Klaus Wowereit | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Wowereit in 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Governing Mayor of Berlin | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 16 June 2001 – 11 December 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mayor |
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| Preceded by | Eberhard Diepgen | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Michael Müller | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of theBundesrat | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 November 2001 – 31 October 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Vice President | Kurt Beck | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Kurt Beck | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Wolfgang Böhmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 12 November 2009 – 14 November 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Sigmar Gabriel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Andrea Nahles | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Ralf Stegner | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of theSocial Democratic Party in theAbgeordnetenhaus of Berlin | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 10 October 1999 – 16 June 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy |
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| Preceded by | Klaus Böger | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Michael Müller | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1953-10-01)1 October 1953 (age 72) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Social Democratic Party of Germany(1972–) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic partner | Jörn Kubicki (1993–2020) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence | Berlin | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Free University of Berlin | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation |
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| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | Official Website | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Klaus Wowereit (born 1 October 1953) is a German politician of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD) and was theGoverning Mayor of Berlin from 21 October 2001 to 11 December 2014. In2001 state elections his party won aplurality of the votes, 29.7%. He served asPresident of theBundesrat (the fourth highest office in Germany) in 2001/02. His SPD-led coalition was re-elected in the2006 elections; after the2011 elections the SPD's coalition partner changed fromthe Left to theChristian Democratic Union. He was also sometimes mentioned as a possible SPD candidate for theChancellorship of Germany (Kanzlerkandidatur),[1] but that never materialized.
Wowereit was born inWest Berlin. Until 1973, Wowereit attended the Ulrich-von-Hutten-Oberschule inBerlin-Lichtenrade. Afterwards, he studied law at theFree University Berlin (State Exams, 1981 and 1984).[citation needed]
After three years as a civil servant in the Senate office of the Interior, Wowereit stood for election as municipal councillor in theTempelhof district. At the age of 30, he was, therefore, the youngestcouncilor in the city of Berlin. After eleven years as a District Councillor he stood for the Berlin House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin) which serves as the City'sState Parliament in 1995. In December 1999, he was elected chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Abgeordnetenhaus.
Wowereit took office as Governing Mayor of Berlin (Regierender Bürgermeister) in June 2001. Previously, the SPD had left thegrand coalition with theCDU and initiated new elections. After this election and following long-time negotiations, Wowereit finally started a coalition with thePDS.
In 2003, Wowereit declared that "Berlin ist arm, aber sexy" ("Berlin is poor, but sexy"),[2][3] a description that reflected on the one hand the city's working class history and on-going financial woes, and on the other its cultural vibrancy, aided by a relatively low cost of living for a major European capital.[4][3] The phrase helped to market the city to the rest of the world, and it drew in tourists, as well as attracting artists, writers, musicians and subsequently technology entrepreneurs.[2][4][5] However, concern aboutgentrification and increasingly expensive rents is often expressed by seasoned Berliners and new-comers alike.[2][3][5]
In theelections held on 17 September 2006, Wowereit's SPD finished as the strongest party with a plurality of 30.8%. A coalition withDie Linke was continued. However the 16th Abgeordnetenhaus re-elected Wowereit as Governing Mayor on 23 November 2006, in the second ballot with only a 75:74 majority. CDU, Free Democrats and the Green Party voted against him. In the elections held on 18 September 2011 he and his party were again the strongest party.[6]
Public attitude in Germany on the topic of migration has a long history of controversy. A regular German poll by the opinion polling agency Ipsos indicates that the number of immigrants in Germany, as well as the proportion of Muslim immigrants among Germany's migrant population is vastly overestimated by those polled, so too in 2019.[7] Recent statistics of the German Buro of Statistics reported 21.9 million people with a "migration background" (citizens and non-citizens) in Germany, 2020.[8] Of those, in the same year, according to the statistics agency Statista, 5.5 million were Muslim.[9] The publication of former Berlin state Minister of FinanceThilo Sarrazin's 2010 polemicGermany Abolishes Itself fell in Klaus Wowereit's tenure as governing mayor of Berlin. This prompted heated debates throughout the German-speaking countries. In response, in 2011, Mayor Wowereit publishedMut zur Integration – für ein neues Miteinander ("Courage for integration – for a new together").[10] That same year, he appointed Turkish-origin politicianDilek Kolat Senator for Labour, Integration and Women.[11] In May 2012, Wowereit namedŞermin Langhoff artistic director of theMaxim Gorki Theater.[12]
In the negotiations to form aGrand Coalition ofChancellorAngela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the BavarianCSU) and the SPD following the2013 federal elections, Wowereit led the SPD delegation in the working group on cultural and media affairs; his counterpart of the CDU wasMichael Kretschmer.
On 26 August 2014 Wowereit announced that he would resign his position as of 11 December 2014.[13] At the time of his resignation, he was the longest-serving head of a German state.
On 21 October 2003 Wowereit became one of four members representing theLand of Berlin in the supervisory board of the project to build the newBerlin Brandenburg Airport. In 2006, he was elected chairman of the board.[14] However, on 7 January 2013, Wowereit relinquished his chairmanship after the continuing delay of the airport's opening date.[15] The prime minister of theLand ofBrandenburg,Matthias Platzeck was appointed as his successor.[16] Wowereit survived a vote of no confidence brought against him in theBerlin House of Representatives on 12 January. When Platzeck gave up his political offices for health reasons in July 2013, Wowereit was eventually appointed chairman again, despite much criticism.[17] Critics have accused Wowereit of being responsible for the various delays and cost overruns of the airport project. He has been accused of being blind to looming problems, and reacting angrily to unfavorable reports. Also, he is said to have filled the board with political friends rather than professionals.[18]
Wowereit announced his intention to resign at the end of 2014 due to the airport delays saying it was the "biggest failure" of his term in office, but that there were also other "several difficult times here."[19]
AlongsideJutta Allmendinger, Wowereit co-chaired an independent expert commission on gender-based discrimination at Germany's Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency from 2015 until 2016.[20] In 2017, he briefly arbitrated wage negotiations betweenEurowings and UFO, a flight attendant trade union.[21]
Wowereit is the youngest child in his family, with two other brothers and two sisters, who grew up without a father. One of his brothers supported his studies and later he took care of his brother, who was paralyzed after an accident, as well as his mother, who was suffering from cancer.
Wowereit is one of the most famous German politicians who is openly gay. Incoming out, prior to the 2001 mayoral elections, he coined the now famous German phrase "Ich bin schwul, und das ist auch gut so." ("I'm gay, and that's a good thing.") In his autobiography, Wowereit states that his decision to come out in public was made because after his nomination as candidate to become the Mayor of Berlin, he felt that the Germantabloids were already "on the right track". With his coming out, Wowereit wanted to beat the tabloids to it and prevent them from writing wild, sensational and fabricated stories about his private life. Wowereit said those now famous words during a convention of the BerlinSPD. After the end of his speech, there was half a second of surprised silence, then spontaneous cheering and loud applause to support him.
In a 2010 interview withTime magazine, he said that coming out may actually have strengthened his campaign.[24][25]
His election as mayor made Berlin one of three major European cities with an openly gay mayor, along with Paris, whose mayor wasBertrand Delanoë, andHamburg, whose mayor wasOle von Beust at that time, who both also took office in 2001. However, von Beust resigned in 2010 and Delanoë left office in 2014, making Wowereit the only gay mayor of a major European city or of a major German city. Berlin being the largest and Hamburg being the second largest city in Germany, they are also German states in their own right, having made both Wowereit and von Beust also state premiers.
In September 2007, Wowereit published an autobiographical book titled "…und das ist auch gut so.", after his famous coming-out phrase (ISBN 3896673343).
Wowereit's civil partner, Jörn Kubicki, was aneurosurgeon. They were in a relationship from 1993 to March 2020 when Kubicki died as a result of aCOVID-19 infection.[26]
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