Thomas Kutschaty
{{Short description|German politician (born 1968)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Thomas Kutschaty
| birth_name = Thomas Kutschaty
| successor5 = Peter Biesenbach
| office6 = Member of the
Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia
for Essen I – Mülheim II
| term_start6 = 8 June 2005
| term_end6 =
| predecessor6 = Constituency created
| successor6 =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|06|12|df=yes}}
| term_end5 = 27 June 2017
| birth_place = Essen, West Germany
{{small|(now Germany)}}
| death_date =
| death_place =
| partner =
| party = Social Democratic Party
| alma_mater = Ruhr University Bochum
| predecessor5 = Roswitha Müller-Piepenkötter
| term_start5 = 15 July 2010
| image = Wahlkampf Landtagswahl NRW 2022 - SPD - Roncalliplatz Köln 2022-05-13-4343.jpg
| office4 = Leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia
| office3 = Leader of the Social Democratic Party in North Rhine-Westphalia
| deputy3 = Marc Herter
Elvan Korkmaz
Veith Lemmen
Sören Link
Dörte Schall
| term_start3 = 6 March 2021
| term_end3 =
| predecessor3 = Sebastian Hartmann
| successor3 =
| 1blankname4 = {{nowrap|Chief Whip}}
| 1namedata5 = Hannelore Kraft
| 1namedata4 = Sarah Philipp
| term_start4 = 27 April 2018
| term_end4 =
| predecessor4 = Norbert Römer
| successor4 =
| office5 = Minister of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia
| 1blankname5 = {{nowrap|Minister President}}
| caption = Kutschaty in 2022
}}
Thomas Kutschaty (born 12 June 1968) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the leader of the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia from 2021 to 2023.{{Cite web|last=Korfmann|first=Matthias|date=2021-03-06|title=NRW-SPD wählt Thomas Kutschaty zum neuen Vorsitzenden|url=https://www.waz.de/politik/landespolitik/nrw-spd-waehlt-thomas-kutschaty-zum-neuen-vorsitzenden-id231731285.html|access-date=2021-09-27|website=www.waz.de|language=de-DE}}
Kutschaty has been a member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2005 and the parliamentary leader of the SPD since 2018. Prior to this, Kutschaty served as the State Minister for Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 till 2017.
Early life, education and family
Kutschaty was born in Essen, West Germany in June 1968. His family was railway workers' family, with Kutschaty being the first to complete his Abitur.Ausführliche biographische Angaben bei Wolfgang Sykorra: Von der Penne in die Welt. Borbecker Porträts. Herausgegeben von Lothar Böning. Edition Rainruhr, Essen 2013, S. 112–114. Kutschaty studied law at the Ruhr University Bochum, passing his first state exam in 1995 and his second in 1997. Kutschaty was active as a lawyer between 1997 and 2010.
Kutschaty is married and has three children.{{Cite web|title=Website von Thomas Kutschaty - Fraktionsvorsitzender im Landtag NRW › Thomas Kutschaty MdL|url=https://www.thomas-kutschaty.de/|access-date=2021-09-27|language=de-DE}}
Political career
= Career in local politics =
Kutschaty has been a member of the SPD since 1986. Between 1987 and 1989, he served as the Spokesperson of the Young Socialists in Essen-Borbeck, and between 1998 and 1990, he was member of the executive of the Young Socialists in Essen. Additionally Kutschaty has been a member of the executive of the SPD Essen-Borbeck, and served as its leader since 1994. In 1999, he was elected to the Essen city council, where he served in the committee on urban development and city planning until 2004.
= Career in state politics =
Kutschaty was elected to the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westfalia in the 2005 elections. In parliament, he was a member of the internal affairs committee as well as the justice committee and the parliamentary oversight committee. He also served as the deputy chair of the committee investigating the prison JVA Siegburg.
After Hannelore Kraft (SPD) formed a minority government following the 2010 state election, she appointed Kutschaty as justice minister, an office which was reappointed to after the 2012 state election. He left government after the Hannelore Kraft and the SPD lost the 2017 state election against Armin Laschet and the Christian Democrats. Kutschaty was succeeded as justice minister by Peter Biesenbach (CDU).
Kutschaty was nominated by his party as delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2022.[https://www.landtag.nrw.de/portal/WWW/dokumentenarchiv/Dokument/MMD17-16063.pdf Drucksache 17/16063: Ergebnis der Wahl der Mitglieder zur 17. Bundesversammlung] State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Kutschaty was the lead candidate for the Social Democrats in the 2022 North Rhine-Westfalia state election but lost out against incumbent Minister-President Hendrik Wüst.{{Cite web|date=2021-01-19|title=NRW-SPD: Kutschaty wird Spitzenkandidat bei Landtagswahl 2022|url=https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/landespolitik/spd-kutschaty-spitzenkandidat-100.html|access-date=2021-09-27|website=www1.wdr.de|language=de}}
Since January 2023, Kutschaty has been serving on an internal SPD commission on tax reform, co-chaired by Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil.Christian Teevs (8 January 2023), [https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/spd-will-steuersystem-umbauen-arbeitsgruppe-soll-konzept-erarbeiten-a-3b2afbc7-505f-4a96-9d12-db3714c2d139 Vorstandsklausur: SPD will Steuersystem umbauen] Der Spiegel.
Other activities
=Corporate boards=
- NRW.BANK, Member of the Supervisory Board[https://www.nrwbank.de/de/die-nrw-bank/dafuer-stehen-wir/vorstand/#verwaltungsrat Executive Bodies] NRW.BANK.
- Sparkasse Essen, Member of the Supervisory Board (2017–2021)[https://www.landtag.nrw.de/home/der-landtag/abgeordnete-und--fraktionen/die-abgeordneten/abgeordnetensuche/abgeordnetendetail.html?k=01491 Thomas Kutschaty] State Parliament of North Rhine-Westpahlia.
=Non-profit organizations=
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
- {{IMDb name|2183020}}
- {{Official website|https://www.thomas-kutschaty.de/}}
- [https://www.wahl.de/politiker/spd/thomas-kutschaty] at wahl.de
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kutschaty, Thomas}}
Category:Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians
Category:20th-century German politicians
Category:21st-century German politicians
Category:Politicians from Essen
Category:Ruhr University Bochum alumni