| Matthias Miersch | |
| Office: | Member of the Bundestag |
| Term Start: | 2005 |
| Birth Date: | 1968 12, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Hannover, West Germany |
| Citizenship: | German |
| Nationality: | German |
| Party: | SPD |
| Alma Mater: | Leibniz University Hannover |
| Occupation: | Criminal defense lawyer |
Matthias Miersch (born 19 December 1968) is a German criminal defense lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Member of the German Parliament since 2005, representing the Hannover-Land II district. He focusses on environmental policy.[1]
Since 2013, Miersch has been a member of the party's executive board under successive chairpersons Sigmar Gabriel (2013-2017), Martin Schulz (2017-2018), Andrea Nahles (2018-2019), Norbert Walter-Borjans (2019–2021), Saskia Esken (since 2019) and Lars Klingbeil (since 2021).
Born in Hannover, Miersch studied law at the Leibniz University Hannover and the German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer. From 1988 until 1995, he volunteered for the St. John Accident Assistance.
Miersch has been a member of the German Bundestag since the 2005 national elections. In parliament, he served on the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (2005–2017) and the Committee on Legal Affairs (2005–2009).
In addition, Miersch was a member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board for Sustainable Development (2006-2009) and the Parliamentary Commission on the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (2014-2016).[2] In 2014, he joined the parliamentary body in charge of appointing judges to the Highest Courts of Justice, namely the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG), the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH), the Federal Labour Court (BAG), and the Federal Social Court (BSG).
In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the SPD following the 2013 federal elections, Miersch was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on the environment and agriculture, led by Katherina Reiche and Ute Vogt. From 2014 to 2016, he was one of the members of the country's temporary National Commission on the Disposal of Radioactive Waste, chaired by Ursula Heinen-Esser and Michael Müller.[3]
Within his parliamentary group, Miersch belongs to the Parliamentary Left, a left-wing movement.[4] He served as spokesperson on environmental policy between 2009 and 2013. In 2015, he was elected to the parliamentary group's executive board under the leadership of chairman Thomas Oppermann. Since 2017, he has been the group's deputy chairman, under successive chairs Andrea Nahles (2017-2019) and Rolf Mützenich (since 2019).
In 2019, Miersch succeeded Stefan Schostok as chairman of the SPD in Hannover.[5]
In the negotiations to form a so-called traffic light coalition of the SPD, the Green Party and the FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Miersch led his party's delegation in the working group on environmental policy; his co-chairs from the other parties are Oliver Krischer and Lukas Köhler.[6]
Miersch is married with his partner.[11]