Werner Zeyer

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Werner Zeyer (1978)
Candidate poster for the state election in Saarland in 1980
Zeyer's grave with inscription in the St. Wendel cemetery

Werner Zeyer (born May 25, 1929 in Oberthal ; † March 26, 2000 in Saarbrücken ) was Minister-President of the Saarland , CDU politician and lawyer.

Life

After studying law, he embarked on a judging career in the structurally conservative Saarland. A career as a professional politician was followed by a brief activity in the Saarland judicial administration.

After losing the state election to Oskar Lafontaine in 1985 , he ran a law firm in St. Wendel with his eldest son. Werner Zeyer and his wife Edith had two sons and a daughter. His grandson Alexander Zeyer was a member of the Saarland state parliament from March 2017 to October 2019 and was then appointed government spokesman for the Saarland. His son Christof Zeyer is the director of the Saarland state parliament. Zeyer's grave is in the cemetery of his hometown St. Wendel.

Political career

Zeyer was 1961-1972 District Administrator of the rural district of St. Wendel . At the time he was the youngest district administrator in the Federal Republic. In this capacity he initiated one of the most important tourism projects in northern Saarland, the construction of the Bostalsee .

He also belonged to a group of party politicians who tried in 1967 to use tax revenues to set up the first private TV station in the southwest of Germany. The profits should flow to the state parliament parties. The project failed because of the Federal Post Office and political resistance. The accusation of self-enrichment was in the room.

Between 1972 and 1979 Zeyer was a member of the German Bundestag and from 1977 to 1978 a member of the European Parliament . From 1977 to 1978 he sat in two parliaments at the same time.

From 1978 to 1985 Zeyer was regional chairman of the CDU Saar . His predecessor, Franz Josef Röder , had planned to be succeeded by Minister of Justice Rainer Wicklmayr . When Zeyer's candidacy became known, Röder initially wanted to remain in office. But then Röder received a rejection from Helmut Kohl for his coalition course with the FDP, who wanted to focus more on a confrontation with the Social-Liberal Coalition in federal politics. The conservative-liberal coalition in Saarland was therefore a thorn in his side. Röder threw in the towel and made room for Zeyer as CDU state chairman. On June 25, 1979, Röder announced that he no longer wanted to run for Prime Minister in 1980 and proposed Werner Zeyer as his successor; he passed away the following day, so his announcement echoed like a legacy.

Zeyer ruled from 1979 to 1985 as Prime Minister of the Saarland. In 1979, after Röder's death, he was appointed by the CDU and three FDP members of the Saarland without a new parliamentary election. A year later, under his leadership, the CDU lost over 6% in the state elections in 1980 . For the first time, the SPD became the strongest force on the Saar. However, since the FDP entered into a coalition with the CDU, Zeyer was able to remain Prime Minister. The steel crisis overshadowed his second term. From 1980 to 1985 (i.e. during Zeyer's term of office) the unemployment rate in the Saar doubled to 13.4%. The interest burden quota was 12% of the state budget in 1985 (1980: 7.4%). The budget deficit grew from the equivalent of 341 million euros (1980) to 640 million euros (1985) and thus almost doubled. The public budgets on the Saar have not recovered from this situation to this day.

In the state election in 1985 , Zeyer was replaced by Oskar Lafontaine ( SPD ). Zeyer took responsibility for the election defeat and withdrew from all political offices. Der Spiegel wrote about Zeyer's electoral defeat: "At least as much as from the weakness of the Greens, Lafontaine has benefited from the lack of charisma of his CDU opponent Werner Zeyer, 55, who, in six lean years in government, seemed too staid and wooden to his Saarlanders and who, understandably, announced his resignation from all political offices after the election defeat. "

Zeyer did not return to politics.

Honors

See also

Cabinet Zeyer I , Cabinet Zeyer II , Cabinet Zeyer III

literature

Web links

Commons : Werner Zeyer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christel Szymanski: Saarland Prime Minister: One hundred days in office . The time 43/1979, October 19, 1979.
  2. ^ Television / Saar private broadcaster: A thing with profit . Der Spiegel 26/1967, June 19, 1967, pp. 60-64
  3. ↑ a b Elections: Is and remains . Der Spiegel 25/1979, June 18, 1979, p. 30.
  4. ↑ Personal details : Franz Josef Röder . Der Spiegel 8/1978, February 20, 1978, p. 202.
  5. ↑ Röder resigns . Der Spiegel 44/1978, October 30, 1978, p. 18.
  6. ↑ Unemployed people and vacancies in Saarland 1960 to 2013 . IHK Saarland , as of July 2014; Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  7. ↑ 50 years of Saarland: Saarland economy 1959 to 2009: How has Saarland developed economically in the last 50 years - a comparison of federal states . ( Memento from April 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft Köln Consult GmbH , 2009, p. 21 (pdf; 2 MB)
  8. ↑ All of the Oscars went to Oscar . Der Spiegel 12/1985, March 18, 1985, pp. 24-26, here p. 25.
  9. ^ Announcement of awards of the Saarland Order of Merit . In: Head of the State Chancellery (Ed.): Official Gazette of the Saarland . No. 18 . Saarbrücker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei GmbH, Saarbrücken May 9, 1977, p. 391–392 ( uni-saarland.de [PDF; 244 kB ; accessed on May 27, 2017]).
personal data
SURNAME Zeyer, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (CDU), MdB, MdEP, MdL
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberthal
DATE OF DEATH March 26, 2000
Place of death Saarbrücken