born: 1964
married, two children
land list: Hesse

Office in Berlin
T: +49 30 / 227 - 73569
F: +49 30 / 227 - 76885
wolfgang.strengmann-kuhn@bundestag.de

Spokesperson on pensions policy

My first encounter with the Greens was at a campaign event for the 1980 election in the assembly hall of my school, when Joseph Beuys gave a speech to promote his electoral candidacy for the Greens. I became a member of the Greens shortly afterwards as I already I took a keen interest in economic and social policy, particularly in the Green view that economy, ecology and social affairs need not necessarily conflict with each other, but that a holistic approach is required.

I grew up on the outskirts of the Ruhr Area in Moers am Niederrhein, where my father worked as a shift worker at Thyssen, and also as a shoemaker in his spare time. The obvious ecological problems together with the economic and social change in the Ruhr Area prompted me to start thinking about alternative ways of organising society and the economy from a young age. The anti-nuclear movement (Stop the fast breeder reactor in Kalkar!), the peace movement and the vision of a truly democratic and just society where each person has the freedom to decide how they want to live also had a great influence on my political views. Gender equality, justice, peace and an environmentally friendly economy are issues that are of paramount importance if we are to achieve such a society.

Committees

• Committee on Economics and Technology (m.)
• Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development (alt. m.)

Political CV

• Member of the Greens since the beginning of the 1980s
  Joined the Greens as member of the party's Wesel branch and became active in land politics by becoming a member of the Greens' main regional committee (LHA) in North Rhine-Westphalia and the Land Working Group on Economics
• Active in university politics at the University of Bielefeld (1983-1991) and held a number of positions including:
  • Policy expert on action and culture in the student union at the University of Bielefeld (1985-1988)
  • Chairman of the student union at the University of Bielefeld and member of the senate (1988-89)
  • Chairman of the student parliament (1990-91)
• Member of the Frankfurt am Main branch of Alliance 90/The Greens (since 1996)
• Left the party after the party conference in Bielefeld due to the German involvement in the Kosovo war (1999)
• Rejoined the party (2001)
• Spokesman for the Land Working Group on Social Affairs (2002 - 2006)
• Member of the German Bundestag (since January 2008)
• Spokesperson on external economic policy (2008-2009)