Kurt Beck

Beck was born in Bad Bergzabern, Rhineland-Palatinate, to the bricklayer Oskar Beck and his wife Johanna. Both his parents had their roots in the town Kapsweyer in southern Rhenish Palatinate. He grew up in Steinfeld.

From 1963 to 1968, Beck became an electrician. After military duty in 1968 and 1969, he graduated from an evening school in 1972. Since then, he served as an employee representative on works councils.

Corporate boards

Boehringer Ingelheim, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2013)

Beck is Catholic. He lives with his wife, Roswitha, whom he married in 1968 in Steinfeld, Rhineland-Palatinate. They have one son (Stefan Beck).

Political career

After joining the SPD in 1972, mainly because of the Party's programme as well as the personality of Willy Brandt, Beck became chairman of the SPD of Rhineland Palatinate in 1993 and deputy chairman of the federal party in 2003. He served in this function until 14 May 2006.

Beck has been active in local affairs since 1974, when he was first elected a member of the Kreistag. From 1989 to 1994, he was mayor of his hometown Steinfeld. From 1979, he was a directly elected member of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate, in which he served as the speaker for social affairs of the Parliamentary group of the SPD (from 1982 to 1985) and as a member of the governing body of the group from 1985 to 1991, when he was elected chairman.

Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, 1994–2013

On 26 October 1994, Beck was elected Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate, succeeding Rudolf Scharping. He was re-elected three times, in 1996, 2001 and 2006. As Minister President he was known for his centrist approach, which is also apparent from the choice of his coalition partner (the liberal FDP instead of the centre-left Green Party, with which the SPD has recently allied itself). In this respect, he follows the policy of Scharping. In March 2006, Beck's SPD gained an absolute majority in the state elections; Beck offered to continue the coalition but since the FDP declined, the SPD formed a government without a partner. After Edmund Stoiber resigned in 2007, Beck was the senior Minister President in Germany.

During his time in office, Beck's decisions in Rhineland-Palatinate to increase efficiency in the state government via administrative reorganisation, and to introduce full-day schooling and free kindergartens, drew national attention. The state also emerged as one of the country’s top economic performers. When the United States Armed Forces closed dozens of camps and barracks with the loss of 100,000 jobs, Beck's government invested heavily in retraining schemes, creating 40,000 new jobs.

In 2000 and 2001, Beck was President of the Bundesrat, one of his duties as Minister President.

In September 2012, Beck announced his resignation. He had been under pressure for weeks over the bankruptcy of the Nürburgring motorsports complex in Rhineland-Palatinate, one of the world's most famous race tracks.

Henrico Frank

Near the end of 2006, Beck told to Henrico Frank, an unemployed builder from Wiesbaden, If he would wash and shave himself, he could get a job within three weeks. Beck's behaviour was critizised by social Partys, FDP and CDU. According to the promise of Kurt Beck Frank appears washed, shaved and with a normal hairstyle at the state chamber. He declined the jobs as parcel deliverer, recycler and cleaning boy, offered to him by Kurt Beck personally. Later he got trouble, because he was seen in a T-Shirt with the Slogan " work is shit". He was forced to make efforts to find a job, and finally found one as a punk rock expert for iMusic TV.

Afghanistan

In April 2007, Beck proposed a peace conference in Afghanistan with the inclusion of "moderate Taliban". The Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, thus accused him of being naïve. He compared the idea of "moderate Taliban" to distinguishing between moderate and radical right-wing extremists in Rhineland-Palatinate. The German public mostly ignored the affair.