Katharina Binz (born ) is a

German 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 ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

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 ...

who has been serving as Minister for Family, Women, Culture and Integration in the third Cabinet of

Minister-President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. It ...

Malu Dreyer Marie-Luise "Malu" Dreyer (born 6 February 1961) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has served as the 8th and current Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate since 13 January 2013. She is the first woman to hold th ...

since 2021. She has also been a part of the

German Bundesrat The German Bundesrat ( lit. Federal Council; ) is a legislative body that represents the sixteen ''Länder'' (federated states) of Germany at the federal level (German: ''Bundesebene''). The Bundesrat meets at the former Prussian House of Lords ...

for

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

since 2021. In December 2021 she succeeded Anne Spiegel, as Deputy Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Early life and education

Binz grew up in

Mesenich Mesenich is an – a municipality belonging to a , a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Cochem, whose seat is in the like-named town. Meseni ...

and Moritzheim (

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...

). She graduated from high school in 2003 and moved to

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, where she studied political science, history and philosophy at the

Johannes Gutenberg University The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public university, public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approx ...

. In the 2005-2006 election period, she was chairperson of the

AStA The General Students' Committee (German: Allgemeiner Studierendenausschuss) or AStA, is the acting executive board and the external representing agency of the (constituted) student body at universities in most German states. It is therefore consid ...

at Mainz University. She then moved from the level of local student politics to the national level and was a board member of the national student association "freier zusammenschluss von student*innenschaften". The AStA of the University of Mainz was able to win her back as a speaker for political education in 2009.

Political career

Since 2007, Binz has been a member of the district executive of

Bündnis 90/Die Grünen 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 (for ...

Mainz. She became active in local politics in the 2009 local elections in Rhineland-Palatinate, in which she won a seat on the Mainz city council. She was also elected as a successor for one of three seats for the Greens on the local council of the Hartenberg-Münchfeld district, and took up the mandate on 8 August 2011. She left this body on 30 November 2013 due to a move to Mainz- Finthen. From 20 April 2013 to 20 May 2017, Binz was state chairwoman of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Rhineland-Palatinate. On 1 April 2017, she succeeded

Eveline Lemke Eveline Lemke (June 1964) is former German politician and member of the Alliance 90/The Greens. From 18 May 2011 until 18 May 2016, she was vice minister president of Rhineland-Palatinate and Minister for Economics, Climate Protection, Energy ...

in the State Parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate and resigned as state chairwoman on 20 May 2017. Binz stood for the Greens in the Mainz I constituency for the

2021 Rhineland-Palatinate state election The 2021 Rhineland-Palatinate state election was held on 14 March 2021 to elect the 18th Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. The outgoing government was a "traffic light coalition" of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Free Democratic Party (FDP), a ...

and won the first direct mandate for the Greens in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament here with 29.6 percent of the primary vote. On 18 May 2021, she was appointed Minister for Family, Women, Culture and Integration in the Cabinet Dreyer III. In the course of this, she resigned her state parliament mandate. Daniel Köbler succeeded her in the Landtag. Binz was nominated by her party as delegate to the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...

for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Other activities

* Cultural Foundation of the German States (KdL), Ex-Officio Member of the Council (since 2021)Board of Trustees
Cultural Foundation of the German States (KdL).

References

1983 births Living people Alliance 90/The Greens politicians People from Zell (Mosel) 21st-century German women politicians Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni {{Germany-politician-stub