Axel Troost

Axel Troost (born September 1, 1954) is a German economist and politician. He has been a member of the Bundestag since 2005 and, since 2012, one of the four Vice Chairmen of his party (Die Linke).

Born in Hagen, Troost obtained Abitur at Schule Schloss Salem in 1973, and studied economics at Philipps-Universität Marburg, where he obtained a doctorate (Dr. rer. pol.) in 1982 with a thesis on the subject of national debt and credit institutes – public borrowing in the context of the overall lending and service operations of commercial banks. Troost has been head of the Working Group on Alternative Economic Policy (Arbeitsgruppe Alternative Wirtschaftspolitik) since 1981 and managing director of the Progress Institute for Economic Research (PIW GmbH) in Bremen and Teltow since 1984. He also worked as managing director of the Office for Structural Research Rostock (BÜSTRO) in from 1990 to 2001.

Troost was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1970 to 1973 and a member of the German Communist Party (DKP) from 1976 to 1984. He later co-founded the Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice (WASG) and served as a member of its federal executive committee from 2005 to 2007. Troost has been a member of the federal executive committee of the Left Party since the Left Party.PDS merged with the WASG. He has been deputy chairman of the Left Party since 3 June 2012.

Troost has been a Member of the German Bundestag since 2005. He is currently serving as spokesman on financial policy for the Left Party parliamentary group. During the 16th electoral term, he was a substitute member of the Second Joint Bundestag-Bundesrat Commission on Modernising the Federal System and a member of the Hypo Real Estate (HRE) committee of inquiry, which shed light on the company’s operations during the financial crisis. In the 17th electoral term, Troost was one of the Parliamentary Secretaries and a member of the Finance Committee and the Subcommittee on Local Government Affairs. Troost stood as a candidate for direct election representing the Leipzig-Land constituency and was re-elected to the Bundestag via the party list of Saxony (on fourth position) in 2013. He continued to serve as spokesman on financial policy during the 18th electoral term, and assumed the role of spokesman for the Bundestag group of Left Party parliamentarians from Saxony. Troost is also a member of the administrative council of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).

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