Maria Anna Klein-Schmeink (born 6 January 1958) is a German politician 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 ...

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 Commons ...

from the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

since 2009.

Early life and career

Klein-Schmeink studied sociology at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over ...

from 1977 to 1984 and graduated with a master's degree. While still a student, she began working as a volunteer for the Sozialpädagogisches Bildungswerk Münster (Sobi). After completing her studies until 2002, Klein-Schmeink worked full-time in a leading position for the Sobi. From 1986 to 1988 she was involved in the establishment of the institution "cultur- und begegnungszentrum achtermannstraße" (c.u.b.a.). From 2002 until she moved to the German Bundestag in 2009, she worked as a legislative advisor to the Green Party's group in the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Political career

In parliament, Klein-Schmeink is a member of the Committee on Health. Since 2014 she has been serving as her parliamentary group's spokesperson on health policy. In 2020, she succeeded

Katja Dörner Katja Dörner (born 18 February 1976) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as mayor of Bonn since 2020. From 2009 until 2020, she was a member of the Bundestag. Education and early career Dörner studied pol ...

as one her parliamentary group's deputy chairs, under the leadership of co-chairs

Katrin Göring-Eckardt Katrin Dagmar Göring-Eckardt (born Katrin Dagmar Eckardt; 3 May 1966) is a German politician of the German Green Party (officially known as Alliance 90/The Greens). Starting her political activity in the now-former German Democratic Republic (E ...

and

Anton Hofreiter Anton "Toni" Hofreiter (born 2 February 1970) is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since the 2005 elections. Political career As a member of Alliance 90/The Greens, Hofreiter has been a member of the Bundes ...

. In addition to her committee assignments, Klein-Schmeink is part of the German-Austrian Parliamentary Friendship Group. 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, Klein-Schmeink led her party's delegation in the working group on health policy; her co-chairs from the other parties were

Katja Pähle Katja Pähle (born 27 June 1977) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Since 2016, she has served as chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt. She has also been deputy leader of the party's s ...

and Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus. In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

under the leadership of

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, Klein-Schmeink was part of her party’s delegation.GRÜNE benennen Team für Koalitionsverhandlungen
Grüne NRW, press release of 31 May 2022.

References

External links

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Bundestag biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein-Schmeink, Maria 1958 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Female members of the Bundestag 21st-century German women politicians 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