Jens Bullerjahn

Jens Bullerjahn
Bullerjahn in 2012
Deputy Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt
In office 24 April 2006 – 25 April 2016
Minister-President	Wolfgang Böhmer Reiner Haseloff
Preceded by	Horst Rehberger
Succeeded by	Petra Grimm-Benne
Minister of Finance of Saxony-Anhalt
In office 24 April 2006 – 25 April 2016
Minister-President	Wolfgang Böhmer Reiner Haseloff
Preceded by	Karl-Heinz Paque
Succeeded by	André Schröder
Leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt
In office 22 June 2004 – 23 April 2006
Whip	Norbert Bischoff
Deputy	Krimhild Niestädt Katrin Budde
Preceded by	Manfred Püchel
Succeeded by	Katrin Budde
Whip of the Social Democratic Party in the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt
In office 21 July 1994 – 22 June 2004
Leader	Reinhard Höppner Rüdiger Fikentscher Manfred Püchel
Preceded by	Tilman Tögel
Succeeded by	Norbert Bischoff
Parliamentary constituencies Member of the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt In office 19 April 2011 – 11 April 2016 Preceded by Dirk Schatz (2007) Succeeded by Jens Diederichs Constituency Eisleben In office 16 May 2002 – 19 April 2011 Preceded by Multi-member district Succeeded by Multi-member district Constituency Social Democratic Party List In office 21 July 1994 – 16 May 2002 Preceded by Manfred Thon Succeeded by Eduard Jantos Constituency Eisleben In office 28 October 1990 – 21 July 1994 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Multi-member district Constituency Social Democratic Party List
Personal details
Born	(1962-07-15)15 July 1962 Halle (Saale), Bezirk Halle, East Germany
Died	26 November 2022(2022-11-26) (aged 60) Eisleben, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Political party	Social Democratic (from 1990)
Other political affiliations	Social Democratic in GDR (1989–1990)
Children	2
Occupation	Politician engineer author consultant
Awards	Order of Merit of Saxony-Anhalt

Jens Bullerjahn (15 July 1962 – 26 November 2022) was a German engineer and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he served in the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt from 1990 to 2016. From 2006 to 2016, he served concurrently as Vice-Minister-President and Minister of Finances of Saxony-Anhalt. He was able to reduce the state's indebtedness.

Life and career

Born in Halle, Bullerjahn first trained to be an electrician from 1979 to 1981. From 1984, he studied electrical engineering at the Fachschule Magdeburg, graduating in 1987. He then worked as an engineer for process optimisation for the Mansfeld Kombinat until 1990.

Political career

Bullerjahn began his political career for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) at the communal level. He was a member of the SDP/SPD from 1989. Bullerjahn was elected a member of the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt in 1990 and served until 2016. He was CEO of his party in the state parliament from 1993 to 2004. From 1994 to 2002, he stood for the "Magdeburger Modell", in which a SPD government without majority was tolerated by the left parties; it continued the state’s increase of indebtedness of the previous CDU government. In the 2002 election, the SPD performed poorly. Bullerjahn began to question his approach, and sought conversations with economic researchers (Wirtschaftsforscher). Over the next 11⁄2 years, he wrote a paper consisting of strategies for sustainable consolidation of finances by financial politics through 2020: Zukunftsorientierte Finanzpolitik bis 2020. Strategien für eine nachhaltige Konsolidierung, published in 2008.

Bullerjahn led the SPD in the 2006 election, but they reached only the third position. In the resulting coalition, he served as both Vice-Minister-President and Minister of Finances of Saxony-Anhalt. He led the SPD again in the 2011 election, and held both offices until 2016. As Minister of Finances, he pursued a strict savings policy (Sparpolitik), to not only avoid more debt, but to reduce the existing, which he managed over the last three years in office. He was criticised, also within his party, for reducing the number tax offices and prisons, and for providing less support of cultural and scientific institutions, among others.

In 2012, Bullerjahn was also elected president of the board of the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder, serving until 2016.

After retiring from his political posts, he worked as a consultant and book author.

Personal life

Bullerjahn was married; the couple had two sons.

In 2021, Bullerjahn was diagnosed with amytrophic lateral sclerosis, which he made public a year later. He died in a hospital in Eisleben on 26 November 2022, at age 60.

Awards

• 2021 Order of Merit of Saxony-Anhalt

Works

Papers

• Bullerjahn, Jens; Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (2008), Zukunftsorientierte Finanzpolitik bis 2020 : Strategien für eine nachhaltige Konsolidierung des Landeshaushaltes und der Kommunalhaushalte in Sachsen-Anhalt (in German), Halle, Saale, [Magdeburg]: Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt, OCLC 838562201

Books

• Bullerjahn, Jens (2006). Quo vadis, Ostdeutschland? : zukunftsorientierte Politik für den Aufbau der neuen Länder (in German). [Germany]: Anderbeck. ISBN 3-937751-29-7. OCLC 71814086.
• ——; Renzsch, Wolfgang; Wagner, Ringo (2020). Deutschland - Ländersache?! : 30 Jahre deutsche Einheit und Föderalismus (in German). Magdeburg. ISBN 978-3-96250-590-5. OCLC 1226705542.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Thesis

• Bullerjahn, Jens (1995). Vergleich der Wirtschaftssysteme der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der ehemaligen DDR (Literaturstudie) [Comparison of the economic systems of the Federal Republic of Germany and the former GDR] (in German). OCLC 1198502997.