Peer Steinbrück

Peer Steinbrück (born 10 January 1947) is a German politician.
Steinbrück was born in Hamburg. From 1968 to 1969 he was training as a reserve officer of the Bundeswehr (German army). From 1970 to 1974 he studied national economy in Kiel. After that he worked in different ministries.
In 1969 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In 1993 he became Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure in the State of Schleswig-Holstein. In 1998 he changed to the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and became Secretary for Infrastructure, up from 2000 Secretary of Finance. In 2000 he was elected into the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia.
He was Minister President (Ministerpräsident) of North Rhine-Westphalia from November 2002 to June 2005.
On the state election on 22 May 2005 Steinbrück failed to be reelected as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia. His successor was Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU).
Since November 2005 he has been finance minister of Germany and Vice chief of SPD.