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Renate Künast

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Renate Elly Künast (born 15 December 1955) is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens party. She was the Minister of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture from 2001 to 2005 and subsequently served as chairwoman of her party's parliamentary group in the Bundestag.

Renate Künast
Künast in 2017
Leader of the Alliance 90/The Greens in the Bundestag
In office
4 October 2005 – 8 October 2013
Serving with Fritz Kuhn and Jürgen Trittin
Chief WhipVolker Beck
Preceded byKatrin Göring-Eckardt
Succeeded byKatrin Göring-Eckardt
Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
In office
12 January 2001 – 4 October 2005
ChancellorGerhard Schröder
Preceded byKarl-Heinz Funke
Succeeded byJürgen Trittin (Acting)
Leader of the Alliance 90/The Greens
In office
23 June 2000 – 9 March 2001
Serving with Fritz Kuhn
Preceded byGunda Röstel
Succeeded byClaudia Roth
Member of the Bundestag
for Berlin
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 September 2002
ConstituencyAlliance 90/The Greens
Member of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin
In office
19 January 1989 – 25 June 2000
ConstituencyAlliance 90/The Greens
In office
10 March 1985 – 20 April 1987
ConstituencyAlternative List
Personal details
Born (1955-12-15) 15 December 1955 (age 69)
Recklinghausen, West Germany
Political party German:
Alliance '90/The Greens
 EU:
The Greens–European Free Alliance
Residence(s)Berlin, Germany
Alma materFachhochschule Düsseldorf
Free University of Berlin
OccupationAttorney

Early life and career

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Künast was born in Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. She studied social work in Düsseldorf and worked from 1977 to 1979 in this profession in a jailhouse in Berlin. After that she studied law at the Free University of Berlin until 1985. During her student years, she often protested against the Gorleben nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant.[1] She later worked as lawyer specializing on aliens law and criminal law.

Political career

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Career in state politics

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Since 1979, Künast has been a member of the German Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), first in the Alternative List in West Berlin. In the 1990s she was member of parliament and chairwoman of the Green Party's group in the state parliament of Berlin. During that time, she won cross-party respect for her leading role in drafting a new democratic constitution for the reunified city-state.[2] Künast eventually became the party's spokeswoman for legal issues. In 1998, she re-assumed the floor leadership post alongside Michaele Schreyer.[3]

In national politics, Künast came to be known as a tough negotiator for her work in drafting the national red-green coalition agreement after the 1998 federal parliamentary elections. In October 1999, she was the Green' front-runner in Berlin's state elections.

From June 2000 to March 2001, Künast served as co-chair of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen on the national level, together with Fritz Kuhn.

Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, 2001–2005

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Künast became Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in the second government of Germany Gerhard Schröder in 2001. Since her party at the time did not allow the combination of functions in the party and the government in one person, she had to resign from her role as the party's co-chair.

By naming someone with no experience in farming to head a ministry with such sweeping powers, Schröder was widely considered gambling that any loss of support among farmers would be more than compensated by support from ecologically conscious Germans alarmed by the discovery of mad cow disease.[4]

Künast held the office of Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection until 2005, over time becoming known for increasing consumer protection, supporting organic farming, and expanding animal welfare. During her time in office, she ranked behind only Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in public opinion polls.[5]

Member of the German Parliament, 2002–present

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Following the 2002 elections, Künast was part of the Green Party's team in the negotiations with the Social Democrats on a coalition agreement for the second government under the leadership of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

After the 2005 federal election, Künast became co-chair of the Green Party's parliamentary group, initially together with Fritz Kuhn and later with Jürgen Trittin. In the 2005 vote, she won against Trittin and Katrin Göring-Eckardt.[6] Also since 2005, she has been serving on the Committee on the Election of Judges (Wahlausschuss), which is in charge of appointing judges to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.

Künast announced on 5 November 2010 that she we would be the candidate for Governing Mayor of Berlin for Alliance 90/The Greens in the 2011 Berlin state election.[7] At the time of the announcement, her party was eight percentage points ahead of the Social Democrats in the opinion polls.[8] Under her leadership, the Green Party came third with 17.6 percent of the vote, ten percentage points behind the Social Democrates but still up from the 13.1 percent they won in the previous election.[9] However, incumbent Klaus Wowereit from the Social Democrats chose to enter a coalition with the conservative CDU, leaving Künast without any role in Berlin state politics.

Ahead of the 2013 elections, Künast announced her candidacy to lead the Green Party’s campaign.[10] In an internal vote, she ultimately lost against Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Jürgen Trittin.[11]

After the 2013 elections, the resignation of Künast and Trittin as co-leaders of the Green Party's group in parliament cleared the way for the election of Göring-Eckardt and Anton Hofreiter.[12] Instead, Künast unsuccessfully ran against Claudia Roth for the office of Vice President of the German Bundestag. She eventually served as chairwoman of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection from 2014 until 2017. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Committee on Food and Agriculture.

In the negotiations to form a so-called traffic light coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD), the Green Party and the FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Künast led her party's delegation in the working group on agriculture and nutrition; her co-chairs from the other parties are Till Backhaus and Carina Konrad.[13]

In July 2024, Künast announced that she would not stand in the 2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[14]

Other activities

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Corporate boards

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  • KfW, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (2003-2005)[15]

Non-profit organizations

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  • Stiftung Forum Recht, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022)[16]
  • Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences, Member of the Board of Trustees
  • Association of German Foundations, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board
  • German Forum for Crime Prevention (DFK), Member of the Board of Trustees
  • German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ), Member of the Board of Trustees
  • Humanist Union, Member[17]

In addition, Künast serves on the board of trustees of the Berlin-based AIDS-Hilfe (AIDS-Help) group,[18] and is an honorary member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation[19] and the Angelo Roncalli Committee within that organization.[20]

Political positions

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Künast in 2006

Human rights

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In 2010, Künast criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel for speaking at an award ceremony for Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard in Potsdam, arguing that while it was true that the right to freedom of expression also applies to Westergaard's controversial Muhammad cartoons "if a chancellor also makes a speech on top of that, it serves to heat up the debate."[21]

In August 2012, Künast was one of 124 members of the Bundestag to sign a letter that was sent to the Russian ambassador to Germany, Vladimir Grinin, expressing concern over the trial against the three members of Pussy Riot. "Being held in detention for months and the threat of lengthy punishment are draconian and disproportionate", the lawmakers said in the letter. "In a secular and pluralist state, peaceful artistic acts -- even if they can be seen as provocative -- must not lead to the accusation of serious criminal acts that lead to lengthy prison terms."[22][23]

In 2015, Künast was the initiator of a bill in favor of legalizing assisted suicide, arguing that "a punishment of commercial euthanasia would expose doctors to the severe risk of legal investigations." However, the Bundestag later voted to criminalize organizations that assist patients seeking to terminate their lives in return for payment and makes assisting a suicide punishable by up to three years in prison.[24]

Regulation of digital platforms

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In 2021, Künast requested the personal data of several Facebook users to pursue the authors of 22 insulting comments against her, many of which were of a sexist or violent nature. In 2022, the Federal Constitutional Court sided with Künast personal data.[25]

Economic policy

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Amid the financial crisis of 2007–08, Künast proposed to solve the state-owned banks' financial woes and to merge the Germany's then eight regional banks into one institution, which would concentrate on regional economic development. In a 2008 interview with newspaper Welt am Sonntag: "The regional banks should be merged into one and their functions need to be clearly laid out."[26] Ahead of the 2009 federal elections, in an attempt to come up with an antidote to the other political parties' hijacking of green ideas, Künast and her fellow lead candidate Jürgen Trittin backed up their critique of incumbent Chancellor Angela Merkel's government with a "Green New Deal", calling for €20 billion ($27.4 billion) a year to be invested in climate protection, environmental technology and education.[27]

Consumer protection

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In 2010, Künast called for a ban on advertising for sweets aimed at children.[28]

Relations with the CDU

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Over the course of her career, Künast has regularly dismissed prospects for an alternative coalition between the Greens and Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union on a national level.[29]

Recognition

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In 2010, Künast – along with Cécile Duflot, Monica Frassoni, and Marina Silva – was named by Foreign Policy magazine to its list of top global thinkers,[30] for taking Green mainstream.

Personal life

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Künast has been married to lawyer Rüdiger Portius since 2011.[31] From 2001, she shared an apartment with Katrin Göring-Eckardt in Berlin’s Friedenau district.[32]

Controversy

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Hate speech

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Künast was personally extremely insulted by hate speech on the net; mostly on Facebook she got sexually insulted.[33] Künast fights more consistently than almost any other German politician against these form of violent by anonymous persons.

The Berlin Regional Court initially found that these were all permissible expressions of opinion, Künast had provoked these comments because of a misleading statement in 1986 about sex with children. Künast lodged an appeal. As a result, the district court obliged Facebook to provide information about the authors of some comments, so that the politician could take legal action against these people.

All this has been annulled by the Federal Constitutional Court (BVG) in February 2022. The Berlin courts had not weighed properly. The Berlin court had always evaluated all comments in the context of the discussion, BVG said. But even with a reference to a public debate, not everything is allowed.[34]

Antisemitism

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In July 2009 Künast was accused of antisemitism by the Jerusalem Post, after she had allegedly been overheard calling the pro-Israel "Stop The Bomb" organisation a "Mossad front", which she denied.[35][36]

Domestic security

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In October 2015 Künast advised the police officer Tania Kambouri during a talk show that the police should take their shoes off before raids in mosques. Kambouri had published a book about her experience with the rising violence by Muslim men against law enforcement and especially against women.[37]

In July 2016 Künast posted a Tweet in which she questioned the shooting of an Afghan refugee and ISIS sympathiser who severely injured five people with an axe. She was criticized for publicly accusing the police of wrongdoing without knowing the details and before the official investigation was started. Members from her party distanced themselves from the statement and said that they trusted the German police.[38][39] Police union chief Rainier Wendt called her a "parliamentary smart aleck".[40]

Bibliography

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  • Die Dickmacher. Warum die Deutschen immer fetter werden und was wir dagegen tun müssen. Riemann Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-570-50062-4.
  • Klasse statt Masse. Die Erde schätzen, den Verbraucher schützen. Econ Ullstein List Verlag, München 2002.
  • Der Mordfall Schmücker und der Verfassungs„schutz". Dokumentation seit dem 29. September 1986, vorgelegt von Renate Künast (MdA), Februar 1987. Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz, Fraktion des Abgeordnetenhauses von Berlin, 1987.

References

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  1. ^ Germany's urban cowgirl European Voice, 31 January 2001.
  2. ^ Germany's urban cowgirl European Voice, 31 January 2001.
  3. ^ Germany's urban cowgirl European Voice, 31 January 2001.
  4. ^ Roger Cohen (11 January 2001), Two Named to New German Agency in Shuffle Over Beef Disease New York Times.
  5. ^ Renate Kunast, Agriculture Minister, Germany Bloomberg News, 11 June 2001.
  6. ^ Robert Roßmann (17 May 2005), Nach Kampfabstimmung: Künast und Kuhn führen neue Grünen-Fraktion Süddeutsche Zeitung.
  7. ^ "German Green leader to run for Berlin mayor". The Irish Times. 6 November 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  8. ^ Siobhán Dowling (15 December 2010), Letter from Berlin: Star Candidate's Gaffes Have Berlin Greens Jittering Spiegel Online.
  9. ^ State Election in German Capital: Klaus Wowereit Wins Third Term as Berlin Mayor Spiegel Online, 18 September 2011.
  10. ^ Florian Gathmann (17 August 2012), Kandidaten-Gerangel bei den Grünen: Zwei Plätze, vier Bewerber Der Spiegel.
  11. ^ Christoph Hickmann (10 November 2012), Grünes Spitzenduo Trittin und Göring-Eckardt: Baff. Bumm. Sensation. Süddeutsche Zeitung.
  12. ^ Quentin Peel (24 September 2013), Centre-left opposition to coalition with Merkel deepens Financial Times.
  13. ^ Andreas Apetz and Thomas Kaspar (22 October 2021), Ampel-Koalition: Alle Verantwortlichen, AGs und Themen im Überblick Frankfurter Rundschau.
  14. ^ Felix Hackenbruch (8 July 2024), „Es ist Zeit, um Platz für Jüngere zu machen“: Renate Künast kündigt Rückzug aus der aktiven Politik an Der Tagesspiegel.
  15. ^ 2005 Annual Report[permanent dead link‍] KfW.
  16. ^ Board of Trustees Stiftung Forum Recht.
  17. ^ Beirat der Humanistischen Union
  18. ^ Kuratorium der BAH Archived 30 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Berliner AIDS-Hilfe.
  19. ^ Honorary Members Archived 21 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
  20. ^ Honorary Members, Angelo Roncalli Committee, International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
  21. ^ Award for Danish Muhammad Cartoonist: Merkel Defends Press Freedom, Condemns Koran-Burning Spiegel Online, 9 September 2010.
  22. ^ Henry Meyer (8 August 2012), Madonna Urges Freedom for Anti-Putin Punk Girls at Concert Bloomberg News.
  23. ^ Appell aus dem Bundestag: Deutsche Abgeordnete fordern Milde für Pussy Riot Spiegel Online, 7 August 2012.
  24. ^ Tina Bellon (6 November 2015), German parliament votes to criminalize commercial euthanasia Reuters.
  25. ^ Miranda Murray (2 February 2022), Top German court sides with lawmaker over slurs on Facebook Reuters.
  26. ^ Consolidation Pressure in Germany: Politicians Call for State-Owned Banks to Merge Spiegel Online, 7 April 2008.
  27. ^ Charles Hawley (13 May 2009), Letter from Berlin: Germany's Green Party Faces Four More Years of Opposition Spiegel Online.
  28. ^ Outlawing Obesity: European Governments Seek to Mandate Healthier Diets Spiegel Online, 11 January 2010.
  29. ^ Quentin Peel (17 September 2013), Prospects fade for Green - SPD coalition in Germany Financial Times.
  30. ^ "The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers". Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  31. ^ Annette Kögel (24 July 2011), Künast-Hochzeit: Kann denn Liebe Wahlkampf sein? Der Tagesspiegel.
  32. ^ Florian Gathmann (17 August 2012), Kandidaten-Gerangel bei den Grünen: Zwei Plätze, vier Bewerber Der Spiegel.
  33. ^ "Hetze im Netz: Künast nach Hasskommentaren vor Gericht erfolgreich". FAZ.NET (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  34. ^ tagesschau.de. "Klage wegen Hasspostings: Karlsruhe gibt Künast recht". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  35. ^ Benjamin Weinthal (9 November 2008). "German Kristallnacht events marred by reported rise in anti-Semitism". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 28 September 2009.[permanent dead link‍]
  36. ^ Benjamin Weinthal (12 July 2009). "German pro-Israel group labeled 'Mossad front'". Retrieved 28 September 2009.[permanent dead link‍]
  37. ^ "Bizarre Forderung von Plapper-Künast: Polizisten sollen im Einsatz bei Muslimen die Schuhe ausziehen". Focus. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  38. ^ "Kritik an Polizei-Schüssen: Künast bereut Würzburg-Tweet - ein bisschen". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  39. ^ "Wie Renate Künast ihren Würzburg-Tweet verteidigt". Die Welt. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  40. ^ "German politicians slow to react to Würzburg attack". Deutsche Welle. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
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