Englische Version

on following pages you find any information about me and my work as Member of the German Bundestag in Berlin and in my constituency Segeberg- Stormarn-Nord in the land Schleswig-Holstein.

I was born at 16 September 1954 in Essen. After passing the O-Levels I completed a professional education as industrial sales management assistant and have been working as product manager in a company of the Chemical Industry for several years.

After finishing my studies at the Dortmund Academy of Social Studies I changed the position and started working as Union Secretary of the Chemical, Paper and Ceramic Industrial Union (now Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union), because I ever have been fascinated of the duties as employees’ stakeholder since I have started my union engagement as youth representative and works council member at my former company. Before I was elected to the German Bundestag first time in 1994, I was member of the Supervisory Board of Wirtschafts- und Aufbaugesellschaft Stormarn and Member of the Supervisory Board of AlliedSignal-Deutschland. Also I have been managing director of the Industrial Union Chemie-Papier-Keramik in Hamburg for six years. As an honorary activity I was district chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Stormarn. For 8 years I have been member of the county council of the Stormarn district and deputy county councilor. From 1999 to 2003 I was chairman of the SPD in Schleswig-Holstein, member of the Commission of Programme of the SPD-Executive Committee.

My wife Rita and I we live in Ammersbek. Our both sons Philipp and Stephan are studying in Kiel and Lübeck. My hobbies are reading Nordic crime books, listening to any kind of jazz music, cooking, sailing and cross-country skiing.

Since 2009 I have been member oft he Committee on Foreign Affairs and I am reporting member of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group on the Nordic countries as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, the Baltic countries as Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, Poland, the Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine, the former CIS-States and the Fare North (Arctic Region). Furthermore I deal with labour market and welfare policy questions in China and topics of social policy in the fields of human rights, development, economical cooperation and globalization.

At last I have been involved in any policy of the Baltic Sea region for a very long time. The economy is growing rapidly and it is the central engine for jobs and welfare in the countries and the regions like Schleswig-Holstein bordering the Baltic Sea. Not only economical and social topics, but also the cooperation in environmental issues and cultural exchange is important for the Baltic Sea region, because our common goal is to create a competitive and social Europe. This cooperation includes also Russia and the EFTA states Norway and Iceland. And it is also about questions of social security and working conditions in growing cross-border labour markets. This is why I am very actively involved in the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) as head of the delegation of the German Bundestag in the BSPC, as member of its Standing Committee, as former chairman of the BSPC Working Group on Labour Market and Social Welfare, as chairman of the German-Nordic Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag and in the executive board of the Baltic Sea Labour Network (BSLN).

If you have any questions, remarks or criticism, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.