Fritz Kuhn

Fritz Kuhn
Lord Mayor of Stuttgart
Assumed office
2012
Preceded by Wolfgang Schuster
Member of the Bundestag of Germany
In office
2002–2012
Chairman of Parliamentary Group of Alliance '90/The Greens
with Renate Künast (2005-2009)
In office
2005–2009
President Horst Köhler
Christian Wulff
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Preceded by Katrin Göring-Eckardt
Succeeded by Jürgen Trittin
Personal details
Born (1955-06-29) 29 June 1955
Bad Mergentheim, Germany
Nationality German
Political party Alliance '90/The Greens
Residence Stuttgart, Germany
Alma mater Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Tübingen

Fritz Kuhn (born 29 June 1955) is a German politician. He was co-chairman of Alliance '90/The Greens, the German Green party, from June 2000 to December 2002. On 21 October 2012 he was elected Mayor of Stuttgart.

Early life and education

Fritz Kuhn was born in Bad Mergentheim (Baden-Württemberg) and grew up in Memmingen (Bayern), where he attended Bernhard Strigel grammar school. After his A-levels he studied German and philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the University of Tübingen, with a master's thesis in the field of linguistics.

Political career

Kuhn was one of the founding members of the Green Party in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1980.

From 1981 to 1984 he worked as a research assistant at Augsburg university and as a consultant to the parliamentary party of the Greens in the state parliament (Landtag) of Baden-Württemberg (South-West Germany).[1]

Member of parliament in Baden-Württemberg

Kuhn became an MP and the leader of the parliamentary party of the Greens (Alliance '90/The Greens from 1993) in the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg, the state's legislature, in 1984, a position he held until 1988, and then later again from 1992 to 2000, having worked as a Professor of Linguistic Communication in the years in between.

Fritz Kuhn was one of the two federal chairpersons of Alliance '90/The Greens from 2000 to 2002, first together with Renate Künast, then with Claudia Roth. He resigned from that office in October 2002 after having been elected as a member of the Bundestag, the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany. There was a rule in the Green Party in those days that you could not be an MP and hold a party office at the same time.[1]

Member of the parliament of Germany, 2002-2012

Fritz Kuhn first became a member of the Bundestag in the 2002 federal elections. In the Bundestag, he specialized in the fields of the economy (fighting for “a green market economy” [2]) and employment, and foreign policy. From 2002 until 2005, he served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Between 2005 and 2009, Kuhn was one of the two leaders of the Green parliamentary party (together with Renate Künast), from 2009 he served as deputy leader.

For the 2005 federal elections, Kuhn was the campaign manager of Alliance ‘90/The Greens. At the 2009 election, he unsuccessfully contested the single member constituency of Heidelberg.

Between 2007 and 2009, Kuhn was one of 32 members of the Second Commission on the modernization of the federal state (Föderalismuskommission II), which had been established to reform the division of powers between federal and state authorities in Germany.

Mayor of Stuttgart, 2012–present

On 21 October 2012 Kuhn was elected Lord Mayor of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg with 52.9% of the votes.[3] His 8-years-term as Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) began in January 2013. Stuttgart has a population of about 600,000 and is capital city of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg. Kuhn was the first candidate of the German Green party to win in a city of such importance.

He took over from Wolfgang Schuster, his predecessor, on 7 January 2013.

Other activities

Personal life

Kuhn is married and has two sons.

His hobbies are reading (favourite author: Salman Rushdie), running, and cooking (especially Italian dishes). He is also a football fan (FC Bayern Munich).[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 (in German) His „Biographie” in WirtschaftsWoche Online (wiwo.de)
  2. ↑ http://www.gruene-bundestag.de/cms/abgeordnete/dok/81/81511.html
  3. ↑ "Greens win Stuttgart mayoral vote". Irish Independent. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  4. ↑ Supervisory Board Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW).
  5. ↑ Supervisory Board Stuttgart Airport.
  6. ↑ Supervisory Board Stadtwerke Stuttgart.
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