Oskar Lafontaine

Oskar Lafontaine
Lafontaine in 2017
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office 16 November 1995 – 12 March 1999
General Secretary	Franz Müntefering Ottmar Schreiner
Preceded by	Rudolf Scharping
Succeeded by	Gerhard Schröder
Leader of The Left
In office 16 June 2007 – 15 May 2010 Serving with Lothar Bisky
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Klaus Ernst
Minister of Finance
In office 27 October 1998 – 18 March 1999
Chancellor	Gerhard Schröder
Preceded by	Theodor Waigel
Succeeded by	Hans Eichel
Minister-President of the Saarland
In office 9 April 1985 – 9 November 1998
Preceded by	Werner Zeyer
Succeeded by	Reinhard Klimmt
President of the Bundesrat
In office 1 November 1992 – 31 October 1993
First Vice President	Berndt Seite
Preceded by	Berndt Seite
Succeeded by	Klaus Wedemeier
Lord Mayor of Saarbrücken
In office 22 January 1976 – 9 April 1985
Preceded by	Fritz Schuster
Succeeded by	Hans-Jürgen Koebnick
Parliamentary constituencies Member of the Landtag of Saarland for Saarlouis In office 23 September 2009 – 25 April 2022 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by multi-member district Member of the Bundestag for Saarland (North Rhine-Westphalia; 2005–2009) In office 18 October 2005 – 1 February 2010 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by Yvonne Ploetz Member of the Bundestag for Saarbrücken I In office 26 October 1998 – 16 March 1999 Preceded by himself (1994) Succeeded by Gudrun Roos In office 15 November 1994 – 17 November 1994 Preceded by himself (1990) Succeeded by Elke Ferner Member of the Landtag of Saarland for Saarbrücken In office 9 April 1985 – 9 November 1998 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by Karin Lawall In office 13 July 1970 – 14 July 1975 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by multi-member district
Personal details
Born	(1943-09-16) 16 September 1943 Saarlautern, Saarland, Nazi Germany (now Saarlouis, Germany)
Political party	Independent
Other political affiliations	The Left (2007–2022) Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (2005–2007) Social Democratic Party (1966–2005)
Spouse(s)	Ingrid Bachert ​ ​ (m. 1967; div. 1982)​ Margret Müller ​ ​ (m. 1982; div. 1988)​ Christa Müller ​ ​ (m. 1993; div. 2013)​ Sahra Wagenknecht ​ ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	2
Residence	Merzig-Silwingen
Alma mater	Saarland University
Occupation	Politician Publicist Physicist
Website	Official website

Oskar Lafontaine (IPA: [ˈlafɔntɛn]; born 16 September 1943 in Saarlouis-Roden) is a left-wing German politician and a founder member of the new political party Die Linke.

Education and family

Lafontaine studied physics at the Bonn University and the Saarland University from 1962 to 1969.

He is Roman Catholic and is married to Christa Müller who leads a campaign against genital mutilation in Africa. They have a son, Carl Maurice, born 1997.

Career

Political rise

Lafontaine's political career began locally as mayor of Saarbrücken. He became widely known as a critic of chancellor Helmut Schmidt's support for the NATO plan to put Pershing II missiles in Germany. From 1985 to 1998 he was Minister-President of the Saarland. As minister-president, Lafontaine tried to keep the traditional industries of steel production and coal mining in the state with subsidies. He was also President of the Bundesrat in 1992/93.

Chancellor candidacy

In the German federal election of 1990, Lafonntaine was the SPD's Chancellor candidate. The party lost because of support for the CDU who were the government during reunification. During the campaign he was attacked with a knife by a mentally deranged woman after a speech in Cologne. His carotid artery was slashed and he remained in a critical condition for several days.

Political comeback

At the "Mannheim convention" in 1995, Lafontaine was elected chairman of the SPD, replacing Rudolf Scharping. He was mainly responsible for bringing the whole of the SPD against Helmut Kohl and his CDU party, instead of cooperating with the CDU. Lafontaine said that any help given to Kohl would only help to keep the CDU in government.

This idea put the SPD ahead in the opinion polls in September 1998. He was appointed Federal Minister of Finance in the first government of Gerhard Schröder.

Minister of Finance

During his short time as Minister of Finance, Lafontaine was a figure of attack by UK Eurosceptics. This was especially because he wanted to make taxes the same in the European Union. This would have meant some UK taxes would increase.

On 11 March 1999, he resigned from all his official and party offices, saying that not getting any help from other members of the cabinet. Later he become known for his attacks against Angela Merkel's government in the tabloid Bild-Zeitung which is generally considered conservative.

The Left Party

On 24 May 2005 Lafontaine left the SPD. On 10 June, he said he would run as the lead candidate for The Left Party.PDS (Die Linkspartei), a coalition of the Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice (WASG), which is based in western Germany, and the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which was the successor to the East German communist party

He joined the WASG on 18 June 2005 and was selected to head their list for the 2005 Federal Election in North Rhine-Westphalia on the same day. He also stood in the Saarbrücken constituency, but lost. Nevertheless, the result of the Linkspartei in the Saarland was the best in any of the federal states in the West of Germany.

Criticisms of Lafontaine

An article by Lafontaine on Erich Honecker, state and party leader of the GDR and a Saarländer like him, in the magazine Der Spiegel was criticized by many people who said it concentrated on a few good things Honecker did, and ignored the bad things. In the late 80s and early 90s he lost some support from left-wing people because he seemed to want pro-business policies and he called for a reduction of the influx of Germans from Eastern Europe and asylum-seekers.

Books

Oskar LaFontaine: The Heart Beats on the Left Polity, ISBN 978-0-7456-2582-9

Other websites

• (in German) www.Sozialisten.de The German Left Party
• The German Left Party pages in English Archived 2011-01-21 at the Wayback Machine
• European-Left

Preceded by Fritz Schuster	Mayor of Saarbrücken 1976 – 1985	Succeeded by Hans-Jürgen Koebnick (SPD)
Preceded by Rudolf Scharping	Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1995 – 1999	Succeeded by Gerhard Schröder
Preceded by Werner Zeyer (CDU)	Minister president of Saarland 1985 – 1998	Succeeded by Reinhard Klimmt (SPD)
Preceded by Theodor Waigel (CSU)	German Minister of Finance 1998 – 1999	Succeeded by Hans Eichel (SPD)
Preceded by Roland Claus	chairman of the parliamentary group Left Party 2005 – present	Succeeded by Incumbent