Wolfgang Schuster

This article refers to the former Lord Mayor of Stuttgart. For the district administrator of the Lahn-Dill district see Wolfgang Schuster (district administrator)

Wolfgang Schuster (2012)

Wolfgang Schuster (born September 5, 1949 in Ulm ) is managing director of the Institute for Sustainable City Development GmbH and the European Foundation for Education e. V. as well as President of the University of Economics, Technology and Culture . From January 1997 to January 2013, Schuster was Stuttgart's Lord Mayor ( CDU ), succeeding Manfred Rommel and predecessor of Fritz Kuhn in this office. From January 2015 to November 2018 he was Chairman of the Board of Management of the Deutsche Telekom Foundation .

Life

After graduating from high school at the Humboldt Gymnasium in Ulm in 1968, Schuster did his military service with the mountain hunters in Mittenwald . From 1969 to 1973 he studied law and political science at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen , in Geneva and Freiburg im Breisgau . During his studies he became a member of AV Guestfalia Tübingen in the CV . From 1974 to 1976 he spent his legal traineeship in Ulm and received his doctorate in civil law in 1975 at the Freiburg University. From 1976 to 1977 he studied at the Paris École nationale d'administration (ENA). From 1975 to 1980 he was for the CDU in the Ulm municipal council. From 1978 to 1980 Schuster was a consultant in the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg under the Prime Ministers Hans Filbinger and Lothar Späth . In 1980 he became head of the personal department of Stuttgart's Lord Mayor Manfred Rommel . 1986–1993 he was mayor of Schwäbisch Gmünd , then until January 1997 mayor for culture, education and sport of the state capital Stuttgart. From January 1997 to January 2013, Schuster was Lord Mayor of the state capital Stuttgart.

After leaving the office of mayor, Schuster founded the Institute for Sustainable Urban Development. He works at the federal level in the Council for Sustainable Development and advises the federal government on the demographic strategy . He is also President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions. He is director of the Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (I-NSE) and the European Foundation for Education eV (EFE) in Stuttgart. Schuster has been President of the University of Economics, Technology and Culture (hwtk) in Berlin since September 2017.

During his time (2015-2018) as chairman of the non-profit Deutsche Telekom Foundation, he campaigned for good education in the digital world and emphasized the importance of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology, the so-called MINT subjects .

Schuster has been married since 1979 and has three children and six grandchildren.

Lord Mayor of the State Capital Stuttgart

Term of office I.

In the election for Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, Schuster was able to prevail in the second ballot on November 10, 1996 with 43.1% against the candidate of the Greens , Rezzo hose (39.3%).

Term of office II

On October 24, 2004, Schuster was confirmed in office with 53.3% in the second ballot. His competitors were Boris Palmer ( Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen ), who withdrew his candidacy after the first ballot and then indirectly spoke out in favor of Schuster, and Ute Kumpf ( SPD ) with 45.2% in the second ballot.

Political work

Schuster has set his political priorities in the areas of education, demography, construction and industrial support. In addition to the issues of safety and mobility, Schuster always campaigns for child-friendliness in his city. In addition, its immigration and integration policy is considered exemplary. He speaks of the necessity of an “appreciative welcoming culture” towards foreigners and at the same time considers formalities such as nationality to be irrelevant in urban coexistence. With the establishment of a Round Table of Religions , he also set an example for interreligious dialogue in the state capital.

Stuttgart 21

Another focus of his work is the advancement of the rail and urban development project Stuttgart 21 , which envisages the conversion of the Stuttgart main train station into an underground through station and the design of the new downtown district Rosenstein . In the 2004 election campaign, Schuster had promised to support a referendum on the project if the state capital Stuttgart had to make a “substantial” financial contribution. In Schuster's opinion, however, this has never been the case until now. Schuster justified his decision by stating that the additional costs for the city of Stuttgart are expected to be only 84 million euros and that he and Boris Palmer agreed with Boris Palmer in the OB election campaign that additional costs were meant "well into the three-digit million range" . Schuster was one of the seven supporters of the Stuttgart 21 project who spoke for Stuttgart 21 at the arbitration talks moderated by Heiner Geißler . In addition, he also took part in the stress test for the performance of the through station. At this event, Mayor Schuster announced the establishment of the “BürgerFORUM Stuttgart 21”.

Trump Tower negotiation

Although high-rise projects in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main failed in 2000/01 (see Millennium Tower ), the plans for a skyscraper were concentrated in Stuttgart, where Schuster advanced the plans for a Trump Tower together with Donald Trump on the Pragsattel . With an investment of around EUR 250 million, 55 floors and 220 meters, it would have been the tallest building in southern Germany. The project was presented in May 2001 and a design by Peter Schweger was presented in October 2001 . The projects received intensive press coverage in all three cities; in Stuttgart the newspapers doubted the extent of Donald Trump's involvement. The local council, which did not consider the financing to be secured, refused to approve the project on January 21, 2003 in a meeting of the decision-making committee for the environment and technology. A lawsuit was brought against the city to reimburse the planning costs.

Waiver of third term

On January 9, 2012, Schuster announced that he would not run for a third term as Lord Mayor in Stuttgart. As a justification, he cited that Stuttgart was in an excellent position in comparison with other large cities and that the Stuttgart 21 project had to be accompanied for eight years. For reasons of age, Schuster could only have carried out part of the third term. On January 6, 2013, Wolfgang Schuster's term of office as Lord Mayor of Stuttgart ended.

Memberships and functions

In October 2008, Schuster became a member of the EU's Council of Wise Men on the Future of Europe , which worked out long-term perspectives for Europe until May 8, 2010.

Schuster is the chairman of numerous international networks such as Cities for Mobility and Cities for Children , Vice President of the World Association of United Cities and Local Authorities (UCLG - CGLU) and, since 2010, President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions. He is also President of the German section of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR). He is a member of the Deutsche Bahn Group Advisory Board and the Board of Trustees of the Academy for Spoken Word in Stuttgart. In October 2018, Schuster was elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the German-Turkish Forum Stuttgart .

National functions and offices until January 2013

• Chairman of the supervisory board of Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen AG
• Chairman of the supervisory board of the Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund Stuttgart GmbH
• Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH
• Chairman of the regional water supply association
• Chairman of the Bodensee water supply association
• Deputy Chairman of the Board of Guarantors and the Administrative Board of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW)
• Chairman of the LBBW Credit Committee
• Member of the SWR Broadcasting Council
• Member of the association assembly of the Stuttgart region
• Member of the board of the Baden-Württemberg City Council
• Deputy President of the German Association of Cities
• Member of the Board of Trustees of the Academy for the Spoken Word

European and international

• Member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CLRAE), Strasbourg
• President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), German Section, Cologne
• President of the Council of European Local and Regional Authorities (CEMR), Brussels
• Vice-President and Chairman of the European Section of the World Association of Municipalities
• Chairman of the UCLG Commission on Urban Mobility
• Member of the Europe 2020-2030 reflection group (appointed by the European Council of 27 Heads of State and Government)
• Chairman Cities for Mobility
• Chairman Cities for Children
• Vice President of the World Association of Municipalities “United Cities and Local Authorities” (UCLG - CGLU) and
• since 2010 President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR)

honors and awards

In 2004, Schuster was named the second best mayor in Germany by the Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft and Stuttgart was named the most reform-minded of 50 major German cities . In 2005, Wolfgang Schuster was awarded the Baden-Württemberg Medal of Merit . On September 5, 2009, he received the Gold Staufer Medal of the State of Baden-Württemberg. On June 2, 2010, Wolfgang Schuster received the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy for an "exemplary initiative that he started three years ago to improve the educational opportunities of Italian students". In addition, Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann awarded him an honorary professorship. The municipal council of the state capital Stuttgart decided in its meeting on December 20th to make Schuster an honorary citizen. He was awarded honorary citizenship on January 5th as part of the official farewell. In 2013, Schuster was awarded the undoped honorary prize of the Manfred Rommel Prize by the German-Turkish Forum Stuttgart for his services to a modern integration policy and an international urban society . On November 13, 2013, Wolfgang Schuster was honored with the medal for transculturality by the Society for Dialogue Baden-Württemberg for his services as Lord Mayor of the City of Stuttgart for transculturality.

Web links

Commons : Wolfgang Schuster  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

 Wikinews: Wolfgang Schuster  - in the news

• Literature by and about Wolfgang Schuster in the catalog of the German National Library
• Website of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuster
• Interview with Wolfgang Schuster (Zeit Online, November 2010)
• Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuster on the homepage of the Deutsche Telekom Foundation

References and comments

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Biography of Prof. Dr. Cobbler .
2. ↑ "Stuttgart is doing well" . In: Bahnprojekt Stuttgart – Ulm e. V. (Ed.): Reference . No. 6 , 2013, ZDB -ID 2663557-4 , p. 10-13 .
3. ↑ The election of 1996 is presented in detail in: Markus Hoecker: Die Oberbürgermeisterwahl in Stuttgart 1996. Party politics and election campaign strategy: The municipal personality choice in the field of tension of modern party democracy. A case-by-case study . Dissertation. Stuttgart 2005. Digitized version - accessed on May 11, 2009 (PDF; 662 kB)
4. ^ Website City of Stuttgart: Child-friendly Stuttgart .
5. ↑ Max Hägler: I'm not interested in the pass . In: taz, the daily newspaper . May 24, 2007.
6. ^ Stuttgart 21 - Question about a referendum: Mayor Schuster clarifies facts ( memento from February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), press release from the city of Stuttgart from July 23, 2007.
7. ↑ Fact check in the town hall , fr-online, October 25, 2010
8. ↑ the six other supporters were Bernhard Bauer (Ministerial Director) , Thomas Bopp ( Verband Region Stuttgart ), Pastor Johannes Bräuchle (Initiative Pro Stuttgart 21), Tanja Gönner (Environment Minister), Stefan Mappus (Minister President) and Volker Kefer (DB Board Member)
9. ↑ Video recording: Statement by OB Schuster stress test 2011 ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  
10. ↑ Sabine Beikler: Skyscrapers in Berlin: A Trump Tower for Alex. In: Der Tagesspiegel , November 8, 2000; Peter Brinkmann: Frankfurt wants to steal Berlin Trump Tower. In: Berliner Kurier , November 17, 2000; Trump Tower is being built in Frankfurt. In: Allgemeine Hotel- und Gastronomie-Zeitung , October 20, 2001.
11. ^ Swantje-Britt Körner: Architecture.
12. ↑ Stuttgart vs. Trump: court decides - no compensation for Trump. In: Shortnews , March 24, 2004.
13. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Schuster does not want to run www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de January 9, 2012
14. ^ The high-flyer and its citizens www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de January 3, 2012
15. ↑ EU uses "Council of Wise Men" - Stuttgart Mayor Schuster there. ( Memento from February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . October 16, 2008.
16. ↑ euractiv.de: Council of the Wise: EU threatens irrelevance. May 7, 2010, accessed August 27, 2011
17. ↑ ^{a b c} Laudation (excerpt) on the award of the Staufer Medal ( Memento from January 5, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
18. ^ Association CEMR: Schuster new president. ( Memento from December 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Stuttgarter Zeitung. December 7, 2010.
19. ↑ European Movement Germany : New President of the Council of the Municipalities and Regions of Europe: Wolfgang Schuster ( Memento from July 29, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) December 7, 2010.
20. ↑ Academy for the Spoken Word | Board. Retrieved March 5, 2018 . 
21. ↑ Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuster and Süheyla İnce Demir new DTF board chairmen. Retrieved October 13, 2018 . 
22. ↑ Biography of Prof. Dr. Cobbler
23. ↑ List of medal recipients 1975–2019. (PDF; 180 kB) State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg, p. 51 , accessed on June 12, 2019 . 
24. ^ Stuttgart Journal: Mayor Schuster receives Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy , article from June 13, 2010 , accessed on August 13, 2010
25. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung of Jan. 7, 2013 , accessed on the day, with the title: Politicians say goodbye to Mayor Schuster: "Congratulations, Herr Professor"
26. ^ Website I-NSE . Honorary citizenship for Dr. Cobbler
27. ↑ Manfred Rommel Prize 2013: Prize Winner 2013 , DTF Stuttgart website.
28. ↑ State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg: Retired Lord Mayor Wolfgang Schuster honored for services to transculturality , accessed on January 14, 2014.