Felix Banaszak (born 24 October 1989) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the

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 Common ...

since the 2021 German federal election.

Early career

During his studies, Banaszak worked as legislative assistant to Dirk Behrendt at the State Parliament of Berlin. From 2014 to 2017, he managed the Düsseldorf offices of

Members of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

Terry Reintke and Sven Giegold.

Political career

From 2013 to 2014, Banaszak co-chaired the Green Youth on the national level, alongside Theresa Kalmer. Since 2018, Banaszak has been serving as co-chair of the Green Party in North Rhine-Westphalia, alongside Mona Neubaur. In the negotiations to form a so-called

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition (german: Ampelkoalition) is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' tra ...

of the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

(SPD), the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the 2021 federal elections, Banaszak led his party's delegation in the working group on education policy; his co-chairs from the other parties were Andreas Stoch and

Jens Brandenburg Jens Brandenburg (born 8 March 1986) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg since 2017. Since December 2021, he serves as Parliamentary Sta ...

. Banaszak has been a member of the German

since 2021, representing the Duisburg II district. In parliament, he has since been serving on the Budget Committee, the Audit Committee and the Committee on Economic Affairs. On the Budget Committee, he is his parliamentary group's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

on the annual budgets of the

Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (german: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz, ), abbreviated BMWK (was BMWi), is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was previously known as ...

and the

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (german: Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung, ), abbreviated BMZ, is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, Banaszak has been a member of the German delegation to the

Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly The Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly (french: Assemblée parlementaire franco-allemande; german: Deutsch-Französische Parlamentarische Versammlung, ''DFPV'') is a joint body of the German Bundestag and the French National Assembly formed to ...

since 2022. In the negotiations to form a coalition government of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Green Party under

Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia The Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Ministerpräsident des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen), also referred to as Premier or Prime Minister, is the head of government of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (''NRW''). The po ...

Hendrik Wüst Hendrik Josef Wüst (born 19 July 1975) is a German politician currently serving as Minister-President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is a member of the Christian democratic and liberal-conservative CDU. In October 2021 he succeeded ...

following the 2022 state elections, Banaszak and Sven Giegold led their party's delegation in the working group on finances; their counterparts from the CDU were Lutz Lienenkämper and Günter Krings.

Other activities

* GIZ, Member of the supervisory board (since 2022) *

IG Metall IG Metall (; IGM; German: ''Industriegewerkschaft Metall'', "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of Ge ...

, Member (since 2021) * Sea-Watch, Member (since 2015) * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member (since 2014)

Political positions

Within the Green Party, Banaszak is considered to be part of its left wing. In his capacity as co-chair of the Green Youth, Banaszak opposed a 2014 motion to make the group's membership incompatible with a membership for Rote Hilfe e.V., a German far-left

prisoner support Prisoner support encompasses a variety of activities aimed a providing assistance to prisoners, particularly political prisoners. Many programs devoted to this purpose have quite limited resources; for instance, Nottingham Black Prisoner Support, w ...

group.

Controversy

Along with Volker Beck, Terry Reintke and Max Lucks, Banaszak was temporarily detained when Beck wanted to speak publicly at

Istanbul Pride Istanbul Pride ( tr, İstanbul Onur Yürüyüşü) is a pride parade and LGBT demonstration held annually in Turkey's biggest city, Istanbul since 2003. Participants assemble in Taksim Square before marching the entire length of İstiklal Avenu ...

in June 2016.

Personal life

Since 2014, Banaszak has been living in Duisburg.Christian Schmitt (15 September 2021)
Felix Banaszak will Duisburgs Blick in die Zukunft richten
�''

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' (''WAZ'') is a commercial newspaper from Essen, Germany, published by Funke Mediengruppe. History and profile ''Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' was founded by Erich Brost and first published 3 April ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banaszak, Felix Living people 1989 births People from Duisburg 21st-century German politicians Members of the Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Free University of Berlin alumni 20th-century German people