Michael Müller (politician, born 1964)
Michael Müller (born 9 December 1964) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as the Governing Mayor of Berlin since 11 December 2014.[1] He also served as President of the Bundesrat from November 2017 until October 2018, which made him deputy to the President of Germany.[2][3]
- For other people named Michael Müller, see Michael Muller.
Michael Müller | |
---|---|
Governing Mayor of Berlin | |
Assumed office 11 December 2014 | |
Deputy | Frank Henkel Dilek Kolat Ramona Pop Klaus Lederer |
Preceded by | Klaus Wowereit |
Leader of the Social Democratic Party in Berlin | |
Assumed office 30 April 2016 | |
Preceded by | Jan Stöß |
In office 7 April 2004 – 9 June 2012 | |
Preceded by | Peter Strieder |
Succeeded by | Jan Stöß |
President of the Bundesrat | |
In office 1 November 2017 – 31 October 2018 | |
Deputy | Malu Dreyer |
Preceded by | Malu Dreyer |
Succeeded by | Daniel Günther |
Deputy Governing Mayor of Berlin | |
In office 1 December 2011 – 11 December 2014 | |
Governing Mayor | Klaus Wowereit |
Preceded by | Ingeborg Junge-Reyer |
Succeeded by | Dilek Kolat |
Senator for Urban Development and the Environment of Berlin | |
In office 1 December 2011 – 11 December 2014 | |
Governing Mayor | Klaus Wowereit |
Preceded by | Ingeberg Junge-Royer (Urban Development) Katrin Lompscher (Environment) |
Succeeded by | Andreas Geisel |
Leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Berlin House of Representatives | |
In office 16 June 2001 – 1 December 2011 | |
Preceded by | Klaus Wowereit |
Succeeded by | Raed Saleh |
Member of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin for Tempelhof-Schöneberg 4 | |
Assumed office 21 October 2001 | |
Preceded by | Peter Rzepka |
Personal details | |
Born | West Berlin, West Germany | 9 December 1964
Nationality | German |
Children | 2 |
Residence | Berlin, Germany |
Political career
State politics
Müller was elected to the Berlin House of Representatives in 1996 and has been a member ever since, on the 16th June 2001 he took over leadership of the SPD Group in the House of Representatives from Klaus Wowereit who had been elected Governing Mayor of Berlin. After the resignation of Peter Strieder in April 2004, Müller ran for the Berlin SPD State Party Leadership and won, remaining the Leader of Berlin SPD until he lost his re-election bid against Jan Stöß in June 2012.[4]
Following the 2011 state elections in Berlin, Müller served as senator for urban development and the environment from 1 December 2011 to 11 December 2014. One of his most extensive projects, which planned to build business space and apartments on the former Tempelhof Airport, was rejected in 2014 by a clear majority of Berlin citizens in a referendum.[5]
Mayor of Berlin, 2014–present
In December 2014, Müller took over in midterm from incumbent Klaus Wowereit, Berlin's longest-serving mayor since reunification in 1990,[6] who presided over the city's emergence as a popular tourist destination and center for high-tech startups but stepped down after his popularity suffered from the debacle around the Berlin Brandenburg Airport.[7]
Müller had previously made a surprise entry into the race to succeed Wowereit and defeated two candidates initially seen as the most likely successors.[6] Shortly before the election, Müller ran for the Leadership of the Social Democratic Party in Berlin a second time, and won. In the 2016 Berlin Election, he led the party to victory albeit not without some losses. After the election, Müller ended the grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union and formed a new government together with the Green Party and the left-wing Die Linke.
Role in national politics
As one of the state's representatives at the Bundesrat, Müller has been serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on European Affairs and on the Committee on Cultural Affairs since 2014.
Müller was an SPD delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2004, 2009 and 2012. In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, he was part of the working group on urban development, led by Bernd Althusmann, Kurt Gribl and Natascha Kohnen.
In August 2020, Müller announced his intention to leave state politics and instead run as a candidate in the 2021 national elections.[8]
Other activities
Corporate boards
- Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH, chairman of the supervisory board
Non-profit organizations
- Friends of the Fraekelufer Synagogue, member of the board of trustees (since 2018)[9]
- Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, member of the political advisory board (since 2018)[10]
- Ernst Reuter Foundation for Advanced Study, ex-officio chair of the board of trustees[11]
- Free University of Berlin, member of the board of trustees[12]
- Natural History Museum, Berlin, member of the board of trustees[13]
- Technical University of Berlin, member of the board of trustees (2018–2019)[14]
- Stiftung Preußische Seehandlung, ex-officio chairman of the board of trustees
- Topography of Terror Foundation, chairman
- Development and Peace Foundation (SEF), deputy chairman of the board of trustees
- Association of German Cities, ex-officio member of the Presidium
- American Academy in Berlin, honorary trustee
- Aspen Institute Berlin, member of the board of trustees
- Cultural Foundation of the German States (KdL), ex-officio member of the council
- Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin (DKB), member of the board of trustees
- Deutsches Museum, member of the board of trustees
- Council for Christian-Jewish Cooperation in Berlin, member of the board of trustees
- Literarisches Colloquium Berlin, member of the board of trustees
References
- "The Governing Mayor of Berlin". 9 May 2016.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-03-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- http://www.bundesrat.de/DE/plenum/plenum-kompakt/17/960/960-pk.html#top-1
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-12-05. Retrieved 2014-12-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Die Landesabstimmungsleiterin für Berlin – Volksentscheid Tempelhofer Feld 2014 – Ergebnisse im Überblick absolut". www.wahlen-berlin.de. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
- Patrick Donahue (December 11, 2014), Berlin Mayor Mueller Sworn In, Ending Wowereit’s 13-Year Run Bloomberg Business.
- Berlin gets new mayor, who inherits debacle over new airport as predecessor ends 13-year reign Fox News, December 11, 2014.
- Stephan-Andreas Casdorff, Sabine Beikler and Julius Betschka (August 10, 2020), Die ungewisse Zukunft des Regierenden: Michael Müller bewirbt sich offiziell um Bundestags-Kandidatur Der Tagesspiegel.
- Ulrich Zawatka-Gerlach (May 30, 2018), Kuratorium vorgestellt: Prominente unterstützen Synagogenbau am Kreuzberger Fraenkelufer Der Tagesspiegel.
- Bernd Westphal wird neuer Beirats-Vorsitzender beim Wirtschaftsforum der SPD Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, press release of June 7, 2018.
- Board of Trustees Ernst Reuter Foundation for Advanced Study.
- Board of Trustees Free University of Berlin.
- Board of Trustees Natural History Museum, Berlin.
- 2018-2019 Board of Trustees Technical University of Berlin.