Nyke Slawik (born January 7, 1994) is a German politician and 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 ...

representing the German 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 state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

on the Alliance 90/The Greens list. Upon her election in the 2021 German federal election, Slawik and fellow politician

Tessa Ganserer Tessa Ganserer (born Markus Ganserer; 16 May 1977) is a German politician who has served as a member of the Landtag of Bavaria since 7 October 2013, representing the constituency of Middle Franconia on the Alliance '90/The Greens list. During th ...

together became the first openly transgender people elected to the German parliament.

Early life and education

Slawik was born and raised in Leverkusen-Opladen, where her mother's family had lived for several generations. Her father immigrated to

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is o ...

from the Polish region of

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

in the late 1970s. After graduating from high school in 2012, she enrolled at

Heinrich Heine University Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...

in the German city of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

, where she studied English and American studies alongside Media and Communication studies. During her time at the university, she studied abroad in the city of Leicester, England and interned at the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Political career

Early beginnings

In 2009, Slawik joined the Green Youth, the Green party's youth association, before serving as a board member of the Young Greens of Düsseldorf from 2013 to 2015. From 2015 to 2017, she was a member of the board of the Green Youth in her home state of

. 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 s ...

, she ran as a Green candidate for 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 ...

. Two years later, during the 2019 European election in Germany, she ran as a Green party candidate for the

. From 2018 to 2021, Slawik worked as research assistant in the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia for the MPs and .

Member of the Bundestag, 2021–present

Slawik was elected to the Bundestag in the 2021 German federal election on the Green list of North Rhine-Westphalia. Along with fellow Green

, Slawik became the first openly transgender person elected to the German parliament. In the negotiations to form a coalition government of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Green Party under

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, Slawik was part of her party’s delegation in the working group on transport.

Other activities

* Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Posts and Railway (BNetzA), Alternate Member of the Rail Infrastructure Advisory Council (since 2022)Bundestag setzt Parlamentarisches Kontrollgremium ein

, 24 March 2022.

Political positions

Climate

Slawik supports immediate action to be taken by Germany against the

climate crisis ''Climate crisis'' is a term describing global warming and climate change, and their impacts. The term and the alternative term ''climate emergency'' have been used to describe the threat of global warming to humanity (and their planet), and to u ...

, including totally phasing coal out by 2030 and transitioning to 100% renewable energies. She is also in favour of putting a halt to constructions of new roadways and extensions and instead investing that money into green transportation.

Social services

Slawik favours raising the minimum wage to 12 euros per hour and increasing the

Hartz IV The Hartz concept, also known as Hartz reforms or the Hartz plan, is a set of recommendations submitted by a committee on reforms to the German labour market in 2002. Named after the head of the committee, Peter Hartz, these recommendations went ...

unemployment benefits by 50 euros, as well as abolishing the sanctions placed on program recipients who do not meet certain conditions. She has also indicated that she supports potentially replacing the benefits with a more robust system.

Social justice

To advance the rights of marginalized groups in Germany, Slawik supports establishing an all-encompassing federal anti-discrimination law, requiring women to make up at least 50% of German parliaments and executive business boards. She supports an identity self-determination law for transgender Germans, and ending the pay gap between women and men. Slawik also supports a nationwide plan to combat racism, sexism, transphobia and homophobia.

Youth participation

Slawik supports a possible decrease in the

voting age A voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain before they become eligible to vote in a public election. The most common voting age is 18 years; however, voting ages as low as 16 and as high as 25 currently exist ( ...

to 16 to facilitate increased youth involvement in government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slawik, Nyke Members of the Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 People from Leverkusen Living people Transgender women politicians LGBT members of the Bundestag Politicians from North Rhine-Westphalia 1994 births German transgender people German people of Polish descent