Erwin Sellering

Erwin Sellering (born 18 October 1949) is a German politician. He served as the 4th Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern from 2008 to 2017.

Erwin Sellering
Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In office
6 October 2008 – 4 July 2017
PresidentHorst Köhler
Christian Wulff
Joachim Gauck
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
ChancellorAngela Merkel
DeputyLorenz Caffier
Preceded byHarald Ringstorff
Succeeded byManuela Schwesig
Leader of the Social Democratic Party in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In office
14 April 2007 – 2 July 2017
Preceded byTill Backhaus
Succeeded byManuela Schwesig
Minister of Health and Social Affairs of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In office
7 November 2006 – 6 October 2008
Minister PresidentHarald Ringstorff
Preceded byMarianne Linke
Succeeded byManuela Schwesig
Minister of Justice of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In office
20 September 2000 – 7 November 2006
Minister PresidentHarald Ringstorff
Preceded byHarald Ringstorff
Succeeded byUta-Maria Kuder
Personal details
Born (1949-10-18) 18 October 1949
Sprockhövel, West Germany
Political partySocial Democratic Party
Alma mater

Early life and career

Sellering studied law and has lived in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since 1994, where he worked at the courts of Schwerin and Greifswald.[1]

Political career

Being a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, he has held various positions in the government of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since 1998 - first as a state secretary, later as Minister for Justice, and since 2006 as Minister for Social Affairs.[1] In 2007, he became chairman of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Social Democratic Party.[1] In 2008, he succeeded Harald Ringstorff as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's prime minister. He is also a member of the German-Russian Friendship Group set up by the German Bundesrat and the Russian Federation Council.

In the 2016 state elections, Sellering and his SPD garnered a better-than-forecast 30.6 percent. He had campaigned on local issues, urging voters to focus on jobs creation in the wind turbine sector, decentralized integration of refugees and pension parity with Germany's western regions.[2]

Between October 2016 and May 2017, Sellering chaired the Conference of Ministers-President. He was a SPD delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2017.

On 30 May 2017 Sellering announced his resignation from all official political positions after he had been diagnosed with lymph cancer that needed immediate treatment. He proposed as his replacement Manuela Schwesig.[3]

Political positions

Sellering is known for taking a hard line against neo-Nazis and for supporting families.[1]

Life after politics

From 2021 to 2022, Selling served as chairman of the Stiftung Klima- und Umweltschutz MV (Climate and Environment Protection Foundation), an entity set up by the government of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in January 2021 and endowed with 20 million euros from Nord Stream 2 AG, a Switzerland-based company owned by Gazprom.[4]

Other activities
  • Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Patron
  • Deutsches Museum, Member of the Board of Trustees
  • KfW, Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (2013-2015)[5][6]

Personal life

Sellering is married, has two children[1] and currently resides in Greifswald.[1][7]

References
  1. handelsblatt, 22 August 2008, "Der adrette Jurist"
  2. Merkel's CDU trounced in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Deutsche Welle, 4 September 2016.
  3. German governor is ill, prompting change to Merkel's Cabinet Yahoo!, 30 May 2017.
  4. Thomas Escritt and Sarah Marsh (11 February 2022), Explainer: How a German 'climate' fund set out to help Russia dodge U.S. sanctions Reuters.
  5. 2012 Annual Report KfW.
  6. 2015 Annual Report KfW.
  7. Erwin Sellering im Portrait at nachrichten.t-online, 24 August 2008
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