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Alfred Gomolka

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Alfred Gomolka
Gomolka in 1990
Minister-President of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In office
27 October 1990 – 19 March 1992
Deputy
  • Klaus Gollert
Preceded byMartin Brick (as Landesbevollmächtigter)
Succeeded byBerndt Seite
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the European Parliament
for Germany
In office
19 July 1994 – 13 July 2009
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded bymulti-member district
Member of the
Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
for Greifswald
In office
26 October 1990 – 15 November 1994
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byHans-Jürgen Zobel
Member of the Volkskammer
for Rostock
In office
5 April 1990 – 2 October 1990
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born(1942-07-21)21 July 1942
Breslau, Province of Lower Silesia, Free State of Prussia, Nazi Germany (now Wrocław, Poland)
Died24 March 2020(2020-03-24) (aged 77)
Loitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Political partyChristian Democratic Union (1990–2020)
Other political
affiliations		Christian Democratic Union (East) (1960–1968; 1971–1990)
Children4
Alma materUniversity of Greifswald
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Geographer
  • Teacher

Alfred Gomolka (21 July 1942 – 24 March 2020) was a German politician and member of the European Parliament for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. He also served as the minister president of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Personal life and death

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Gomolka was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland).[1] He had a PhD in geography.[2] He was married and had four children.[1] At one point, Gomolka attempted to set up a new radio station. However, he was unable to compete with Norddeutscher Rundfunk.[2]

Gomolka died on 24 March 2020, aged 77.[3]

Career

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Gomolka was a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU).[3] He joined the CDU at a young age,[2] though he was at times unhappy with the party's alliance with the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).[2][4] He served on the Greifswald City Council when the area was part of East Germany.[2]

Following German reunification, he served as the first minister president[a] of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern from October 1990 until 1992.[3][4] In 1990, the CDU took 33 of the 66 seats in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state parliament, but was aided by one person transferring from the SED to the CDU and two MPs from the Free Democratic Party (FDP).[5][6] In 1992, Gomolka was involved in the shipyard crisis,[1][7] a disagreement between Gomolka and the German Minister for Transport and CDU regional party leader Günther Krause over shipyard policies.[2] Gomolka had wanted to rebuild and then privatise German shipbuilding, whereas Krause wanted to immediately sell the shipyards.[2] They also disagreed on how many ships to sell to Bremer Vulkan.[8] Krause accused Gomolka of incompetence over his handling of the crisis.[7] Krause then overturned Gomolka's shipyard policies.[9] As a result of the crisis, the CDU lost trust in Gomolka, and he left his role as minister president of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.[1] He remained as a state MP until 1994[4][1] and was replaced by Berndt Seite as minister president.[2] From November 1991 until March 1992, Gomolka also served as the president of the German Bundesrat, before being replaced by Berndt Seite.[10][11]

From 1994 until 2009, Gomolka was an MEP, representing the CDU.[3][1] He focused upon improving relations with the Baltic states, and was an advocate for Latvia's entry into the European Union.[1] He served as the chairman of the EU delegation to the EU-Latvia Joint Parliamentary Committee.[12] After leaving the EU Parliament, he served as leader of the CDU Seniors' Union for northeast Germany until 2015.[2]

Notes

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  1. ^ Some sources say Prime Minister

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Ex-MV-Ministerpräsident Alfred Gomolka gestorben". Nordkurier (in German). 25 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns erster Ministerpräsident Alfred Gomolka ist tot". Schweriner Volkszeitung (in German). 25 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d "Erster Regierungschef von MV: Alfred Gomolka verstorben". Ostsee-Zeitung (in German). 25 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Ex-Regierungschef Alfred Gomolka ist tot". Der Spiegel (in German). 25 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  5. ^ Merkl, Peter (November 2010). German Unification in the European Context. Penn State University Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-271-04409-5.
  6. ^ North, Michael (2015). The Baltic: A History. Harvard University Press. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-674-74410-3.
  7. ^ a b "Krause gegen Gomolka". Der Spiegel (in German). 2 March 1992. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Wir wollen unsere Millionen zurück". Tagesschau (in German). 21 October 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  9. ^ "Man muß mal hauen". Der Spiegel (in German). 9 March 1992. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Der Bundesrat" (in German). Bundesrat of Germany. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  11. ^ Funk, Albert (November 2012). Kleine Geschichte des Föderalismus: Vom Fürstenbund zur Bundesrepublik (in German). Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh. p. 354. ISBN 978-3-657-77028-1.
  12. ^ The European Union Encyclopedia and Directory 1999. Psychology Press. 1999. p. 324. ISBN 978-1-85743-056-1.
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