Prime Minister of Lower Saxony Gabriel Zigmar: biography, activities and interesting facts

Gabriel Zigmar is a German politician who was born on September 12, 1959 in the Lower Saxon city of Goslar. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), to which the German Federal President also currently belongs.

In 1998, Zigmar was appointed chairman of the parliamentary faction of the SPD in the Landtag of Lower Saxony, and a year later became prime minister of this land. After losing to Christian Wulff in the 2003 elections, he returned to the position of chairman of the parliamentary group of the SPD and stayed on until he was elected to the Bundestag in 2005.

On November 22 of the same year he became the new federal minister for environmental protection in the coalition government of Angels Merkel. After the 2009 parliamentary elections, the coalition ceased to exist, and Gabriel Zigmar was elected chairman of his party, which just suffered a devastating defeat.
Four years later, in December 2013, a new coalition was formed, where Gabriel became vice-chancellor and federal minister of economy and energy.

Biography

Sigmar Gabriel, whose father adhered to ultra-right views, was born in 1959 in Goslar. Already in 1976, he began working in a youth organization called the Union of Socialistic Youth of Germany "Falcons" (SJD). Three years later he graduated from the gymnasium in Goslar and was called to the Bundeswehr, where he served two years. After military service, in 1982, Gabriel entered the University of Göttingen, where he received higher education in political science, sociology and German philology.

Since 1983, he started working in adult education from ÖTV and IG Metall. In 1987, Gabriel Sigmar passed the first state examination and two years passed an internship at Goslar Gymnasium. At the end of this internship (the so-called referendariat), he passed the second state examination and received a diploma.

He retired from his posts in the trade unions and a year later began teaching at the Federation of National Universities of Lower Saxony, where he worked until 1990.

Personal life

He divorced his first wife and in 2012 married for the second time, brings up two daughters. His wife's name is Anka, she works as a dentist in her own office.

The names of the daughters are Saskia and Marie. Saskia, the daughter of the first marriage, is already an adult and openly criticizes her father. Marie still goes to kindergarten.

Career in the SPD and branches of this party

In 1976, Sigmar Gabriel became a member of the socialist youth organization "Falcons", and only a year later joined the ranks of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was chairman of the Sokolov branch in the city of Goslar and was a member of the organization's presidium in the city district of Braunschweig, where he served as secretary and supervised anti-war actions. Later, Gabriel became the head of this division of the Sokolov. In 1979 he joined the union of civil servants ÖTV.

In 1999 he was elected a member of the federal executive committee of the SPD, and in 2003 he was appointed responsible press secretary for pop culture, deputy chairman of the party in Lower Saxony and chairman in Braunschweig. Two years later he refused to be a member of the federal executive committee.

October 5, 2009 at the party meeting for the candidacy of Gabriel for the post of federal chairman of the party expressed 77.7% of the committee members. About a month later, on November 13, Sigmar Gabriel headed the SPD; This time 94.2% of delegates voted for him.

On November 15, 2009, he announced the need to restore a progressive tax on wealth.

At the local and regional levels

His first mandate was Gabriel Zigmar in 1987, when he was elected a deputy of the regional parliament of Goslar. Three years later he came to the Landtag of Lower Saxony, and in 1991 was elected to the city council of the city of Goslar.

In 1994, Gabriel was appointed spokesman for internal affairs of the parliamentary group of the SPD in the regional parliament, and in 1997 became deputy chairman of the faction. The following year he left the district legislative assembly and took over as chairman of the SPD faction in the Landtag, where the party received an absolute majority of 83 seats out of 157. On December 15, 1999, after the resignation of Gerhard Glogowski, Sigmar Gabriel assumed the post of prime minister of Lower Saxony. At the same time, he gave up his mandate in the city council.

In the 2003 regional elections, the incumbent Prime Minister Zigmar Gabriel lost to Christian Wulff in a devastating defeat: the result of the SPD was 33.5% of the vote, up from 48% in the previous elections, while the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) Receiving 48.3% of the vote against 36% five years earlier. Wulf quickly formed the so-called black-and-yellow coalition, and on March 4 Gabriel gave him power.

Despite the defeat, he again took the post of chairman of the parliamentary faction of the SPD and became the leader of the opposition in the regional government of Christian Wulff. Gabriel resigned from this post in 2005.

As Federal Minister for Environmental Protection

In the early parliamentary elections on September 18, 2005, Sigmar Gabriel was elected deputy of the Bundestag from the Salzgitter-Wolfenbüttel district in Lower Saxony, earning 52.3% of the vote. In the same year, November 22, he was appointed new federal minister for environmental protection in a coalition government led by Angela Merkel. Gabriel is the first Social Democrat appointed to this position since its inception in 1986.

As Minister, he continued the line of his predecessor Jürgen Trittin, supporting the decision to abandon nuclear energy, adopted by the "red-green" coalition of Gerhard Schroeder in 2001. Gabriel used the German presidency in the European Union and the G8 in 2007 to promote environmental issues internationally. Together with Frank-Walter Steinmeier he is a supporter of the ecological program New Deal.

Leader of the opposition

At the parliamentary elections on September 27, 2009 Gabriel was again elected a deputy, gaining 44.9% of the vote in his constituency. After exactly one month he lost his portfolio to Norbert Röttgen in connection with the formation of the black-and-yellow coalition. Together with Steinmeier, chairman of the SPD faction in the Bundestag, he assumes the duties of the opposition leader in the new cabinet of Angels Merkel. In September 2012, at the suggestion of former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, he becomes a candidate for the SPD as chancellor, but loses.

Vice Chancellor

In the federal elections on September 22, 2013 the SPD received only 25.7% of the vote, while the Christian Democrats did not quite reach the absolute majority, gaining 41.5%. The two factions began negotiations on the formation of a "big coalition"; The chairman of the SPD submitted a resolution on this issue to the members of his party for approval. On December 17, 2013, after more than 75% had voted for him, Sigmar Gabriel was appointed Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economy and Energy.

Interesting Facts

During a press conference on February 14, 2014, the Federal Minister of Agriculture Hans-Peter Friedrich announced his resignation. A few hours before that, he confessed that in October 2013, while serving as Federal Minister of the Interior, he gave Sigmar Gabriel information related to an investigation into Sebastian Edati, a deputy from Lower Saxony, who was caught on crimes related to child pornography. Because of this, German Economics Minister Zigmar Gabriel lost the trust of Angela Merkel.

The future of the German politician

Disputes about the future of Gabriel as the leader of the SPD flared up after he received only 74% in the vote of confidence of party members in December 2015 - the lowest result for the leader of the SPD for 20 years. Nevertheless, he is considered as the main candidate in the federal elections of 2017, which is due to the lack of obvious competitors and the unwillingness of the main party officials to participate in a knowingly losing affair. In May 2016, Vice-Chancellor of Germany Zigmar Gabriel called on other leaders of the SPD to put forward their candidatures so that the members of the party could make their choice.