Elisabeth "Lisa" Paus (born 19 September 1968) is a German politician who has served as the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth since 25 April 2022. A member of

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 ...

and an economist by training, she has served as a

Member of the German Bundestag Member of the German Parliament (german: Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages) is the official name given to a deputy in the German Bundestag. ''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichs ...

for the state of

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 ...

since

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Early life and education

Paus was born in

Rheine Rheine () is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base. Geography Rheine is on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx. west of Osnabrück a ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, and grew up in nearby

Emsbüren Emsbüren is a municipality in the Emsland district, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Ems, approx. 15 km south of Lingen, and 15 km northwest of Rheine. It has a railway station: Leschede. Personalities * Willi ...

, close to the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

border. She grew up in an affluent family; her father, the engineer Hermann Paus, founded and owned the Hermann Paus Maschinenfabrik, a company with around 250 employees that produces special-purpose machines and vehicles for the mining industry. After graduating from high school she volunteered for one year at an orphanage in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. She then moved to

to study at the

Free University A free university is an organization offering uncredited, public classes without restrictions to who can teach or learn. They differ in structure. In 1980 in the United States, about half were associated with a traditional university, about a ...

. She graduated in 1999 with a master's degree in economics. From 1997 until 1999, Paus worked for Frieder Otto Wolf who was a

Member 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 ...

(MEP) for Germany's Green Party. In 2005 she became a teacher at the

Berlin School of Economics and Law The Berlin School of Economics and Law (German: ''Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Recht''), abbreviated as BSEL, is a public institution of higher education and research founded on 1 April 2009 through the merger of the Berlin School of Economi ...

Political career

Career in state politics

In 1995, Paus joined Germany's Green Party, Alliance 90/The Greens. She was involved in the party in various forms. In the 1999 state election, she was elected to the State Parliament of Berlin (Abgeordnetenhaus). There she was her parliamentary group's spokesperson on economic policy.

Member of the German Parliament, 2009–present

2019-04-11 Lisa Paus MdB by Olaf Kosinsky-7823

Paus has been a 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 ...

since the 2009 federal elections. She has stood in

Berlin-Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Berlin-Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf is an electoral constituency (German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constit ...

in 2013, 2017 and 2021. She is a member of the Finance Committee and within the committee she is the Green's spokesperson. In her first term between 2009 and 2013, she also served on the Committee on the Affairs of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. On the Finance Committee, Paus was involved in the parliamentary inquiry into the

Wirecard scandal The Wirecard scandal (German: ''Wirecard-Skandal'') was a series of corrupt business practices and fraudulent financial reporting that led to the insolvency of Wirecard, a payment processor and financial services provider, headquartered in Muni ...

from 2020 until 2021; following the inquiry's completion, she co-authored a 675-page report together with

Florian Toncar Florian Toncar (born 18 October 1979) is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance in the coalition government of Chancellor Olaf S ...

and Fabio De Masi. In addition to her committee assignments, Paus has served as deputy chairwoman of the German-Irish Parliamentary Friendship Group (since 2014) and of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with Malta and Cyprus (since 2018). She is also a member of the German-Italian Parliamentary Friendship Group and the German-Slovenian Parliamentary Group. Ahead of the national elections in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, Paus was elected to lead her party's campaign in the state of Berlin. 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 FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Paus led her party's delegation in the working group on financial regulation and the

national budget A government budget is a document prepared by the government and/or other political entity presenting its anticipated tax revenues (Inheritance tax, income tax, corporation tax, import taxes) and proposed spending/expenditure (Healthcare, Educat ...

; her co-chairs from the other parties were

Doris Ahnen Doris Maria Ahnen is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Minister for Finance in the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate since 2014. Prior to that she served as the Minister for Education, Re ...

and

Christian Dürr Christian Dürr (born 18 April 1977) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2017. Since December 2021 he has been leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag. ...

. From December 2021 to April 2022, Paus served as one her parliamentary group's deputy chairs, under the leadership of co-chairs

Britta Haßelmann Britta Haßelmann (born 10 December 1961) is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as co-chair of the Green Party’s parliamentary group in the Bundestag since 2021, alongside Katharina Dröge. From 2013 until 2021, ...

and

Katharina Dröge Katharina Dröge (born 16 September 1984) is a German economist and politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as co-chair of the Green Party’s parliamentary group in the Bundestag since 2021, alongside Britta Haßelmann. She pre ...

, where she oversaw the group's activities on financial policy, economic and social affairs.

Other activities

* German Foundation for Active Citizenship and Volunteering (DSEE), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) * ''Total E-Quality'' initiative, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) * ''Forum Ökologisch-Soziale Marktwirtschaft'' (FÖS), Member of the Advisory Board *

Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and for Citizens' Action The Association pour la Taxation des Transactions financières et pour l'Action Citoyenne (''Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions and Citizen's Action'', ATTAC) is an activist organisation originally created to promote the e ...

(ATTAC), Member

Personal life

In 2009, Paus had her first child. The child's father died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 2013.Klaus Wallbaum (13 November 2014)
Bundestag macht Mut zur Meinung
''

Hannoversche Allgemeine ''Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung'' (abbreviated HAZ) is a German newspaper with a circulation of 158,000 (as of 2009) and a widespread resonance all over Germany. It is distributed in Hanover and in all Lower Saxony. History and profile ''Ha ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paus, Lisa 1968 births Living people People from Rheine Members of the Bundestag for Berlin Members of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin Female members of the Bundestag Women federal government ministers of Germany 21st-century German women politicians Free University of Berlin alumni Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens