Stefan Liebich

Stefan Liebich (born 30 December 1972) is a German politician, who served as a member of the Bundestag for the Democratic Socialist party The Left (DIE LINKE) between 2009 and 2021.

Stefan Liebich
Portrait of Liebich (2017)
Member of the Bundestag
for Berlin-Pankow
In office
27 October 2009 – 26 October 2021
Preceded byWolfgang Thierse
Succeeded byStefan Gelbhaar
Berlin state politics
(1995 – 2009)
Leader of the Party of Democratic Socialism in Berlin
In office
1 December 2001[1] – 3 December 2005[2]
Preceded byPetra Pau
Succeeded byKlaus Lederer
Leader of the Party of Democratic Socialism at the Berlin House of Representatives
In office
29 August 2002 – 26 October 2006
DeputyCarola Bluhm
Marion Seelig
Uwe Doering
Preceded byHarald Wolf
Succeeded byCarola Bluhm
Member of the Berlin House of Representatives
In office
26 October 2006 – 31 October 2009
Succeeded byGernot Klemm
ConstituencyThe Left List
In office
30 November 1995 – 26 October 2006
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byCarl Wechselberg
ConstituencyMarzahn-Hellersdorf 4
Personal details
Born
Stefan Liebich

(1972-12-30) 30 December 1972
Wismar, East Germany (present-day Germany)
Political partyThe Left
Other political
affiliations		Party of Democratic Socialism (1990–2007)

Life

Liebich was born on 30 December 1972 in the East German city of Wismar and spent his childhood in Greifswald. In 1983, he moved with his family to Berlin. According to Liebich he was approached by the Stasi at the age of 13, who asked him if he could imagine working for them at a later time.[3][4] After completing his Abitur in 1991, he graduated from Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin in business economics with a focus on information systems in 1995.[4] Liebich is not religious.[5]

Party

In the GDR Stefan Liebich was a member of the marxist youth organisation FDJ. in 1990, on his 18th birthday, he joined the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).

In 1996 and 1998 the PDS in Marzahn elected him as chair of the district. In December 1999 he was elected co-chair of the PDS in Berlin. In 2001 he succeeded Petra Pau as chairman of the Berlin PDS and was re-elected in 2003.

In October 2005 Liebich announced that he would not run for chairman of the Berlin PDS again. He proposed Klaus Lederer as his successor. He wanted to focus on leading the PDS’s parliamentary group at the Berlin House of Representatives.

Political positions

Liebich has been known to work for a red-red-green coalition on a federal level. Since 2009 he has hosted meetings between the party's MPs to find a common ground.[6][7]

He represents the moderate, reformist wing of the party and advocates for an involvement of the party with government.

Member of Parliament

Berlin House of Representatives

In 1995, 1999 and 2001 Stefan Liebich was voted into the Berlin House of Representatives for the Marzahn constituency. At the 2006 election he did not manage to win the direct mandate for Prenzlauer Berg and was subsequently elected via the PDS list.

From 2002 to 2006 he was the Chairman of the PDS parliamentary group.

Bundestag

Liebich ran for office for the PDS in 2002 in Berlin-Mitte and in 2005 for The Left in Berlin-Pankow. Both times he lost to the candidates of the SPD. In 2009 Liebich managed to win the direct mandate in Pankow for the first time, beating the incumbent Wolfgang Thierse. At the 2013 and 2017 elections he also won the direct mandate.[8]

He is the chairman of the parliamentary group of The Left in the Foreign Affairs committee of the Bundestag, currently he is the groups spokesperson for foreign policy.

In February 2020, Liebich said that he will not seek re-election to the Bundestag in the 2021 German federal election.[9], and subsequently left office on 26 October 2021.

Publications
  • Stefan Liebich, Gerry Woop (Hrsg.): Linke Außenpolitik: Reformperspektiven. WeltTrends, Potsdam 2013, ISBN 978-3-941880-65-8
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stefan Liebich.

References
  1. „Berlin nach der Wahl – die politische Lage und die PDS“ 1 December 2001, petrapau.de
  2. Mehr Linkes aus dem Bundesrat 3 December 2005, petrapau.de
  3. taz: „Thierse passt nicht mehr in diese Zeit.“ Interview with Stefan Liebich, September 29th 2009
  4. Biography at Stefan Liebich's website
  5. Biography at the German Bundestag
  6. Stefan Liebich hält LINKE-Programm für nicht mehr zeitgemäß (Interview with Welt, 12 July 2019)
  7. Es fehlt ein klarer Lagerwahlkampf – Interview with Stefan Liebich(Handelsblatt, 21 June 2016)
  8. Berliner Direktkandidaten Wer ist drin – und wer ist draußen? (Berliner Zeitung online, 24. September 2017)
  9. Tagesspiegel: Berliner Linken Abgeordneter Liebich will nicht erneut für Bundestag kandidieren, (german)
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