Michelle-Jasmin Gabriele Müntefering (née Schumann; born 9 April 1980) is a German journalist 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 Form ...

(SPD) who has been serving as a member of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

since the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, representing the Herne – Bochum II district. Müntefering was a member of the party executive board in North Rhine-Westphalia from 2004 to 2014. In addition to her parliamentary mandate, she served as Minister of State (Parliamentary State Secretary) at the

Federal Foreign Office The Federal Foreign Office (, ; abbreviated AA) is the Foreign minister, foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany, a federal agency (Germany), federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign policy and its relationship with ...

under minister

Heiko Maas Heiko Josef Maas (; born 19 September 1966) is a German lawyerMarcus Jung (15 December 2022)�''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung''. and former politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the Mini ...

in the fourth government of

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

from 2018 until 2021.

Education and early career

Müntefering was born in Herne. During her schooldays at the Hibernia School, she completed a vocational training from 1997 to 1998 as a nanny, which belonged to the concept of the school. After her graduation in 2000, she did an internship in a local editorial office and then joined a news and press agency. From 2002 to 2007 Müntefering studied journalism with a focus on economics, graduated with a bachelor's degree and initially worked freelance in the media. In 2008 and 2009 she was a research associate to

Franz Müntefering Franz Müntefering (; born 16 January 1940) is a German politician. He was Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 2004 to 2005 and again from 18 October 2008 to 13 November 2009. He served as the minister of Labour and Social Affairs, ...

at the German Bundestag. From 2008 to 2010 she did a traineeship at ''

Vorwärts ( ; "Forward") is a newspaper published by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Founded in 1876, it was the central organ of the SPD for many decades. Following the party's Halle Congress (1891), it was published daily as the success ...

'' in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. From 2010 Müntefering worked as a freelance journalist.Michelle Müntefering
Bundestag.de

Political career

Müntefering has been a member of the German

since the 2013 federal elections. In her first term, she was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs as well as on its Sub-Committee on Cultural Relations and Education Policy. On the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 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 Eur ...

on relations to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. From 2014 until 2015, she briefly served as rapporteur for digital consumer protection. In addition to her committee assignments, Müntefering served as chairwoman of the German-Turkish Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2014 until 2018. She is also a member of the German-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Group and of the German-Iranian Parliamentary Friendship Group. In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

under the leadership of

following the 2017 federal elections, Müntefering was part of the working group on foreign policy, led by

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

Gerd Müller Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional association football, footballer. A prolific Forward (association football)#Striker, striker, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarde ...

and

Sigmar Gabriel Sigmar Hartmut Gabriel (born 12 September 1959) is a German politician who was the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018 and the vice-chancellor of Germany from 2013 to 2018. He was Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

. Between February and March 2018, she briefly served as member of the SPD parliamentary group’s leadership under chairwoman

Andrea Nahles Andrea Maria Nahles (born 20 June 1970) is a former German politician who has been the director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) since 2022. Nahles is best known for having served as leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from April ...

. After leaving government, Müntefering joined the Committee on Foreign Affairs and became the chairwoman of its Subcommittee on Foreign Cultural and Educational Policy. In 2023, she was one of the initiators – alongside

Agnieszka Brugger Agnieszka Brugger (née Malczak, born 8 February 1985) is a German politician (Alliance 90/The Greens) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since 2009. Since 2018 she serves as Vice-Chair of Alliance ‘90/The Greens in the B ...

and Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann – of a cross-party group promoting a

feminist foreign policy Feminist foreign policy, or feminist diplomacy, is a strategy integrated into the policies and practices of a state to promote gender equality, and to help improve women's access to resources, basic human rights, and political participation. It ca ...

. In April 2023, Müntefering announced her intention to resign from the German Parliament and instead run in the

2024 European elections The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...

; however, she failed to get her party's nomination. In June 2024, she announced that she would not stand in the 2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

Regulatory bodies

* Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (BNetzA), Alternate Member of the Advisory Board (2013–2018) * Landesanstalt für Medien Nordrhein-Westfalen (LfM), Member of the Media Committee (−2015)

Corporate boards

Humboldt Forum The Humboldt Forum is a museum dedicated to human history, art and culture, located in the Berlin Palace on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It is named in honour of the Prussian scholars Wilhelm von Humboldt, Wilhelm and Alexa ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2018) * Evangelische Verbund Ruhr (EVR), Member of the Supervisory Board

Non-profit organizations

* Tarabya Cultural Academy, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2022) * German Federal Film Board (FFA), Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2022) *

Leibniz Association The Leibniz Association (German: ''Leibniz-Gemeinschaft'' or ''Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz'') is a union of German non-university research institutes from various disciplines. Funding and Structure As of 2020, 96 non-u ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Senate (since 2018) * Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy (CFFP), Member of the Advisory Council (since 2018) *

Friedrich Ebert Foundation The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (''German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: FES'') is a German political party foundation associated with, but independent from, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 as t ...

(FES), Member of the Board of Trustees * American Jewish Committee in Berlin, Member of the Advisory Board * '' Berliner Republik'', Member of the Board of Editors *

European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decis ...

(ECFR), Member * Friends of the Herne Synagogue, Member *

Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie (Against Oblivion – For Democracy) is a German organization promoting diversity, tolerance and democratic participation, and opposing racism, prejudice and right-wing and left-wing extremism. It focuses in ...

, Member * German Orient Foundation, President of the Board of Trustees * German-Turkish Society (DTG), Vice President * German-Arab Friendship Association (DAFG), Member of the Board * ''Progressives Zentrum'', Member of the Circle of Friends *

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, Member *

Atlantik-Brücke Atlantik-Brücke (, ''Atlantic Bridge'') is a private non-profit association to Lobbying, promote German-American understanding and Atlanticism. Founded in Hamburg in 1952, it was located in Bonn between 1983 and 1999 and is now located in Berl ...

, Member * German-Israeli Association (DIG), Member *

IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie The IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie (IG BCE) is a trade union in Germany. It is one of eight industrial affiliations of the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB). History and structure The IG BCE was created in 1997 from the merger of the Chem ...

(IG BCE), Member * Social Association of Germany (SoVD), Member * 2015 German Short Film Awards, Member of the Jury * Stiftung Datenschutz, Member of the Advisory Board (2014–2016)

Controversy

In 2017, when media reports revealed Turkey’s intelligence agency

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

had illegally been spying on Germans suspected of ties to

Fethullah Gulen Fathallah, Fathalla or the Turkish variant Fethullah is a Romanization of Arabic, transliteration of the Arabic given name, فتح الله (''Fatḥ Allāh''), built from the Arabic words ''fath'' and ''Allah''. It is one of many List of Arabic t ...

, Müntefering was found to be one of the subjects of surveillance. In the weeks leading up to the 2017 federal elections, Müntefering’s car was set on fire with a

Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see '') is a hand-thrown incendiary weapon consisting of a frangible container filled with flammable substances and equipped with a Fuse (explosives), fuse (typically a glass bottle filled wit ...

Personal life

In December 2009, she married the then Bundestag member, former SPD chairman and former vice-chancellor

. The ceremony took place at the

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (German Zeche Zollverein) is a large former industrial site in the city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The first coal mine on the premises was founded in 1847, and mining activities took pl ...

. The couple lives in Herne and

’s

Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Berlin-Mitte, Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in ...

district.Peter Dausend (30 December 2010)
Das neue Leben des Franz Müntefering
''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muntefering, Michelle Female members of the Bundestag Living people 1980 births Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia People from Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany Parliamentary state secretaries of Germany 21st-century German women politicians