Andrea Fischer (born January 14, 1960) is a former member of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

for the

German Green Party Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (fo ...

and from 1998 until 2001 was Federal Minister for Health. She dropped out of the Bundestag in 2002.

Life

Education and profession

After graduating from high school, Andrea Fischer completed an apprenticeship as an offset printer. She then worked as a

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer ( fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * Jame ...

and

proofreader Proofreading is the reading of a galley proof or an electronic copy of a publication to find and correct reproduction errors of text or art. Proofreading is the final step in the editorial cycle before publication. Professional Traditional m ...

and additionally completed her

studies Study or studies may refer to: General * Education **Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Observational study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study (art), a drawing or series of drawin ...

in economics at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

. After completing her studies, she worked as a research assistant at the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

, the

WZB Berlin Social Science Center The WZB Berlin Social Science Center (german: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, WZB), also known by its German initials WZB, is an internationally renowned research institute for the social sciences, the largest such institution ...

and the ''Federal Insurance Institution for Employees'' (''Bundesversicherungsanstalt für Angestellte'').

Political career

She has been a member of the

since 1985, before that she was a member of the Group of International Marxists (GIM), the then German section of the Fourth International. From 1994 to 2002 she was a member of the

German Bundestag German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. After the 1998 federal elections, she was appointed Federal Minister of Health on October 27, 1998, as a member of the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

headed by

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ...

. She resigned from office on January 9, 2001, in the wake of the

BSE BSE may refer to: Medicine * Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, a neurodegenerative disease of cattle * Breast self-examination Stock exchanges * Bahrain Stock Exchange, Bahrain * Baku Stock Exchange, Azerbaijan * B ...

crisis. Shortly afterwards, the resignation of the Federal Minister of Agriculture,

Karl-Heinz Funke Karl-Heinz Funke (born 29 April 1946) is a German politician. From 1998 to 2001, he served as the Minister of Food and Agriculture of Germany in the First Schröder cabinet. Personal life Funke was born on 29 April, 1946 in Dangast, part of th ...

, was also announced. In the film ''Schlachtfeld Politik – Die finstere Seite der Macht'' (''Battlefield Politics – The dark side of power'') by

Stephan Lamby Stephan may refer to: * Stephan, South Dakota, United States * Stephan (given name), a masculine given name * Stephan (surname), a Breton-language surname See also * Sankt-Stephan * Stefan (disambiguation) * Stephan-Oterma * Stephani * Stephe ...

, she describes that there was massive

pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and e ...

from the party leadership. The film asks whether Andrea Fischer had to resign after ''

Joschka Fischer Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 12 April 1948) is a German retired politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice-chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. Fis ...

's wild years'' (

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

edition 2/2001), not so much because of the

crisis as to relieve

. Fischer was elected as the leading

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...

candidate in the Berlin election on September 18, 2011, in the district assembly (''Bezirksverordnetenversammlung'') of Berlin's

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuzb ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

, where she was chair of the

parliamentary group until October 30, 2012. On October 15, 2012, Fischer was elected by the Regional Assembly to the office of Finance Director of the

Hanover Region Hanover Region (german: Region Hannover) is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Heidekreis, Celle, Gifhorn, Peine, Hildesheim, Hamelin-Pyrmont, Schaumburg and Nienburg. The H ...

, which had been restructured by Regional President

Hauke Jagau Hauke Jagau (born 1961 in Hanover, West Germany) is a German politician (SPD). Career Before being mayor of Laatzen the lawyer worked for ''SPD-Landtagsfraktion Niedersachsen'', the State Ministry of Justice and the State Chancellery in the gov ...

. It manages the areas of finance, facility management and hospitals. In April 2013 she took over as chairman of the supervisory board of the ''Klinikum Region Hanover''.

Lobbyism

After her time as an active politician, Fischer became active as a freelance publicist and lobbyist in international health policy. From 2001 to 2009 she was patron of the ''Federal Association of Experienced Psychiatrists'' (''Bundesverband Psychiatrie-Erfahrener''). From 2004 to 2006 Fischer was a member of the management team of the consulting firm ''Institut für Organisationskommunikation'' (IFOK GmbH), where she was responsible for health and nutrition. Previously, she was head of the Center of Canadian Universities (CUC) in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Fischer is Vice Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Man, Ethics and Science (''Institut Mensch, Ethik und Wissenschaft''). From 2006 to 2009 she worked at the

PR agency Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

Pleon in Munich, where she headed the medical-pharmaceutical area of healthcare. Since then she has been self-employed in this field. Since April 2006, Fischer has been co-editor of ''GesundheitsNachrichten'', a specialist journal for the health industry.

Journalism

From October 2002 to the end of 2003, Andrea Fischer and BamS editor-in-chief

Claus Strunz Claus Strunz (born 29 September 1966) is a German journalist and television host. Biography Strunz was born in Münchberg. After graduating from high school in Bayreuth, he worked as a trainee at the ''Nordbayerischer Kurier''. He then studie ...

hosted the n-tv programme '' Grüner Salon''. She appears regularly in broadcasts on Deutschlandradio Kultur, where she presents new publications of German-language crime literature.

Other commitments

Fischer supported the

Pro-Reli campaign, which failed in April 2009, as a

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, where ...

. Since 2008 she has been the

diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

leader of the

Malteser Hilfsdienst Maltesers are a British confectionery product manufactured by Mars, Incorporated. First sold in the UK in 1937, they were originally aimed at women. They have since been sold in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United States and Middle Ea ...

in Berlin.

Religion

As a young woman, Fischer left the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, into which she rejoined a good twenty years later.Ulrich Schnabel
''Wie man in Deutschland glaubt.''
In: ''Die Zeit.'' 22 December 2003.

Publications

*Andrea Fischer: ''Was glaubst denn du?: Die Menschen und der liebe Gott.'' Goldmann HC, 2008, . *Andrea Fischer, Rainer Sibbel (Hrsg.): ''Der Patient als Kunde und Konsument. Wie viel Patientensouveränität ist möglich?'' Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011, . ----

Gesundheitsminister of the

Bundesrepublik Deutschland Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt (7 January 1901 – 30 October 1986) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She was Federal Minister of Health in the German Cabinet from 1961 to 1966, the first woman to hold a Ministerial po ...

, Käte Strobel ,

Katharina Focke Katharina Focke (8 October 1922 – 10 July 2016) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). She served as Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth from 1972 to 1976. Biography Focke stu ...

Antje Huber Antje Huber (23 May 1924 – 30 September 2015) was a German politician who was the Federal Minister for Youth, Family and Health from 1976 to 1982.Anke Fuchs Anke Fuchs (; ; 5 July 1937 – 14 October 2019) was a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She was Federal Minister for Youth, Family and Health (1982) and Vice President of the Bundestag (1998–2002). From ...

Heiner Geißler Heiner Geißler (3 March 1930 – 12 September 2017) was a German politician with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and a federal minister from 1982 to 1985. Career Born Heinrichjosef Georg Geißler in Gleisweiler, he studied law an ...

, Rita Süssmuth ,

Ursula Lehr Ursula Lehr née Leipold (5 June 1930 – 25 April 2022) was a German academic, age researcher and politician. She was the first professor of gerontology in Germany, with a chair at the University of Heidelberg from 1986. She served as federal ...

Gerda Hasselfeldt Gerda Hasselfeldt (born 7 July 1950) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who served as deputy chairperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and chairwoman of the Bundestag group of CSU parliamentarians. Following her dep ...

, Horst Seehofer , Andrea Fischer , Ulla Schmidt

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Andrea 1960 births Living people Alliance 90/The Greens politicians Health ministers of Germany People from Arnsberg Women federal government ministers of Germany Female members of the Bundestag Members of the Bundestag for Berlin Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 20th-century German women politicians 21st-century German women politicians