Daniel Wesener
Wesener in 2019
Senator for Finance of Berlin
In office
21 December 2021 – April 2023
Governing MayorFranziska Giffey
Preceded byMatthias Kollatz
Member of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin
In office
18 September 2016 – 2 January 2022
Succeeded byCatrin Wahlen
Personal details
Born
Daniel Wesener

(1975-12-05) 5 December 1975
Hamburg, West Germany
Political partyAlliance 90/The Greens
Residence(s)Kreuzberg, Berlin
Alma materHumboldt University of Berlin

Daniel Wesener (born 5 December 1975) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who served as State Minister (Senator) for Finance in the government of Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey of Berlin from December 2021 to April 2023. He was previously state chairman of the Greens from 2011 to 2017, and a member of the State Parliament of Berlin from 2016 to 2022.

Early life and education

Wesener was born and grew up in Hamburg. After graduating from the Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium and completing community service, he moved to Berlin in 1996. He studied history and art history at the Humboldt University of Berlin and at the College of William & Mary in the United States, and was a scholarship holder of the Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst. He finished his studies without a degree and worked in the office of Christian Ströbele, member of the Bundestag for the Greens, from 2003 to 2011.[1][2]

Political career

Wesener has been a member of the Greens since 2001. In 2006, he was elected to the municipal council of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, where he co-chaired the Greens group with Antje Kapek until 2011.[1][2]

In March 2011, Wesener was elected co-chairman of the Berlin Greens alongside Bettina Jarasch.[3] The two led the coalition negotiations with the SPD under Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit after the 2011 Berlin state election.[4] Wesener and Jarasch were re-elected as co-leaders in March 2013, achieving an unusually broad support among delegates at the party conference. Wesener won 95.4% of votes, the largest majority for any leader up to that point.[5] He was again re-elected in 2015 with 92% of the vote.[6]

Wesener is considered a representative of the left-wing of the Greens. In 2013, he identified himself as a libertarian leftist, and stated that he had stayed distant from party politics for a long time. He was motivated to join the Greens during the "patriotism debate" in the CDU in 2001, fearing a "sociopolitical rollback".[7]

In October 2015, Wesener was nominated as part of a four-member team of lead candidates for the 2016 Berlin state election alongside Bettina Jarasch, Antje Kapek, and Ramona Pop.[8][9] Wesener was placed fourth on the state-wide party list, and was elected to the Abgeordnetenhaus. In the Greens faction, he was parliamentary managing officer and spokesman for culture, budget, and finance.[2]

Wesener was again fourth on the Greens list for the 2021 Berlin state election,[10] and was re-elected.[11] He was subsequently appointed Senator for Finance in the Giffey senate, taking over the role from outgoing SPD senator Matthias Kollatz.[2][12] In accordance with the principle of separation of mandates, Wesener resigned from the Abgeordnetenhaus at the beginning of 2022, and was succeeded by Catrin Wahlen.[13]

Personal life

Wesener lives with his partner Dirk Behrendt in Kreuzberg.

References

  1. 1 2 "Daniel Wesner". Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin (in German). Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Senator Daniel Wesener". Berlin.de (in German). Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  3. ↑ "Berlin Greens take on stuffy issues". Berliner Morgenpost (in German). 7 March 2011.
  4. ↑ Küpper, Mechthild (6 October 2011). "Wowereit and the Berlin SPD: I am the party". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German).
  5. ↑ Alberti, Stefan (17 March 2013). "Green state leaders re-elected: after record praise, now a record result". Die Tageszeitung (in German).
  6. ↑ "Berlin Greens confirm co-leadership". Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). 21 March 2015. Archived from the original on 19 December 2015.
  7. ↑ Schulte, Ulrich (18 October 2013). "Dispute over the future of the Greens: "Perceived as mood-killers"". Die Tageszeitung (in German).
  8. ↑ "Green cloverleaf with more eco". Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). 10 October 2015. Archived from the original on 28 January 2016.
  9. ↑ "Berlin Greens convention: Greens elect leadership quartet for Abgeordnetenhaus election". Berliner Zeitung (in German). 10 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "AGH election 2021: Greens Berlin draw up state list". Greens Berlin (in German). 24 April 2021.
  11. ↑ "Elected". Elections Berlin (in German). 14 October 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  12. ↑ "Berlin's Greens approve coalition agreement". Tagesspiegel (in German). 12 December 2021.
  13. ↑ "Green senators Jarasch and Wesener give up seats in parliament". Tagesspiegel (in German). 3 January 2022.
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