Jens Böhrnsen

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Jens Böhrnsen

Jens Böhrnsen (born June 12, 1949 in Bremen) is a German politician of the SPD. He is the current mayor of Bremen, and ex officio the prime minister of the state of Bremen.

Bremen's legislative assembly decided to elect Böhrnsen as mayor after he had won the Social Democrat primary for the mayoralty, which had become vacant after incumbent Henning Scherf announced on 28 September 2005 that he intended to resign in December. On his election on 8 November 2005, the new mayor took his oath of office.

Recently, Böhrnsen has been involved in the debate revolving around a modernisation of Germany's constitution. In the process, he rejected demands for the state of Bremen to be merged with Lower Saxony to form a new northern state — a demand that has been making the rounds as Bremen is not only the smallest German state, but has also been saddled with an extraordinary amount of debt for the past 15 years. After the 2007 state elections, Böhrnsen chose to leave the CDU as a political partner and started a coalition with the Greens.

He is longlisted for the 2008 World Mayor award.