| Honorific Prefix: | Senator | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Peter Tschentscher | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Honorific-Suffix: | MdBR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Office: | First Mayor of Hamburg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1Namedata: | Katharina Fegebank | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Term Start: | 28 March 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor: | Katharina Fegebank Olaf Scholz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Office1: | President of the Bundesrat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1Namedata1: | Bodo Ramelow | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Term Start1: | 1 November 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Term End1: | 31 October 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor1: | Bodo Ramelow | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor1: | Manuela Schwesig | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Office2: | Senator of Finance of Hamburg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1Namedata2: | Olaf Scholz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Term Start2: | 7 March 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Term End2: | 28 March 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor2: | Herlind Gundelach | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor2: | Andreas Dressel
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| Birth Date: | 20 January 1966 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence: | Barmbek-Nord, Hamburg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma Mater: | University of Hamburg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Peter Tschentscher (pronounced as /de/; born 20 January 1966) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Since 28 March 2018 he has been the First Mayor of Hamburg. As First Mayor, he is head of the current government of the city-state. Since 2008 he has been a member of the Hamburg Parliament. From 2011 until 2018 he served as State Minister of Finance in the first and second governments of Olaf Scholz.
Tschentscher graduated from high school in Oldenburg in 1985. He later studied medicine and molecular biology at the University of Hamburg, where he received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1995. From 1994 until 2008 he practised as a physician at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.
Tschentscher joined the Social Democratic Party in 1989. From 2007 until 2018 he served as chairman of the SPD district Hamburg-Nord.[1] He was first elected to the Hamburgische Bürgerschaft in the 2008 state elections. From 2008 until 2011 he served on the Budget Committee. In addition, he led a parliamentary inquiry into cost overruns in the construction of the Elbphilharmonie from 2010.
During his tenure as State Minister of Finance Tschentscher oversaw the privatization of the publicly owned shipping finance provider HSH Nordbank.[2]
From 2015 on, Tschentscher was one of the state's representatives at the Bundesrat, where he served as deputy chairman of the finance committee.
In March 2018 Tschentscher succeeded Olaf Scholz, who left state politics to become Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the fourth coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
At the time of his nomination, Tschentscher was seen as a surprising choice by many, as he has not appeared much in the public during his term as Senator of Finance. Andreas Dressel, SPD parliamentary group leader in Hamburg, had been considered by many as obvious successor of Scholz,[3] but declined for personal reasons.[4]
As one of the state's representatives at the Bundesrat, Tschentscher is a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and on the Committee on European Affairs. He is also a member of the German-Polish Friendship Group set up in cooperation with the Senate of Poland. During his first year as mayor, he served as Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Germany for Cultural Affairs under the Treaty on Franco-German Cooperation.
In the negotiations to form a so-called traffic light coalition of the SPD, the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the 2021 federal elections, Tschentscher was part of his party's delegation in the working group on economic affairs, co-chaired by Carsten Schneider, Cem Özdemir and Michael Theurer.[5]
Tschentscher was nominated by his party as delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2022.[6]
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