth coalition government under Merkel, he led the working group on education policy, alongside Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Stefan Müller and Manuela Schwesig.

Political positions

Heil has described himself as an anti-communist.[5]

In 2012, Heil proposed a special panel in the Federal Chancellery to help overcome professional skill shortages, comprising representatives of industry, unions as well as the federal labor agency and regional and community associations.[6]

Personal life

Heil is married to lawyer Solveig Orlowski, who has managed the Berlin office of the Association of Telecommunications and Value-Added Service Providers (VATM) since 2005. The couple has two children.[7] His brother Georg Heil is a journalist with public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk.[8]

Other activities

Corporate boards

  • KfW, Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (2010–present)

Non-profit organizations

References

  1. ↑ "Steinbrück und Heil geben Parteiämter auf". Der Spiegel (in German). 29 September 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  2. ↑ Members of the Commission for Fundamental Values of the Executive Committee Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine. Social Democratic Party of Germany.
  3. ↑ Madeline Chambers, Markus Wacket and John O'Donnell (October 31, 2013), Bavarian conservatives get boost from EU on foreign-driver road toll plan Reuters.
  4. ↑ Majid Sattar (May 31, 2017), Eine zweite Chance Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
  5. ↑ "Das Problem liegt bei der PDS". Der Spiegel (in German). 15 September 2006. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  6. ↑ James Kraus (May 23, 2012), Germany’s SPD Proposes Panel to Combat Skills Shortage, SZ Says Bloomberg News.
  7. ↑ SPD-Babyboom – Auch Hubertus Heil wird Vater Die Welt, February 3, 2012.
  8. ↑ Georg Heil Deutscher Fernsehpreis.
  9. ↑ Members Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).
Party political offices
Preceded by
Klaus Uwe Benneter		 General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
2005–2009		 Succeeded by
Andrea Nahles
Preceded by
Katarina Barley		 General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
2017		 Succeeded by
Lars Klingbeil
Political offices
Preceded by
Katarina Barley
Acting		 Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
2018–present		 Incumbent
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