Franz Müntefering | |
|---|---|
 Müntefering in 2018 | |
| Leader of the Social Democratic Party | |
| In office 18 October 2008 – 13 November 2009 | |
| General Secretary | Hubertus Heil |
| Preceded by | Kurt Beck |
| Succeeded by | Sigmar Gabriel |
| In office 21 March 2004 – 16 November 2005 | |
| General Secretary | Klaus Uwe Benneter |
| Preceded by | Gerhard Schröder |
| Succeeded by | Matthias Platzeck |
| Vice Chancellor of Germany | |
| In office 22 November 2005 – 21 November 2007 | |
| President | Horst Köhler |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Preceded by | Joschka Fischer |
| Succeeded by | Frank-Walter Steinmeier |
| Minister of Labour and Social Affairs | |
| In office 22 November 2005 – 21 November 2007 | |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Clement |
| Succeeded by | Olaf Scholz |
| General Secretary of theSocial Democratic Party | |
| In office 7 December 1999 – 20 October 2002 | |
| Leader | Gerhard Schröder |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Olaf Scholz |
| Managing Director of theSocial Democratic Party | |
| In office 6 September 1999 – 13 December 1999 | |
| Leader | Gerhard Schröder |
| Preceded by | Ottmar Schreiner |
| Succeeded by | Matthias Machnig |
| In office 16 October 1995 – 2 November 1998 | |
| Leader | Oskar Lafontaine |
| Preceded by | Günter Verheugen |
| Succeeded by | Ottmar Schreiner |
| Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs | |
| In office 27 October 1998 – 29 September 1999 | |
| Chancellor | Gerhard Schröder |
| Preceded by | Eduard Oswald |
| Succeeded by | Reinhard Klimmt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1940-01-16)16 January 1940 (age 85) |
| Political party | Social Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Renate (m. 1960s;div. 1990s) |
| Occupation |
|
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Germany |
| Branch/service |  Bundeswehr |
| Years of service | 1961–1961 |
| Unit |  German Army (Heer) /Mechanized infantry (Panzergrenadiertruppe) |
Franz Müntefering (German:[ˈmʏntəˌfeːʁɪŋ]ⓘ; born 16 January 1940) is a German politician. He was Chairman of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD) from 2004 to 2005 and again from 18 October 2008 to 13 November 2009. He served as the minister of Labour and Social Affairs, as well as thevice chancellor of Germany, in thecabinet ofChancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2007.
Müntefering was born inNeheim (now part ofArnsberg). He trained as an industrial salesman and worked for local metalwork companies.[1]
Müntefering joined the SPD in 1966. He was a member of theBundestag from 1975 to 1992 and again since 1998.
From 1992 until 1995, Müntefering served as State Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs in the government of Minister-PresidentJohannes Rau ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia. He was a member of theState Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia 1995 to 1998.
Müntefering wasBundesgeschäftsführer (executive director) of the national SPD from 1995 to 1998. In this capacity, he managed the 1998 campaign that returned the SPD to power in the federal government after 16 years in opposition.[2]
From 1998 until 1999, Müntefering briefly held the post of Minister of Transportation and Construction in the first cabinet of ChancellorGerhard Schröder. In this capacity, he organized the government's move from Bonn to Berlin.[3]
Müntefering was the first to hold the new post of SPD Secretary General from 1999 to 2002, and thereafter became leader of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag.
In June 2004 Müntefering was designated to succeed Schröder as party chairman in July 2004.[4]
Following Schröder's defeat in the close2005 elections, Müntefering helped form agrand coalition under the newChancellorAngela Merkel and her center-rightCDU/CSU parties.[5] During the coalition talks, on 31 October 2005, Müntefering's favoured candidate for Secretary General of the SPD,Kajo Wasserhövel, was defeated by the left-wing candidateAndrea Nahles in a preliminary internal election. Müntefering subsequently announced his intention to resign as SPD Chairman, and was succeeded byMatthias Platzeck at the next party convention on 15 November 2005.
Müntefering became Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and Vice Chancellor in the cabinet ofChancellorAngela Merkel on 22 November 2005. During his time in office, the government agreed to raise the retirement age in steps to 67 from 65 by 2029.
After two years in those posts, Müntefering's spokesman said on 13 November 2007 that Müntefering would resign from them later in the month. The decision was said to be based on "purely familial reasons".[6] Later in the day, Müntefering said that he would leave his positions in the government on 21 November attributing his decision to the illness of his wife, Ankepetra, who was suffering from cancer.[7] Upon leaving office on 21 November 2007, he was replaced as Vice Chancellor byFrank-Walter Steinmeier and as Minister of Labor byOlaf Scholz, both of whom are also members of the SPD.[8]
Müntefering's wife Ankepetra died on 31 July 2008. Following her death, Müntefering decided to return to active politics and was elected Chairman of theSocial Democratic Party of Germany on 18 October 2008.[9] On 7 September 2008,Kurt Beck had resigned as SPD Chairman.[9][10]
Following the SPD's defeat in thefederal election of 2009, Müntefering resigned from the position of party chairman of the Social Democratic Party.
In 2004, Müntefering demanded that his party take a critical position towards certain practices of private equity firms. In a speech in November 2004, he first associated private financial investors with locusts:
We must help companies acting in the interest of their future and the future of their employees against irresponsible locust swarms, who measure success in quarterly intervals, suck off substance and let companies die once they have eaten them bare...[11]
This metaphor was repeated several times by both official pamphlets of the SPD and by German media, including by Müntefering himself in an April 2005 speech that criticized the market economy of Germany and proposed more state involvement to promote economic justice.
Originally, none of the companies were named specifically. Müntefering subsequently published a "locust list" of companies, which he circulated within the SPD.[12] The online news magazinestern.de also published an article with a list of companies, namelyApax,BC Partners,Carlyle Group,Advent International,Permira,Blackstone Group,CVC Capital Partners,Saban Capital Group,KKR,WCM, andGoldman Sachs.[13] This began a debate which dominated the national news, being the subject of front-page articles and covered on the main television news broadcasts nearly every day. Müntefering's suggestions were criticized by employers and many economists, including former US Secretary of TreasuryJohn W. Snow: "I do not think in these terms".[14] The stock exchange ofDüsseldorf made Locust the "faux-pas word" of 2005.[15]
Müntefering's criticism met with popular support (up to 75% in some opinion polls), and "locust" has since found its way into the German language as an established term for shady financial business practices. The term has been popularized and is continually used in discussions critical tocapitalism in Germany. While remaining a mostly German phenomenon, "locust" has also spread to English and American media, such as in theNew York Times,[16] theInternational Herald Tribune,[17] FT[18] andThe Economist.[19]
Since leaving active politics, Müntefering has held a variety of honorary positions, including the following:
Müntefering was a SPD delegate to theFederal Convention for the purpose of electing thePresident of Germany in 2017.[25]
In 2002, news surfaced that, while Müntefering was head of the SPD in the North Rhine-Westphalia during the 1990s, local officials in the city of Cologne and possibly elsewhere allegedly engaged in corruption that involved illegal political donations from builders of waste-disposal facilities. Müntefering denied any knowledge of the anonymous donations and launched an internal investigation into all contracts awarded for the construction of waste-disposal facilities in North Rhine-Westphalia in the 1990s. On 22 March, he testified about the affair before Parliament's investigative committee.[2]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byas German Minister of Transport | German Minister of Transport, Building and Housing 1998–1999 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas German Minister of Regional Planning, Building and Urban Development | ||
| Preceded byas German Minister for Economics and Labour | German Minister of Labour and Social Affairs 2005–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice-Chancellor of Germany 2005–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by None | General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1999–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 2004–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 2008–2009 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
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| Other | |
