Oskar Lafontaine

**Oskar Lafontaine** (; born 16 September 1943 in Saarlouis-Roden) is a left-wing German politician and a founder member of the new political party _Die Linke_.

## Education and family

Lafontaine studied physics at the Bonn University and the Saarland University from 1962 to 1969.

He is Roman Catholic and is married to Christa Müller who leads a campaign against genital mutilation in Africa. They have a son, Carl Maurice, born 1997.

### Political rise

Lafontaine's political career began locally as mayor of Saarbrücken. He became widely known as a critic of chancellor Helmut Schmidt's support for the NATO plan to put Pershing II missiles in Germany. From 1985 to 1998 he was Minister-President of the Saarland. As minister-president, Lafontaine tried to keep the traditional industries of steel production and coal mining in the state with subsidies. He was also President of the Bundesrat in 1992/93.

### Chancellor candidacy

In the German federal election of 1990, Lafonntaine was the SPD's Chancellor candidate. The party lost because of support for the CDU who were the government during reunification. During the campaign he was attacked with a knife by a mentally deranged woman after a speech in Cologne. His carotid artery was slashed and he remained in a critical condition for several days.

### Political comeback

At the "Mannheim convention" in 1995, Lafontaine was elected chairman of the SPD, replacing Rudolf Scharping. He was mainly responsible for bringing the whole of the SPD against Helmut Kohl and his CDU party, instead of cooperating with the CDU. Lafontaine said that any help given to Kohl would only help to keep the CDU in government.

This idea put the SPD ahead in the opinion polls in September 1998. He was appointed Federal Minister of Finance in the first government of Gerhard Schröder.

### Minister of Finance

During his short time as Minister of Finance, Lafontaine was a figure of attack by UK Eurosceptics. This was especially because he wanted to make taxes the same in the European Union. This would have meant some UK taxes would increase.

On 11 March 1999, he resigned from all his official and party offices, saying that not getting any help from other members of the cabinet. Later he become known for his attacks against Angela Merkel's government in the tabloid Bild-Zeitung which is generally considered conservative.

### The Left Party

On 24 May 2005 Lafontaine left the SPD. On 10 June, he said he would run as the lead candidate for The Left Party.PDS (Die Linkspartei), a coalition of the Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice (WASG), which is based in western Germany, and the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which was the successor to the East German communist party

He joined the WASG on 18 June 2005 and was selected to head their list for the 2005 Federal Election in North Rhine-Westphalia on the same day. He also stood in the Saarbrücken constituency, but lost. Nevertheless, the result of the Linkspartei in the Saarland was the best in any of the federal states in the West of Germany.

## Criticisms of Lafontaine

An article by Lafontaine on Erich Honecker, state and party leader of the GDR and a Saarländer like him, in the magazine Der Spiegel was criticized by many people who said it concentrated on a few good things Honecker did, and ignored the bad things. In the late 80s and early 90s he lost some support from left-wing people because he seemed to want pro-business policies and he called for a reduction of the influx of Germans from Eastern Europe and asylum-seekers.

## Books

Oskar LaFontaine: _The Heart Beats on the Left_ Polity,

## Other websites

- www.Sozialisten.de The German Left Party
- The German Left Party pages in English
- European-Left

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **office6**: Member of the Landtag of Saarland
 for Saarlouis
- **term start6**: 2009 Saarland state election, 23 September 2009
- **term end6**: 2022 Saarland state election, 25 April 2022
- **predecessor6**: _multi-member district_
- **successor6**: _multi-member district_
- **office7**: Member of the German Bundestag, Member of the Bundestag
 for Saarland

- **term start7**: 2005 German federal election, 18 October 2005
- **term end7**: 1 February 2010
- **predecessor7**: _multi-member district_
- **successor7**: Yvonne Ploetz
- **office8**: Member of the German Bundestag, Member of the Bundestag
 for Saarbrücken (electoral district)#History, Saarbrücken I
- **term start8**: 1998 German federal election, 26 October 1998
- **term end8**: 16 March 1999
- **predecessor8**: _himself_
- **successor8**: Gudrun Roos
- **term start9**: 1994 German federal election, 15 November 1994
- **term end9**: 17 November 1994
- **predecessor9**: _himself_
- **successor9**: Elke Ferner
- **office10**: Member of the Landtag of Saarland
 for Saarbrücken
- **term start10**: 9 April 1985
- **term end10**: 9 November 1998
- **predecessor10**: _multi-member district_
- **successor10**: Karin Lawall
- **term start11**: 13 July 1970
- **term end11**: 14 July 1975
- **predecessor11**: _multi-member district_
- **successor11**: _multi-member district_


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **name**: Oskar Lafontaine
- **image**: 2017-03-26 Oskar Lafontaine by Sandro Halank–3.jpg
- **caption**: Lafontaine in 2017
- **office**: Leader of the Social Democratic Party, Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party
- **term start**: 16 November 1995
- **term end**: 12 March 1999
- **predecessor**: Rudolf Scharping
- **successor**: Gerhard Schröder
- **office1**: The Left (Germany)#Leadership history, Leader of The Left (Germany), The Left
- **alongside1**: Lothar Bisky
- **term start1**: 16 June 2007
- **term end1**: 15 May 2010
- **predecessor1**: _Position established_
- **successor1**: Klaus Ernst
- **office2**: Federal Ministry of Finance (Germany), Minister of Finance
- **chancellor2**: Gerhard Schröder
- **term start2**: 27 October 1998
- **term end2**: 18 March 1999
- **predecessor2**: Theodor Waigel
- **successor2**: Hans Eichel
- **office3**: List of Minister-Presidents of the Saarland, Minister-President of the Saarland
- **term start3**: 9 April 1985
- **term end3**: 9 November 1998
- **predecessor3**: Werner Zeyer
- **successor3**: Reinhard Klimmt
- **office4**: President of the German Bundesrat, President of the German Bundesrat, Bundesrat
- **1namedata4**: Berndt Seite
- **term start4**: 1 November 1992
- **term end4**: 31 October 1993
- **predecessor4**: Berndt Seite
- **successor4**: Klaus Wedemeier
- **office5**: Saarbrücken#Mayor, Lord Mayor of Saarbrücken
- **term start5**: 22 January 1976
- **term end5**: 9 April 1985
- **predecessor5**: Fritz Schuster
- **successor5**: Hans-Jürgen Koebnick
- **birth place**: Saarlouis#History, Saarlautern, Saarland#Nazi period, Saarland, Nazi Germany
- **party**: Independent politician, Independent
- **otherparty**: The Left (Germany), The Left
Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative
Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party
- **children**: 2
- **residence**: Merzig, Merzig-Silwingen
- **alma mater**: Saarland University