Ralf Stegner

Ralf Stegner
Leader of the Opposition in Schleswig-Holstein
Assumed office
28 June 2017
Prime Minister Daniel Günther
Preceded by Daniel Günther
In office
21 July 2009 – 12 June 2012
Prime Minister Peter Harry Carstensen
Preceded by Wolfgang Kubicki
Succeeded by Johannes Callsen
Leader of the Social Democratic Party in Schleswig Holstein
Assumed office
24 March 2007
Preceded by Heide Simonis
Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic Party
Assumed office
16 January 2014
Serving with Malu Dreyer, Manuela Schwesig, Olaf Scholz, Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel and Natascha Kohnen
Leader Martin Schulz
Preceded by Andrea Nahles
Minister of the Interior of Schleswig-Holstein
In office
27 April 2005 – 15 January 2008
Prime Minister Peter Harry Carstensen
Preceded by Klaus Buß
Succeeded by Lothar Hay
Minister of Finance of Schleswig-Holstein
In office
1 March 2003 – 27 April 2005
Prime Minister Heide Simonis
Preceded by Claus Möller
Succeeded by Rainer Wiegard
Member of the Landtag of
Schleswig-Holstein
Assumed office
20 February 2005
Constituency State List
Personal details
Born (1959-10-02) 2 October 1959
Bad Dürkheim, West Germany Germany
Political party Social Democratic Party of Germany
Alma mater University of Freiburg, Harvard University

Ralf Stegner (born 2 October 1959 in Bad Dürkheim) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He is the current leader of the SPD in Schleswig-Holstein, he has held this office since 2007. He is currently the Leader of the Opposition in Schleswig-Holstein since June 2017, an office he also held from July 2009 to June 2012.

Early life and education

In addition to his degree in Political Science, History and German from the University of Freiburg (1980-7), Stegner earned a Masters of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (1987-9).

Political career

Role in state politics

From 1996 to 2005, Stegner served in various roles in the state government of Minister-President Heide Simonis. He was State Secretary for Labor, Social Affairs and Health from 1996 to 1998 before serving as State Secretary for Education, Research and Cultural Affairs from 1998 to 2003. Between 2003 and until Simonis’ resignation in 2005, he was the State Minister of Finance.

Stegner has been a member of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein since the 2005 state elections. In the CDU-SPD coalition government led by Minister-President Peter Harry Carstensen, he served as State Minister for Home Affairs from 2005 until 2008. Since 2007, he has been serving as chairman of the Schleswig-Holstein SPD.

Following the Social Democrats’ electoral defeat in the 2009 elections, Stegner became the chairman of the party’s parliamentary group and thereby leader of the opposition against the Carstensen government. He was unsuccessful in his attempt to become the party’s candidate for Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein for the 2012 elections; instead, Torsten Albig was chosen and subsequently elected.

Role in national politics

Stegner was a SPD delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2009, 2010 and 2012. In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the SPD following the 2013 federal elections, he was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on education and research policy, led by Johanna Wanka and Doris Ahnen.

At the SPD national convention in 2014, party chairman Sigmar Gabriel nominated Stegner as one of his six deputies, alongside Hannelore Kraft, Olaf Scholz, Manuela Schwesig, Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel and Aydan Özoğuz.[1]

Other activities

Corporate boards

  • HSH Nordbank, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board (2005-2008)[2]
  • KfW, Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (-2005)[3]

Non-profit organizations

Personal life

Stegner is married, Protestant and has three sons.

References

  1. ↑ "Ralf Stegner zum SPD-Vize gewählt". SHZ.de (in German). 2014-01-26. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
  2. ↑ Bernhard Honnigfort (April 3, 2010), Ralf Stegner: Erleichtert und empört Frankfurter Rundschau.
  3. ↑ 2005 Annual Report KfW.
  4. ↑ Board of Trustees Friedrich Ebert Foundation.


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