Manuel Ferdinand Theodor Sarrazin (born 6 February 1982) is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who served 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 ...

from the state of

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from 2008 to 2021. Since 2022, he has been serving as Special Representative for the Countries of the Western Balkan in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Early life and education

Sarrazin was born in Dortmund and has lived in the Hamburg district of Harburg since 1995. After graduating from the local Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium in 2001 and completing his civilian service, he began studying history, Polish and law at the University of Bremen in 2002. In 2005, he moved to the University of Hamburg, where he completed his studies in History, Eastern European Studies and Law in 2013.

Political career

Career in state politics

From 2004 to 2008 Sarrazin was a member of the State Parliament of Hamburg.

Member of the German Parliament, 2008–2021

Sarrazin succeeded Anja Hajduk in the Bundestag on 13 May 2008. He was a member of the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. From 2008 until 2013, he also served on the Budget Committee's Subcommittee on European Affairs. He was his parliamentary group’s spokesman for Eastern European policy. In addition to his committee assignments, Sarrazin served as deputy chairman of the German-Polish Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2018 to 2021. On 24 June 2015 Sarrazin took on a godparenthood for

Mikola Dziadok use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

, Belarusian activist and

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

. On 9 July 2020 he became the patron of

Ihar Losik Ihar Alyaksandravich Losik ( be, Ігар Аляксандравіч Лосік, russian: Игорь Александрович Лосик, born 20 May 1992) is a Belarusian blogger and consultant of the Belarusian section of Radio Free Europe/R ...

, Belarusian blogger and political prisoner. 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 Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD), the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the 2021 federal elections, Sarrazin was part of his party's delegation in the working group on European affairs, co-chaired by

Udo Bullmann Udo Bullmann (born 8 June 1956) is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament since 1999. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), part of the Party of European Socialists. Personal li ...

, Franziska Brantner and Nicola Beer.

Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, 2022–present

In March 2022,

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

Annalena Baerbock Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock (; born 15 December 1980) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens party serving as Germany's minister for foreign affairs since 2021. From 2018 to January 2022, Baerbock served as co-leader of Allia ...

appointed Sarrazin as Special Representative for the Countries of the Western Balkan in the

of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Other activities

* , Member of the Board * Southeast Europe Association (SOG), President *

Institute for European Politics The Institute for European Politics (IEP; ''Institut für Europäische Politik'' in German) is a German foreign and European policy research centre based in Berlin. It is an independent non-governmental organization. History The IEP was founded ...

(IEP), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2012)

References

External links

* *
Bundestag biography
1982 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Hamburg Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Politicians from Dortmund Members of the Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens {{Alliance 90/The Greens