Ricarda Lang (born 17 January 1994) is a German politician who is serving as co-leader of the
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 ...
since January 2022, alongside
Omid Nouripour
Omid Nouripour ( fa, امید نوریپور; born 18 June 1975) is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2006, representing the state of Hesse. Since 2022, he has also been ...
. She has been 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 ...
since 2021. Previously, she was co-deputy leader of the party from 2019 to 2021 and spokeswoman for women's policy, and co-leader of the
Green Youth from 2017 to 2019.
Early life and education
Lang was raised by a single mother, who was a social worker and worked at a women's shelter. Her father was the sculptor Eckhart Dietz, who died in 2019. After graduating from the Hölderlin-Gymnasium Nürtingen in 2012, Lang began studying law, first at the
Heidelberg University
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
and later at the
Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
, eventually dropping out in 2019 without graduating.
Political career
Lang joined the Green Youth in 2012 at the age of 18. From 2014 to 2015, Lang was speaker for the Campus Greens, the Greens' student association. She was a member of the district executive of the
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg () is the second borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former East Berlin borough of Friedrichshain and the former West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg. The historic Oberbaum Bridge, formerly a Berlin border cro ...
Greens from 2015 to 2016. In October 2015, she became an assessor in the federal board of the Green Youth, and in October 2017 was elected co-spokesperson at the federal congress. In November 2019, she was elected as deputy chairwoman of the Greens and spokeswoman for women's policy.
Lang stood in the
2019 European Parliament election
The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...
in 25th place on the Greens list, but was not elected. She successfully ran for 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 ...
in the
2021 German federal election
Federal elections in Germany, Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the List of members of the 20th Bundestag, 20th Bundestag. States of Germany, State elections in 2021 Berlin state election, Berli ...
in tenth place on the Baden-Württemberg list. She also stood in the
Backnang – Schwäbisch Gmünd
Backnang – Schwäbisch Gmünd is an electoral constituency (German language, German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designat ...
constituency and placed fifth with 11.5% of votes. She became the first openly
bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
member of the Bundestag.
Lang is a member of the Committee for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth and a deputy member of the Committee for Labor and Social Affairs.
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 ...
between the
SPD
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been t ...
, Greens, and FDP following the
2021 federal elections, Lang led her party's delegation in the working group on equality; her co-chairs from the other parties were Petra Köpping (SPD) and Herbert Mertin (FDP).
On 29 January 2022, Lang was elected unopposed at chairwoman of the Greens, along with
Omid Nouripour
Omid Nouripour ( fa, امید نوریپور; born 18 June 1975) is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2006, representing the state of Hesse. Since 2022, he has also been ...
. They succeeded
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 ...
and
Robert Habeck
Robert Habeck (; born 2 September 1969) is a German politician and writer who has been serving as Vice Chancellor of Germany, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in ...
, who stepped down after joining the
Scholz cabinet
The Scholz cabinet (German: ''Kabinett Scholz'', ) is the current cabinet of Germany, led by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The cabinet is composed of Scholz's Social Democratic Party, Alliance 90/The Greens and the Free Democratic Party, an a ...
.
Political positions
Lang is considered a representative of the left wing of the party. Her main areas of concerns are
social justice
Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...
and
climate policy
The politics of climate change results from different perspectives on how to respond to climate change. Global warming is driven largely by the emissions of greenhouse gases due to human economic activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels, ...
. She also supports
feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
,
body positivity
Body positivity is a social movement focused on the acceptance of all bodies, regardless of size, shape, skin tone, gender, and physical abilities, while challenging present-day beauty standards as an undesirable social construct. Proponents fo ...
, and
queer politics.
She is critical of
individualist
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-relianc ...
approaches to policy; for example, to tackle
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
, she opposes focusing on individual consumption and advocates phasing out coal and ending subsidies to environmentally damaging industries. She calls the individualisation of these issues a "ploy to divert attention from the culpability of corporations and political responsibility."
Lang's political goals include an increase in
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 ...
payments, better pay for caregivers, limits on
precariat
In sociology and economics, the precariat () is a neologism for a social class formed by people suffering from precarity, which means existing without predictability or security, affecting material or psychological welfare. The term is a portmant ...
employment, and more support for people living in rural areas. She supports the admission of
climate refugees
Climate migrants are a subset of environmental migrants who were forced to flee "due to sudden or gradual alterations in the natural environment related to at least one of three impacts of climate change: sea-level rise, extreme weather events, ...
; in particular, she proposes offering
EU citizenship
European Union citizenship is afforded to all citizens of member states of the European Union (EU). It was formally created with the adoption of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, at the same time as the creation of the EU. EU citizenship is additio ...
to residents of Pacific island nations whose territory is severely threatened by rising sea levels.
Personal life
Lang has lived in
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 2014. She is
bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
, and became the first openly bisexual Bundestag member upon her election in 2021.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Ricarda
Living people
1994 births
Bisexual politicians
Female members of the Bundestag
21st-century German women politicians
21st-century German politicians
Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025
Members of the Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
LGBT members of the Bundestag