Harald Ringstorff | |
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Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | |
In office 3 November 1998 – 6 October 2008 |
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Preceded by | Bernd Seite |
Succeeded by | Erwin Sellering |
Minister of Justice of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | |
In office 3 November 1998 – 19 September 2000 |
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Prime Minister | Harald Ringstorff |
Preceded by | Rolf Eggert |
Succeeded by | Erwin Sellering |
Minister of Economics and Affairs of European Union of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | |
In office 8 December 1994 – 6 May 1996 |
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Prime Minister | Bernd Seite |
Preceded by | Herbert Helmrich (Affairs of European Union) Conrad-Michael Lehment (Economics) |
Succeeded by | Rolf Eggert (Affairs of European Union) Jürgen Seidel (Economics) |
Vice Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | |
In office 8 December 1994 – 6 May 1996 |
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Prime Minister | Bernd Seite |
Preceded by | Klaus Gollert |
Succeeded by | Hinrich Kuessner |
President of Federal Council | |
In office 1. November 2006 – 31. Oktober 2007 |
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President | Horst Köhler |
Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
Preceded by | Peter Harry Carstensen |
Succeeded by | Ole von Beust |
Member of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | |
Incumbent | |
Assumed office 26 October 1990 |
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Prime Minister | Alfred Gmolka (1990-1992) Bernd Seite (1992-1998) Harald Ringstorff (1998-2008) Erwin Sellering (ab 2008) |
Member of Volkskammer | |
In office 18 March 1990 – 2 October 1990 |
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President | Manfred Gerlach Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (acting since 6 April 1990) |
Prime Minister | Hans Modrow Lothar de Maizière (since 12 April 2010) |
Personal details | |
Born | 25 September 1939 Wittenburg, East Germany |
Nationality | German |
Political party | SPD |
Dr. Harald Ringstorff (born September 25, 1939 in Wittenburg, Mecklenburg-Schwerin) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and was minister-president of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.[1] He has been heading a coalition government of SPD and PDS (now Left Party) from 1998 until 2006, and since then was heading a coalition between SPD and CDU. He was the President of the German Bundesrat, serving for the term 2006/07.
After his Abitur and military service, Ringstorff studied Chemistry at the University of Rostock. He received his Ph.D. in 1969. Afterwards he worked as a chemist for the Rostock dockyards. From 1987 to 1990 he was director of the branch office of the VEB Kali-Chemie ("people's enterprise for potash chemistry").
In 1989 Ringstorff was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party in the GDR and a member of the freely elected Volkskammer of 1990. From 1990 to 2003 he was chairman of the SPD in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Since 1990 Ringstorff has been a member of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern where he served as parliamentary leader of the SPD from 1990-1994 and 1996-1998. In between he was Minister for Economic and European Affairs and vice-minister-president in a coalition government with the CDU under minister-president Berndt Seite (CDU).
In 1998, the SPD agreed to form a coalition with the PDS (now Left Party), a move controversial within the party. Ringstorff was elected minister-president. His coalition government was re-elected in 2002. After the elections of 2006, he decided to switch to a coalition with the CDU, which would have a more comfortable majority in parliament.
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