Sonja Amalie Steffen (born 22 October 1963) is a German lawyer and politician 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 For ...

(SPD) 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 Commons ...

from the state of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

from 2009 to 2021.

Early life and education

Born in Dreiborn,

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 ...

, Steffen studied law at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

Political career

Steffen became member of the Bundestag in the

2009 German federal election Federal elections took place on 27 September 2009 to elect the members of the 17th Bundestag (parliament) of Germany. Preliminary results showed that the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union ...

. In parliament, Steffen was a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection; its Sub-Committee on European Affairs; the Committee on the Verification of Credentials and Immunities; and the Budget Committee. In her capacity as member of the Budget Committee, she served as her parliamentary group's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

on the annual budgets of the

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (german: Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung, ), abbreviated BMZ, is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is ...

(since 2014) and the Federal Ministry of Health (since 2018). In 2018, Steffen also joined the parliamentary body in charge of appointing judges to the Highest Courts of Justice, namely the

Federal Court of Justice The Federal Court of Justice (german: Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) is the highest court in the system of ordinary jurisdiction (''ordentliche Gerichtsbarkeit'') in Germany, founded in 1950. It has its seat in Karlsruhe with two panels being situat ...

(BGH), the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG), the

Federal Fiscal Court The Federal Fiscal Court (''Bundesfinanzhof'') is one of five federal supreme courts of Germany, established according to Article 95 of the Basic Law. It is the federal court of appeal for tax and customs matters in cases which have already bee ...

(BFH), the

Federal Labour Court The Federal Labour Court (''Bundesarbeitsgericht'') is the court of the last resort for cases of labour law in Germany, both for individual labour law (mostly concerning contracts of employment) and collective labour law (e.g. cases concerning st ...

(BAG), and the

Federal Social Court The Federal Social Court (''Bundessozialgericht'') is the German federal court of appeals for social security cases, mainly cases concerning the public health insurance, long-term care insurance, pension insurance and occupational accident ins ...

(BSG). In February 2020, Steffen announced that she would not stand in the 2021 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

* Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation, Alternate Member of the Board of Trustees * German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2014)Supervisory Board
German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ). *

Ozeaneum Ozeaneum is a public aquarium in the German city of Stralsund. It is a main attraction of the German Oceanographic Museum (''Deutsches Meeresmuseum''), arguably one of the three largest institutions of its kind in Europe. The Ozeaneum — locate ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
1963 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Female members of the Bundestag 21st-century German women politicians Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany {{Germany-SPD-politician-stub