Johannes Kahrs | |
|---|---|
 Kahrs in 2008 | |
| Member of theBundestag forHamburg-Mitte | |
| In office 27 October 1998 – 6 May 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Freimut Duve |
| Succeeded by | Dorothee Martin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1963-09-15)15 September 1963 (age 62) |
| Political party |  German:Social Democratic Party  EU:Party of European Socialists |
| Spouse | Christoph Rohde |
| Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
| Signature |  |
Johannes Kahrs (German pronunciation:[joˈhanəsˈkaːɐ̯s]; born 15 September 1963) is a former German politician of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD) who served as a member of the German parliament,Deutscher Bundestag, from 1998 until 2020.
Kahrs was born inBremen. His parents are Wolfgang and Bringfriede Kahrs who were both senators in Bremen on the ticket of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. After visiting school in Bremen, Kahrs joined theBundeswehr and became an officer. Later, he began to study Germanjurisprudence. During his university studies, Kahrs became a member ofWingolfs, a student fraternity, inHamburg and was speaker of the organization from 1990 to 1992.
After he finished university, Kahrs worked for the state-owned housing companySiedlungs-Aktiengesellschaft Altona (SAGA). Kahrs is openly gay.[1]
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Kahrs became a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1982. He first worked for theYoung Socialists in the SPD (Jusos). In 1992 Kahrs stood before trial because of the imputation of harassment against a female political rival in the "Jusos". He was sentenced to pay a penalty of 800 euros.[2]
In the1998 elections, Kahrs was first elected to theBundestag, representing theHamburg-Mitte constituency.
During his first term between 1998 and 2002, Kahrs served on the Defence Committee. Since 2002, he has been a member of the Budget Committee and the Audit Committee. In addition, he joined the parliament'sCouncil of Elders in 2002, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigns committee chairpersons based on party representation. From 2018 until 2020, he chaired the so-called Confidential Committee (Vertrauensgremium) of the Budget Committee, which provides budgetary supervision for Germany's three intelligence services,BND,BfV andMAD.
In addition to his committee assignments, Kahrs served as member of the German-Turkish Parliamentary Friendship Group, first as deputy chairman (2003–2011) and then as chairman (2011–2013). From 2014, he was also a deputy chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the States of the Southern Caucasus (Armenia,Azerbaijan,Georgia).
Within his parliamentary group, Kahrs led the Bundestag group of SPD parliamentarians from Hamburg from 2009. In this capacity, he was part of the parliamentary group's leadership under its successive chairsThomas Oppermann (2013–2017),Andrea Nahles (2017–2019), andRolf Mützenich (2019–2020). He was also the speaker of theSeeheim Circle.
In the negotiations to form aGrand Coalition ofChancellorAngela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the BavarianCSU) and the SPD following the2013 German elections, Kahrs was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on banking regulation and theEurozone, led byHerbert Reul andMartin Schulz.
In 2015, Kahrs served on the supervisory board of the Bewerbungsgesellschaft Olympia 2024 GmbH, the agency in charge of Hamburg's unsuccessful bid for the2024 Summer Olympics.
Kahrs resigned from his mandate and all political positions on 5 May 2020.[3]
Kahrs is a proponent of anaccession of Turkey to the European Union.[11]
In 1992, Kahrs had a power struggle with Juso member Silke Dose in which he threatened her by calling her phone anonymously at nights. He was identified by a trap installed by the police and was asked to resign from all posts by 50 members of his party but stayed on after paying a fine.[12]
He is known for receiving substantial political donations from the arms industry and for being the center of a political network in Hamburg politics which has allegedly used its power to hinder and promote careers in a way that many journalists have called inappropriate.[12]
