Claudius Graf-Schelling

Claudius Graf-Schelling as Government Councilor (2012)

Claudius Graf-Schelling (born April 1, 1950 in Romanshorn ; † November 24, 2019 in Arbon ) was a Swiss politician ( SP ). Between June 2000 and the end of May 2015, he was a member of the canton of Thurgau .

Life

family

Graf-Schelling was the son of Madeleine and Albert Graf-Bourquin . He had a brother. Since 1975 he was married to Leoni Graf-Schelling. Together they had three grown children. He was entitled to his home country and lived in Arbon .

education and profession

Graf-Schelling attended primary and secondary school in Arbon. At the district school Frauenfeld he obtained the baccalaureate type B. He then studied at the University of Zurich Law . With a work on international law on the sovereignty of Lake Constance , he received his doctorate iuris utriusque . From 1978 he worked as a lawyer in Arbon. In 1988 he was elected President of the Arbon District Court , in which function he worked until 2000 (election to the Thurgau government).

Political activity

Graf-Schelling had been a member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland since 1971 and was organized in the Association of Personnel Public Services ( VPOD ) since 1976 . From 1979 to 1987 he was a member of the executive branch of the city of Arbon, the so-called local administration. From 1984 to 2000 he was a member of the Grand Council . From 1994 until his election to the government council, he presided over the social democratic-trade union parliamentary group. After the unexpected resignation of SP government councilor Vreni Schawalder , the Thurgau people elected him to government in 2000. He headed the Department of Justice and Security. In the years 2004/2005, 2009/2010 and 2014/15 he chaired the Thurgau government council. From 2002 until he left the government he represented Thurgau in the Conference of Cantonal Governments (KdK), where he was a member of the Steering Committee from 2006 to 2010. From 2008 to 2015 he was a representative of the Canton of Thurgau at the International Lake Constance Conference . In October 2014 he announced his resignation from the Thurgau government at the end of May 2015.

In December 2015, the plenary assembly of the Conference of Cantonal Governments elected him to the Intercantonal Contract Commission (IVK). It is an instrument of the NFA (reorganization of financial equalization and the division of tasks between the Confederation and the cantons). The commission is responsible for the mediation process in the event of differences between the cantons on the application of joint agreements.

Political positions

At the municipal level, Graf-Schelling campaigned for a parliament in Arbon. The proposal, which was worked out on his request, failed in the referendum in 1984. At that time, Arbon was still organized in two parts according to community dualism (local and municipal community), which is why the time for a parliament was not yet ripe.

As a cantonal councilor, he campaigned for improved economic development and a balanced financial budget.

As a member of the Thurgau government, he pursued three core issues during his 15 years of service.

The new districts of Lake Constance Canton Thurgau, which have been in existence since 2011

With numerous far-reaching reorganizations in the Department of Justice and Security, he made the institutions essential, such as the police, civil status, land registries and notaries, justice of the peace and debt enforcement offices, civil protection and home and foster child care. With the new district division (reduction of the districts from 8 to 5), which came into force on January 1, 2011, an order was replaced that was confirmed by Napoleon on February 19, 1803 at the Helvetic Konsulta with the mediation act and since 6. June 1800 (definitive accession of the Diessenhofen district to the Thurgau canton) remained unchanged.

He attached great importance to cooperation beyond the canton's borders. From 2003 to 2015, he was a member of the board of the Conference of Cantonal Justice and Police Directors and promoted intercantonal cooperation in the security and justice sector. As a lake resident, it was very important to him to maintain and promote the Lake Constance region as a living, cultural and economic area.

For a long time, the canton of Thurgau struggled with poor and maladjusted people and with refugees, especially during the Second World War . That is why Graf-Schelling worked intensively on coming to terms with the past. In 2011, the Thurgau government council apologized to all the persons concerned for the fact that state authorities in the canton of Thurgau had contributed to their difficult fate by contracting or causing their contract. In the statement accompanying the report on the events in St. Iddazell from 2014, the government council regrets the canton's long-term reluctance to supervise the home.

His commitment to the Mittelthurgau Railway was also worth mentioning . After the short-term resignation of Government Councilor Dr. Hermann Lei (FDP) took over Graf-Schelling in June 2002 the "Mittelthurgau Railway" dossier from the Department of Internal Affairs and Economics. He was able to prevent the grounding of this regional train and enabled the timely transfer of the Mittelthurgau train to Thurbo AG , which is one of the most successful Swiss regional trains today.

Publications

• The sovereignty on Lake Constance with special consideration of shipping. (= Swiss studies on international law. Volume 10). Dissertation . Zurich 1978, ISBN 3-7255-1914-5 .
• Know-how to defer bankruptcy according to Art 725a OR . In: Schweizerische Juristen-Zeitung. 95 (1999), No. 6, pp. 109-112.
• Claudius Graf-Schelling: On the political handling of the past . In: Historischer Verein des Kantons Thurgau (Ed.): Documents for the annual meeting on May 6, 2006 on Arenenberg . Frauenfeld 2006, p. 23-27 .
• Claudius Graf-Schelling, with the assistance of Sabine Schifferdecker and Bernhard Bertelmann: Roth und röter. 100 years of the Arbon Social Democratic Party 1916–2016. A chronicle. Arbon Social Democratic Party, Arbon 2016, ISBN 978-3-033-05588-9
• Claudius Graf-Schelling: Who Owns Lake Constance ? In: Archeology Switzerland, bulletin from " Archeology Switzerland ", Volume 40 (2017), Issue 4, p. 14

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mourning in Thurgau: Former government councilor Claudius Graf-Schelling died unexpectedly. on: tagblatt.ch , November 27, 2019.
2. ^ Thurgau SP government councilor Claudius Graf-Schelling resigns. on: tagblatt.ch , October 22, 2014.
3. ↑ 23 December 2015: Claudius Graf-Schelling elected as a new member of the Intercantonal Contract Commission (IVK)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ Canton of Thurgau> News archive. (No longer available online.) In: www.tg.ch. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved July 7, 2015 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
5. ^ Martina Akermann, Sabine Jenzer, Thomas Meier, Janine Vollenweider: Children in the monastery home. The institution St. Iddazell Fischingen 1879-1978 . Ed .: Historical Association of the Canton of Thurgau (=  Thurgau Contributions to History . Volume 153 ). Publishing house of the Historical Association of the Canton of Thurgau, Frauenfeld 2015, ISBN 978-3-9524186-2-8 .
6. ^ Canton of Thurgau> News archive. (No longer available online.) In: www.tg.ch. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved July 7, 2015 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.