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Annalena Baerbock in portrait: children, husband, career - this is the possible successor of Merkel to the Greens

2021-09-28T08:07:40.183Z


As early as 2017, Annalena Baerbock put her future co-boss Robert Habeck under pressure. Now, after the federal election in 2021, she should become Merkel's heir: the Green candidate for chancellor in portrait.


As early as 2017, Annalena Baerbock put her future co-boss Robert Habeck under pressure.

Now, after the federal election in 2021, she should become Merkel's heir: the Green candidate for chancellor in portrait.

Berlin - It has been decided: Annalena Baerbock is the first candidate for Chancellor in the history of the Greens. Her colleague in the party leadership, Robert Habeck, is putting her own ambitions on the way to the federal election in 2021. Since 2018, the two Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen have been leading jointly - for the first time as a duo of two “Realo” politicians. Previously, the party's pragmatists had mostly shared the top with “Fundis”. But Baerbock and Habeck apparently did the job for their own party so satisfactorily that both were traded as suitable candidates for chancellor - in the end, Baerbock won the race.

(Election data, live ticker, background coverage - all information about the federal election 2021 can be found in our politics newsletter.)

The prerequisites were not easy for her: unlike Habeck, Baerbock was not very well known in the population before she jumped into the office of party leader.

But the party legend tells that the 40-year-old already put Habeck, who had long been known from the government in Schleswig-Holstein, under pressure when he ran for the dual leadership of the party: Baerbock informed Habeck at short notice of her ambitions in December 2017, it is said - he then had to go public with his ambitions as well.

One day earlier than planned.

Annalena Baerbock: Green boss starts as a great stranger - and Habeck's candidacy for chancellor expires

“At first I thought: She's really pushing. But Annalena's power is a push forward. At the party congress in early 2018, Annalena gave a bombastic speech, ”Habeck reported to the

taz

in spring 2021

. Despite the said speech, Habeck was long regarded by the general public as the party's secret number one. It was not until the end of 2020 that there were increasing voices that ascribed Baerbock more “substance” in terms of content. In the years before, Habeck had got into trouble with lack of information in interviews, photo shoots that were questionable in terms of the public image and all-too-research tweets.

Annalena Baerbock also went wrong in public - keyword "Kobold". But above all, the mother of two earned the reputation of a meticulous political worker. "She stands out because of her extremely good preparation, she looks very competent, at the same time she looks dynamic, she has a very direct way of addressing the audience," said the publicist Liane Bednarz on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. That goes down well with the Germans.

And Baerbock positioned the Greens as a real political force in Germany even before the election year - for example by calling for further spending on the Bundeswehr.

At its party conference in 2020 and in the Corona policy, the party was emphatically state-supporting.

Baerbock is now the face of the election campaign for this course - and the only top candidate in the federal election with realistic chances for the Chancellery.

Baerbock should lead Greens to the Chancellery: party leader without government experience - "stand up for renewal"

Baerbock is familiar with the federal political scene: the Hanoverian has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2013. In the 2017–2021 legislative period, Baerbock was a deputy member of the Committee for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth, the Economic and Energy Committee, the advisory committee for questions of the Sorbian people at the Federal Ministry of the Interior and a member of the Eastern Regional Group of the Greens. Before that, from 2009 to 2013, she was party chairman of the rather small State Green Association in Brandenburg for four years. A party leader, Winfried Kretschmann, counts this history as a plus point in the struggle for East German votes.

However, the candidate for chancellor has not yet had any government experience.

After her nomination as candidate for chancellor in Berlin, the head of the Greens said: “Yes, I've never been a chancellor, never a minister either.

I stand for renewal.

Others stand for the status quo. ”A sentence that could be interpreted as a little flirtation with the role of a new voice beyond the Berlin“ establishment ”.

She had previously confidently countered speculations about a lack of assertiveness: "Three years as a party leader, a member of parliament and the mother of small children are quite tough," explained Baerbock

.

Federal election 2021: Baerbock studied international law and is the mother of two daughters

Baerbock was born on December 15, 1980 south of Hanover and now lives with her husband Daniel Holefleisch and two daughters of kindergarten and elementary school age in Potsdam. There she also applies for a direct mandate. One of their competitors in the constituency is, of all people, the SPD candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). As a teenager, Baerbock did trampoline jumping as a competitive sport - and is considered a down-to-earth person who is also socially committed, for example in Potsdam with a refugee aid association, reports the

AFP

.

After graduating from high school, the Chancellor candidate of the Greens studied public law and political science in Hamburg.

In 2005, Baerbock completed her master's degree in international law at the London School of Economics.

She then worked as a journalist for the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung and from 2005 to 2008 Annalena Baerbock was the office manager of the Green MEP Elisabeth Schroedter in Brussels.

From 2008 to 2009, the Chancellor candidate of the Greens worked as a consultant for foreign and security policy for the parliamentary group of her party.

A plus point for Baerbock turned out to be that the Bundestag member is well networked in the party.

During the failed Jamaica explorations in 2017, Baerbock also made a name for herself as a Europe and climate expert.

Chancellor candidate of the Greens: Baerbock is committed to climate protection and calls for a coal exit

The international law graduate fights for consistent climate protection and at the same time warns against playing “eco versus social”: She once presented herself as a grassroots fighter who wants to “get out on the streets” for the coal exit, but also seeks conversation with coal miners.

In the Corona crisis, the mother of two daughters addressed the family issue in the pandemic at an early stage.

It is the first time that the Greens have decided to run for chancellor.

At

Merkur.de

you can always find out up-to-date in advance what the polls say for the federal election in 2021.

In addition, we provide you with all the important data and figures on our interactive map with all the results for constituencies and municipalities.

(dp / AFP)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-09-28

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