Dieter Spöri (born 15 May 1943 in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

) is a German politician affiliated with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He has been the president of the

European Movement Germany European Movement Germany (EM Germany) is a non-partisan network of interest groups in the field of EU politics in Germany. It cooperates closely with all EU stakeholders on a national and European level, most particularly with the German Feder ...

since 2006, and was deputy prime minister and minister of economic affairs of the

State of Baden-Württemberg State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

from 1992 to 1996.

Studies and early career

Spöri studied Economics at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

. After his graduation in 1969 he was a deputy head of the Institute of Südwestdeutsche Wirtschaftsforschung in

from 1970 to 1974. Until 1975 he also worked as a lecturer in economic policy at the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart () is a research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany with programs in civil, mechanical, ind ...

Party and mandates

Spöri joined the SPD in 1970. Five years later he became a member of the party's State Board of Baden-Württemberg, where he remained for 23 years. Between 1988 and 1998 he also belonged to the party's federal board. Between 1976 and 1988 Spöri was a member of the

German Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the lower house of the German federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for ...

where he served as parliamentary party spokesman on taxation and umpire in the finance committee. In 1988 he returned to Baden-Württemberg and was elected to the Baden-Württemberg Landtag. Four years later he ran for the post of Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg but lost to his opponent

Erwin Teufel Erwin Teufel (born 4 September 1939, in Zimmern ob Rottweil) is a German politician of the CDU. Political career Teufel was the leader of the CDU parliamentary group in the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg from 1978 to 1991. Teufel was Minis ...

. In the following grand coalition he served as deputy prime minister and minister of economic affairs. Another four years later he ended his political career after the election since his party had to deal with the worst results in the state history. However, he is still rather active when it comes to discussing the future of the SPD.

After the political career

In 1999 Spöri became head of corporate representative at the office for federal affairs of

Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...

in Berlin. He also worked as head of external affairs and public policy for the enterprise since March 2008. He left Daimler AG by the end of the same year and afterwards joined PMC International AG to become senior vice president and shareholder.

European politics

During his active political career, he engaged in discussions concerning European politics. He raised awareness in the mid 1990s by expressing serious concerns about the implementation of the Euro. In his opinion, the strict fulfillment of the

Maastricht Criteria The euro convergence criteria (also known as the Maastricht criteria) are the criteria European Union member states are required to meet to enter the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and adopt the euro as their currency. Th ...

had to be guaranteed by all means. Therefore, 1999 seemed to be too early for many European states. However, he urgently sought the compromise of a German-French monetary union (the only two states which would have fulfilled the criteria at that time) in order not to risk German jobs. He proposed to postpone the implementation of the monetary union for five years. In 2011 he was interviewed by the news portal EurActiv. During this interview, he discussed his early concerns but also clearly opposed a possible Greek insolvency. Since June 2006 he has been the president of the European Movement Germany. He followed the former EU Commissioner Monika Wulf-Mathies (re-election in 2008 and 2010).

External links

CV on PMCiCV on European Movement Germany (German)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spori, Dieter 1943 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg Members of the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg University of Tübingen alumni Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany