Michelle Müntefering
Michelle Müntefering (2019)
Minister of State for International Cultural Policy
In office
14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byKatja Keul
Member of the Bundestag
for Herne – Bochum II
Assumed office
22 October 2013
Preceded byGerd Bollmann
Personal details
Born
Michelle-Jasmin Gabriele Schumann

(1980-04-09) 9 April 1980
Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
(now Germany)
CitizenshipGerman
Nationality Germany
Political partySPD

Michelle-Jasmin Gabriele Müntefering (née Schumann; born 9 April 1980) is a German journalist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2013, 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 under minister Heiko Maas in the fourth government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 until 2021.[1]

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 at the German Bundestag. From 2008 to 2010 she did a traineeship at Vorwärts in Berlin. From 2010 Müntefering worked as a freelance journalist.[1]

Political career

Müntefering has been a member of the German Bundestag 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 on relations to Turkey. 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 under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Müntefering was part of the working group on foreign policy, led by Ursula von der Leyen, Gerd Müller and Sigmar Gabriel. Between February and March 2018, she briefly served as member of the SPD parliamentary group’s leadership under chairwoman Andrea Nahles.[2]

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 and Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann – of a cross-party group promoting a feminist foreign policy.[3]

In April 2023, Müntefering announced her intention to resign from the German Parliament and instead run in the 2024 European elections.[4]

Other activities

Regulatory bodies

Corporate boards

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

Non-profit organizations

Controversy

In 2017, when media reports revealed Turkey’s intelligence agency MIT had illegally been spying on Germans suspected of ties to Fethullah Gulen, Müntefering was found to be one of the subjects of surveillance.[16][17] In the weeks leading up to the 2017 federal elections, Müntefering’s car was set on fire with a Molotov cocktail.

Personal life

In December 2009, she married the then Bundestag member, former SPD chairman and former vice-chancellor Franz Müntefering.[18] The ceremony took place at the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex.[19] The couple lives in Herne and Berlin’s Kreuzberg district.[20]

References

  1. 1 2 Michelle Müntefering, Bundestag.de
  2. ↑ Michelle Müntefering in SPD-Fraktionsvorstand gewählt Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 28 February 2018.
  3. ↑ Christine Dankbar (19 January 2023), Bundestag: Nun gibt es auch einen Parlamentskreis „Feministische Außenpolitik“ Berliner Zeitung.
  4. ↑ Gerhard Voogt (24 April 2023), NRW-SPD verliert Kandidatin: Michelle Müntefering strebt Amt in EU-Parlament an Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.
  5. ↑ Advisory Board Tarabya Cultural Academy.
  6. ↑ Mitglieder mehrerer Gremien gewählt Bundestag, press release of 17 February 2022.
  7. ↑ Senate, as on 7 February 2019 Leibniz Association.
  8. ↑ Advisory Council Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy.
  9. ↑ Board of Trustees Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).
  10. ↑ Members in Germany European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
  11. ↑ Board of Trustees German Orient Foundation .
  12. ↑ Board German-Turkish Society (DTG).
  13. ↑ Board German-Arab Friendship Association (DAFG).
  14. ↑ Circle of Friends Progressives Zentrum.
  15. ↑ Kulturstaatsministerin Grütters verkündet die Nominierungen für den Deutschen Kurzfilmpreis 2015 Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, press release of 20 October 2015.
  16. ↑ Guy Chazan (10 April 2017), Turkish rifts stir up Germany as referendum nears Financial Times.
  17. ↑ Alison Smale (15 April 2017), Referendum Inflames Concerns Over Turkey’s Grip in Germany New York Times.
  18. ↑ Michelle heißt jetzt Müntefering., Spiegel.de, 12 December 2009.
  19. ↑ Rena Beeg, Angelika Hellemann, Fabian Posselt and Alexandra Schünke (2 September 2018), Michelle Müntefering: Ja, jetzt bin ich Frau Müntefering Bild.
  20. ↑ Peter Dausend (30 December 2010), Das neue Leben des Franz Müntefering Die Zeit.
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