Erwin Sellering (born 18 October 1949) is a German politician. He served as the 4th

Minister President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

from 2008 to 2017.

Early life and career

Sellering studied law and has lived in

since 1994, where he worked at the courts of

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as of the region of Mecklenburg, after Rostock. It ...

and

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (german: Universitäts- und Hansestadt Greifswald, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rosto ...

Political career

Being a member of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been ...

, 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. In 2007, he became chairman of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Social Democratic Party. In 2008, he succeeded

Harald Ringstorff Harald Ringstorff (25 September 1939 – 19 November 2020) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the 3rd Minister President of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. He headed a coalition government of the SPD and PDS ...

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. Between October 2016 and May 2017, Sellering chaired the

Conference of Ministers-President The Conference of Federal State Prime Ministers

. He was a SPD delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

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.

Political positions

Sellering is known for taking a hard line against

neo-Nazis Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...

and for supporting families.

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 PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the large ...

Other activities

* Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Patron *

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees *

KfW The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment and development bank, based in Frankfurt. As of 2014, it is the world's largest national d ...

, Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (2013-2015)2015 Annual Report

Personal life

Sellering is married, has two children and currently resides in

handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf by Handelsblatt Media Group, formerly known as Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt. History and profile ''Handelsblatt'' was ...

, 22 August 2008, "''Der adrette Jurist''

/ref>Erwin Sellering im Portrait at nachrichten.t-online, 24 August 2008
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sellering, Erwin 1949 births Living people Members of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians German Lutherans People from Sprockhövel Ministers-President of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania