Garrelt Duin (born 2 April 1968) is a German politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD).

Education

Duin was born in

Leer Leer may refer to: * Leer, Lower Saxony, town in Germany ** Leer (district), containing the town in Lower Saxony, Germany ** Leer (Ostfriesland) railway station * Leer, South Sudan, town in South Sudan ** Leer County, an administrative division ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

. From 1987 to 1995 he studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

at Bielefeld and Göttingen. In 1995 he completed his First State law examination, Higher Regional Court, Hamm; in 1998 he finished his Second State law examination, Higher Regional Court, Celle

Career

Early career

* since 1985: Member of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

* since 1993: Member of the executive of the SPD district of Weser-Ems * 1996–2006: Member of Hinte

Municipal Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

(2001–2006: Council chairman) * since 2001: Member of the SPD executive * since 2002: Chairman of the SPD district of Weser-Ems

Member of the European Parliament, 2002–2005

In the European Parliament, Duin served on the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism (2000–2004) and on the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

(2004–2005). In addition to his committee assignments, he was a member of the parliament's delegation for relations with

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

from 2000 until 2004.

Member of the German Bundestag, 2005–2012

Duin was elected as 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 ...

in the 2005 federal elections; he got 58 percent of the vote in the Aurich-Emden region in northern Germany. In parliament, he served on the Committee on Economic Affairs and Technology. Within his parliamentary group, he held the position of commissioner for industry policy (2006-2009) and chairman of the working group on economic affairs and technology (2009-2012). In addition to his committee assignments, Duin served as deputy chairman of the German-British Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2010 until 2012. He was also a member of the German-Austrian Parliamentary Friendship Group, the German-Dutch Parliamentary Friendship Group and the German-Swiss Parliamentary Friendship Group. Also in 2005, Duin was elected chairman of the SPD in

, succeeding

Wolfgang Jüttner Wolfgang Jüttner (born 21 March 1948 in Lüdersfeld) is a German politician, representative of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He was his party's candidate for position of chief of state of Lower Saxony in 2008. After his election defeat, he ...

. He resigned from this position in 2010 and was replaced by

Olaf Lies Olaf Lies (born 8 May 1967) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). In May 2025 he was elected as Minister-President of the federal state of Lower Saxony. Political career Lies joined the Social Democratic Party in 2002. ...

. Within his party, he belongs to the Seeheim Circle. Together with

Doris Ahnen Doris Maria Ahnen is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Minister for Finance in the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate since 2014. Prior to that she served as the Minister for Education, Rese ...

Bärbel Diekmann Bärbel is a German-language feminine given name, often a diminutive or variant of the name Barbara. Individuals bearing the name Bärbel include: *Bärbel Bas (born 1968), German politician *Bärbel Bendiks, East German rower *Bärbel Beuermann ...

, Barbara Ludwig and

Heiko Maas Heiko Josef Maas (; born 19 September 1966) is a German lawyerMarcus Jung (15 December 2022)�''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung''. and former politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the Mini ...

, Duin co-chaired the SPD's 2009 national convention in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

State Minister for Economic Affairs, 2012–2017

Duin resigned as Member of the Bundestag on 21 June 2012 and was appointed Minister for Economics, Energy, Industry and Commerce of the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

in the government of Minister-President

Hannelore Kraft Hannelore Kraft (née Külzhammer, 12 June 1961) is a German politician. She served as the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 until 2017. Kraft was the first woman to serve as head of government of this state and was the thi ...

on the same day. In the negotiations to form a

Grand Coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

following the 2013 federal elections, Duin was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on economic policy, led by

Ilse Aigner Ilse Aigner (born 7 December 1964) is a German politician and member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). Aigner was born in Feldkirchen-Westerham, Bavaria, and entered Angela Merkel's grand coalition cabinet as Federal Minister o ...

and

Hubertus Heil Wolfgang-Hubertus Ernst Ulrich Heil (born 3 November 1972) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the fourth cabinet of Angela Merkel and the cabinet of Ola ...

. During his time in office, Duin was a member of the German-Russian Friendship Group set up by the

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

and the Russian Federation Council. From 2014 and 2016, he was one of the members of Germany's temporary National Commission on the Disposal of Radioactive Waste.

Life after politics

In February 2018, Duin joined

ThyssenKrupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. It resulted from the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and has its operational headquarters in Duisburg and E ...

, where he has since been working in the

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

-based Industrial Solutions business area.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Stadtwerke Köln Stadtwerke Köln GmbH is the infrastructure and services company of the City of Cologne. The company undertakes water supply and electrical, gas, heat and steam energy supply through the subsidiary RheinEnergie. Other subsidiaries provide waste ...

, Chairman of the supervisory board (since 2018) * NRW.BANK, Ex-Officio Member of the supervisory board (2012-2017)

Non-profit organizations

Friedrich Ebert Foundation The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (''German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: FES'') is a German political party foundation associated with, but independent from, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 as t ...

(FES), MemberMembers

(FES). * Forum for Future Energies, Member of the Board of Trustees * Christoph Metzelder Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees * Stiftung Lebendige Stadt, Member of the Foundation Board *

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (; "North German Broadcasting"), commonly shortened to NDR (), is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, ...

, Member of the Broadcasting Board * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member * Workers' Welfare Association (AWO), Member *

Eurosolar Eurosolar - European Association for Renewable Energies (Own spelling: EUROSOLAR) is a German association with headquarters in Bonn. The association has sections in 13 countries (Germany, Bulgaria, Denmark, Georgia, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, ...

, Member

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duin, Garrelt 1968 births Living people People from Leer Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony Social Democratic Party of Germany MEPs MEPs for Germany 1999–2004 MEPs for Germany 2004–2009 Political office-holders in North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany