Peter Harry Carstensen

Peter Harry Carstensen (born 12 March 1947 in Elisabeth-Sophien-Koog/Nordstrand, on the North Sea coast of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein) is a German politician, in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.

Since 2005 he has been premier of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, serving as President of the Bundesrat in 2005/06.

Education and career

After attaining his "Abitur" (school leaving qualification) in 1966, Carstensen undertook work experience in agriculture before beginning a course of study in agronomy in 1968, finishing in 1973 as a qualified engineer. During his studies Carstensen became a member of the duelling fraternity "Landsmannschaft Troglodytia im Coburger Convent" and did not leave the organisation until 1998. In 1976 he sat the Second State Examination ("das Zweite Staatsexamen") to become a teacher, following which he was employed as a teacher of agriculture at the Bredstedt Agricultural School and also as an economics adviser in the Agricultural Ministry of Schleswig-Holstein until 1983.

Family

Peter Harry Carstensen is widowed and has two daughters. His younger daughter is the ceramist Anja-Christina Carstensen. In August 2004 the "Bild" newspaper hunted for a new wife with Carstensen’s agreement - a decision that he in hindsight regrets.

Party

Carstensen has been a member of the CDU since 1971. From 1986 to 1992 he was leader of the local CDU in the Nordfriesland district becoming leader, on 2 June 2002. Carstensen was the CDU’s top candidate for the 2005 state election, in which Carstensen led the CDU to its best result since Uwe Barschel’s resignation in 1987 with 40.2% of all votes cast, making the CDU the strongest party in the state parliament for the first time since 1983. From 1 March to 27 April 2005 Carstensen was leader of the CDU in the state parliament.

Member of Parliament

From 1983 Carstensen was a member of the Bundestag. From 1994 to 2002 he was chairman of the committee for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry (after the renaming of the corresponding ministry in 2001 the committee became responsible for Consumer Protection, Nutrition and Agriculture). In the current parliamentary term he was a full member of the committee. From October 2002 Carstensen was chairman of the CDU/CSU working party for Consumer Protection, Nutrition and Agriculture in the Bundestag. Peter Harry Carstensen was directly elected MP of electorate 2 (Nordfriesland - Dithmarschen-Nord), receiving 44.3% of all votes cast in the last election. Carstensen left the Bundestag on 20 April 2005.

He has been a member of the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein since 2005.

Public office

Carstensen was the CDU's candidate for premier of Schleswig-Holstein in the state election of 20 February 2005, but the coalition of the CDU and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) failed to obtain a majority by some 700 votes. The Social Democrat (SPD) office-holder Heide Simonis was thus able to form a minority cabinet of the SPD and Bündnis '90/Die Grünen (the Green party) that was unopposed by the Danish minority party SSW.

In the vote to decide the premier of Schleswig-Holstein in the opening session of the state parliament on 17 March 2005 neither Carstensen nor the incumbent Heide Simonis (SPD) received the required majority. Subsequently successful negotiations between the SPD and CDU led to the formation of a grand coalition between SPD and CDU. On 27 April 2005 Carstensen was finally elected premier of the state of Schleswig-Holstein with a majority of 54 votes (out of the grand coalition’s 59).

Carstensen is also President of the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house of parliament.

Honours

Carstensen was awarded the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz) in 1996.

References

This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the German-language Wikipedia.

External links

* [http://193.101.67.33/ Message from Peter Harry Carstensen at the Schleswig-Holstein government website]
* [http://www.bundesrat.de/Site/Inhalt/EN/index,templateId=renderStartseiteKomplett.html Message from Carstensen in his capacity as President of the Bundesrat]
* [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1492134,00.html?maca=en-currentaffairs_germany-77-rdf "Schröder Party Loses Key State Poll"] , February 2005 article at Deutsche Welle on the state election
* [http://www.peter-harry.de Official website] (in German)