Eva Lohse (née Müller-Tamm; born 23 January 1956 in

Ludwigshafen Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning "Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig's Port upon the Rhine"; Palatine German dialects, Palatine German: ''Ludwichshafe''), is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in the German state of Rh ...

) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She was the mayor (''Oberbürgermeisterin'') of

from 2002 to 2017. In addition to her work as Mayor, Lohse served as president of the

Deutscher Städtetag The Deutscher Städtetag ('Association of German Cities') is an organization that represents interests of cities in Germany. The plans to establish the organization took place in Dresden in 1903. Its first meeting was held on November 27, 1905, in ...

from June 2015 to December 2017. The group is the head organization and lobby group for 3400 German cities vis-à-vis the

Cabinet of Germany The Federal Government (, ; abbr. BReg) is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany and exercises executive power at the federal level. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Ministers. The fundamentals o ...

, 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 ...

, the

Bundesrat of Germany The German Bundesrat (, ) is a legislative body that represents the sixteen ''States of Germany, Länder'' (federated states) of Germany at the federal level (German: ''Bundesebene''). The Bundesrat meets at the former Prussian House of Lords ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU) and many organizations.

Early life and career

Lohse was born in Ludwigshafen in 1956. She studied law at the universities of Heidelberg,

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

and

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

. After the first state exam she studied administrative law at the Verwaltungshochschule Speyer. In 1995 she graduated as a

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

. From 1987 to 1996 she hold different positions in the regional administration, in the Ministry of the Interior of the State of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

and the police department Rheinpfalz in Ludwigshafen. From 1996 to 2001, Lohse was a lecturer at the Fachhochschule of Public Administration, Department of Labor Administration, in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

with the subjects of administrative, employment and social law.

Political career

Lohse joined the Christian Democratic Union and was elected to the local city council of her birthplace Ludwigshafen in 1994. In May 2001, Lohse was elected mayor of Ludwigshafen, in the first round with 55.51% of the votes. She became the city's first directly elected woman ''Oberbürgermeister'' and the first Christian Democrat in this position since 1945. In 2004, she was in discussion to become the top candidate for the CDU in the state elections in

. However, she refused to run against the chairman of the party, Christoph Böhr. On 7 June 2009 she was re-elected in the first round with 53.7% of the votes. In 2015, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy

Sigmar Gabriel Sigmar Hartmut Gabriel (born 12 September 1959) is a German politician who was the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018 and the vice-chancellor of Germany from 2013 to 2018. He was Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

appointed Lohse to the government's advisory board on the

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was a proposed trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United States, with the aim of promoting trade and multilateral economic growth. According to Karel De Gucht, Euro ...

(TTIP). In November 2016, Lohse announced that she would not run for the next mayor's election. Her term of office ended in December 2017.

Life after politics

Since 2018, Lohse has been a member of the so-called ''Limbach Commission'' (Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property), a panel convened by the German government to give recommendations on restitution claims regarding art works stolen or purchased under duress by the Nazis.Members
Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property.

Other activities

* 2005–2017 Präsidium des Deutschen Städtetages, member * 2006–2017 Verband Region Rhein-Neckar, president * 2006–2017 Verein Zukunft Metropolregion Rhein Neckar e.V., vice-president * 2012–2017

Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband The Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband (DSGV, ) is the association of German savings banks () and the apex entity of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, the European Union's second-largest financial services group (after BNP Paribas) with 2.5 trillio ...

, vice-president * 2013–2015 Deutscher Städtetag, vice-president

Personal life

Lohse is married and has two daughters.

References

External links

Porträt der Oberbürgermeisterin Dr. Eva Lohse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lohse, Eva 1956 births Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Living people Mayors of places in Rhineland-Palatinate Women mayors of places in Germany 21st-century German women politicians 20th-century German women politicians