Petra Roth (* 9 May 1944 in Bremen) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Since 1995 she is mayor of Frankfurt. In addition and in a rerun she is president of Deutscher Städtetag since 2009 which is the head organisation and lobby group of all German cities obverse the Cabinet of Germany, the German Bundestag, the Bundesrat of Germany, the European Union (EU) and many organisations.[1][2]
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Petra Roth descends from a Bremen-based family of merchants. After she left the musically affected Kippenberg-Gymnasium with a General Certificate of Secondary Education she performed an apprenticeship as a medical secretary. Later she passed her exam at an upper business school. Love led her from Bremen to Frankfurt. She is described as art-interested. She has two sons and is widowed since 1994.
Petra Roth joined the Christian Democratic Union in 1972 after she had moved to Frankfurt. Later she was elected to the local city council and between 1987 and 1995, to the Parliament of Hesse. Between 1992 and 1995 she was chairman of the CDU Frankfurt.
On 25 June 1995, Petra Roth was elected mayor of Frankfurt, defeating the incumbent Andreas von Schoeler and becoming the first directly elected woman mayor of the city.
In 2001, she won the second round in a tight race against Achim Vandreike (SPD). Meanwhile Roth is performing the longest term in office of all mayors of Frankfurt since World War II.
On 28 January 2007, she was re-elected in the first round with 60.5% of the votes but with a voter participation of only 33.6 %. Her rival candidate Franz Frey (SPD) got 27.5 % of the votes.
Temporarily Roth was under discussion as possible follower of Federal President Johannes Rau. In March 2008 she was referred as minister president of the State of Hesse.[3]
Roth is counted as part of the left wing within the CDU because of her point of view regarding topics like the erection of mosques in Germany, migration and integration, and drug politics.[4][5]
From 1997 to 1999 and from 2003 to 2005 she was president of Deutscher Städtetag, a position she actually holds again (since 2009). She is also member of the Committee of the Regions of European Union.[6]
Roth is member of the board of Frankfurt International Airport Fraport, chairman of the supervisory board of Frankfurt fair Messe Frankfurt, of municipal utility company Stadtwerke Frankfurt am Main, of regional transportation services Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund, and regional housing society ABG Frankfurt Holding.[7][8]
In 2001, for her activity in the service of the Franco-German cooperation, she received the Légion d'honneur order, Officier class.
In 2005 she got the Doctor philosophiae honoris causa of Tel Aviv University for her support of academic and cultural relations between the partner cities Tel Aviv and Frankfurt as well as her friendship to Israel.