Ralf Jäger (born 25 March 1961 in

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

) is a German politician. He is a member of the

SPD 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 wi ...

. Since 2000 he has been an MP of the

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

, the parliament 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 ...

. Between 2010 and 2017 he served as Minister for Interior and Local Government of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the cabinet 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 ...

. In 2014 he was chairman of the Standing Conference of Interior Ministers ("Innenministerkonferenz", IMK) in Germany.

Early life and education

After his high school diploma ("

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

") in 1981 Jäger finished his vocational training as a merchant in wholesale and foreign trade. Since 1983 he has been a party member of the SPD. Jäger then studied educational science in Duisburg but did not complete his studies. From 1985 to 2000 he worked as a subject specialist ("Fachreferent") for health care.

Political career

From 1989 to 2000 Jäger was a member of the City Council of Duisburg. In 2000 he was elected MP for North Rhine-Westphalia and was re-elected 2005, 2010, and 2012. On 15 July 2010 he was appointed as State Minister for Home Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia in the Cabinet Kraft I. On 20 June 2012 he was appointed again for the Cabinet Kraft II. As one of the state’s representatives at the Bundesrat, Jäger is a member of the Committee on Internal Affairs. 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 ...

'' of

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

's Christian Democrats ( CDU together with the Bavarian

CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...

) and the SPD following the 2013 German elections, Jäger was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on internal and legal affairs, led by

Hans-Peter Friedrich Hans-Peter Friedrich (born 10 March 1957) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag from 1998 to 2025 . Under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel, he served as ...

and

Thomas Oppermann Thomas Ludwig Albert Oppermann (27 April 195425 October 2020) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From October 2017 until his death he served as Vice President of the Bundestag. In his earlier career, he serv ...

. Jäger was criticised for his handling of the Hogesa demonstrations. He also faced criticism during the aftermath of the New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany. The opposition parties in the Landtag criticised him for "acting too late", CDU Secretary General Peter Tauber urged him to step down because of the events. Jäger was a SPD Party delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

in 2017. Following his party’s loss in the 2017 state elections, Jäger remained a member of the State Parliament where he currently serves on the Committee on Sports.NRW-Landtag Neue Posten für Ex-Landesminister
'' Kölner Stadtanzeiger'', July 11, 2017.

Other activities

* German Forum for Crime Prevention (DFK), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (2010-2017) *

IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt The IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IG BAU) is a trade union in Germany with a membership of 350,000 (as per end of 2007). It is the fourth largest of eight industrial affiliates of the DGB (German Confederation of Trade Unions). IG BAU is active in the s ...

, Member (since 2004) *

ver.di (''Verdi'' (stylized as ''ver.di''; �vɛʁdiː; English: ''United Services Trade Union'') is a German trade union based in Berlin, Germany. It was established on 19 March 2001 as the result of a merger of five individual unions and is a m ...

, Member (since 1985)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jager, Ralf 1961 births Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Living people Members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia Politicians from Duisburg