Peter Tschentscher

Peter Tschentscher
First Mayor of Hamburg
Assumed office
28 March 2018
Deputy Katharina Fegebank
Preceded by Katharina Fegebank (Acting)
Senator for Finance of Hamburg
In office
7 March 2011 – 28 March 2018
Mayor Olaf Scholz
Preceded by Herlind Gundelach
Succeeded by Andreas Dressel
Personal details
Born (1966-01-20) 20 January 1966
Bremen, West Germany (now Germany)
Political party Social Democratic Party
Alma mater University of Hamburg

Peter Tschentscher (born 20 January 1966 in Bremen) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Since 28 March 2018, he is the First Mayor of Hamburg and head of the new state government. Since 2008 he has been a member of the Hamburger Bürgerschaft, the state parliament of Hamburg. From 2011 until 2018, he served as State Minister of Finance of the city in the Senates Scholz I and II.

Early life and education

Tschentscher graduated from highschool in Oldenburg in 1985. He later studied medicine and molecular biology at the University of Hamburg, where he received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1995. From 1994 until 2008, he practiced as a physician at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

Political career

Peter Tschentscher in the state parliament

Tschentscher joined the Social Democratic Party in 1989. He was first elected to the Hamburgische Bürgerschaft in the 2008 state elections. From 2008 until 2011, he served on the Budget Committee. In addition, he led a parliamentary inquiry into cost overruns in the construction of the Elbphilharmonie from 2010.

Finance Senator, 2011–2018

During his tenure as State Minister of Finance, Tschentscher oversaw the privatization of publicly owned shipping finance provider HSH Nordbank.[1]

From 2015 on, Tschentscher was one of the state's representatives at the Bundesrat, where he served as deputy chairman of the Finance Committee.

First Mayor of Hamburg, 2018–present

Tschentscher succeeded Olaf Scholz in March 2018, who left state politics to become Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the fourth coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.[2]

At the time of his nomination, Tschentscher was seen as a surprising choice by many, as he has not appeared much in the public during his term as Senator of Finance. Andreas Dressel, SPD parliamentary group leader in Hamburg, had been considered by many as obvious successor of Scholz,[2] but declined for personal reasons.[3]

As one of the state's representatives at the Bundesrat, Tschentscher is a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and on the Committee on European Affairs. During his first year as Mayor, he also served as Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Germany for Cultural Affairs under the Treaty on Franco-German Cooperation.

Other activities

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.