Katja Meier (born 10 September 1979) is a German politician who is a member of Alliance 90/The Greens. She was a member of the

Landtag of Saxony The Landtag of Saxony (german: Sächsischer Landtag), also known in English as the Saxon State Parliament, is the legislature of the Free State of Saxony, one of Germany's sixteen states. It is responsible for legislation, control of the govern ...

2015-2020 and has been serving as Saxon State Minister of Justice and for Democracy, European Affairs and Equality since 20 December 2019.

Early life and education

Meier was born in Zwickau. In the 1990s, she played bass in a local punk band called ''Harlekin''. After passing her '' Abitur'' in 1998, she studied political science, modern and contemporary history and sociology at the Universities of

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

, Tartu, and

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

, graduating with a MA degree in 2004.

Political career

Meier became a member of the Greens in 2005 and became a member of the

in 2015, after the originally elected gave up her seat. Jointly with Wolfram Günther, she was elected as her party's top candidate in the 2019 Saxony state election. Subsequent coalition talks led to a

black-red-green coalition The Black-red-green coalition (german: Schwarz-rot-grüne Koalition), also known as the Kenya coalition (german: Kenia-Koalition) is a term in German politics describing a governing coalition among the parties of the Christian Democratic Unio ...

under Minister-President

Michael Kretschmer Michael Kretschmer (born 7 May 1975) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Minister President of Saxony since 13 December 2017. Since 2022, he has been one of four deputy chairs of the CDU, under ...

, and Meier was given the post of Saxon State Minister of Justice and for Democracy, Europe and Equality on 20 December 2019, and subsequently gave up her seat in the Landtag on 9 January 2020.

Controversies

In early 2020, videos of the punk band Meier had been playing bass guitar in as a teenager surfaced, including an anti-police song with violent lyrics ("Advent, Advent, a cop is burning. First one, then two, then three", paraphrasing the well known

advent song Advent songs (german: Adventslieder, link=no) are songs and hymns intended for Advent, the four weeks of preparation for Christmas. Topics of the time of expectation are the hope for a Messiah, prophecies, and the symbolism of light, among others. S ...

and children's rhyme ). Meier was attacked by politicians of the far right Alternative for Germany over this; she distanced herself from any support of violence, and was supported by politicians from other parties. After Meier raised a

rainbow flag A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the spectral colors of the visible light spectrum. The LGBT flag introduced in 1978 is the most recogniz ...

in front of her ministry building to celebrate Christopher Street Day 2020, a citizen took the ministry to court for violation of neutrality. The courts allowed the flag to stay. Meier was nominated by her party as delegate to the Federal Convention 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; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

.17th Federal Convention, 13 February 2022, List of Members

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 ...

Personal life

Meier lives in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. Her partner is , chairwoman of the Green group in the

Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia The Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which convenes in the state capital of Düsseldorf, in the eastern part of the district of Hafen. The parliament ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meier, Katja 1979 births Living people People from Zwickau German LGBT politicians Alliance 90/The Greens politicians Members of the Landtag of Saxony Ministers of the Saxony State Government Female justice ministers Women ministers of State Governments in Germany