Preceded by Kurt Beck Political party SPD Spouse Klaus Jensen (m. 2004) Nationality German Role German Politician | Name Malu Dreyer Preceded by Florian Gerster Alma mater University of Mainz Education University of Mainz | |
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Born February 6, 1961 (age 63)
Neustadt an der Weinstrase, Germany ( 1961-02-06 ) Party Social Democratic Party of Germany Similar People Julia Klockner, Klaus Jensen, Kurt Beck, Roger Lewentz, Doris Ahnen Profiles | ||
Succeeded by Alexander Schweitzer | ||
Malu dreyer unser land von morgen
Maria Luise Anna "Malu" Dreyer (born February 6, 1961) is a German politician (SPD). Since 13 January 2013 she serves as the 8th Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate. She is the first woman to hold this office. Since 1 November 2016 she serves a one-year-term as the 71st President of the Bundesrat, which makes her the current deputy to the President of Germany, Joachim Gauck (1 November 2016 - 18 March 2017) and Frank-Walter Steinmeier (since 19 March 2017). She is the second female President of the Bundesrat.
Contents
- Malu dreyer unser land von morgen
- Malu dreyer rede auf dem landesparteitag 14 11 2015 ludwigshafen
- Early life and education
- Career
- Minister President of Rhineland Palatinate 2012present
- Other activities
- Personal life
- References
Malu dreyer rede auf dem landesparteitag 14 11 2015 ludwigshafen
Early life and education
Dreyer was born the second of three children of a principal and a teacher. Following a year as an exchange student at Claremont High School in California in 1977, and her final Abitur exams at the Käthe-Kollwitz-Gymnasium Neustadt in 1980, Dreyer started her English studies and Roman Catholic theology at the University of Mainz. The following year she switched majors to jurisprudence and graduated in both law degrees with the first Staatsexamen in 1987 and the second Staatsexamen three years later with an excellent academic record.
Career
From 1989, Dreyer worked at the University of Mainz as a research assistant to Professor Hans-Joachim Pflug. In 1991 she received her appointment as a probationary judge, and later as a prosecutor in Bad Kreuznach.
Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, 2012–present
Having served as State Minister of Social Affairs, Labor, Health and Demography since 2002, Dreyer was the designated successor of incumbent Minister-President Kurt Beck, who announced his upcoming resignation from the post on September 28, 2012. She was officially elected on January 16, 2013.
As one of Rhineland-Palatinate's representatives at the Bundesrat, Dreyer serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and on the Committee on European Union Affairs.
In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the SPD following the 2013 federal elections, Dreyer was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on cultural and media affairs, led by Michael Kretschmer and Klaus Wowereit.
In the 2016 state elections, Dreyer managed to convert her high personal approval ratings into a 36.2% win against her opponent Julia Klöckner, improving her party’s 2011 result by half a percentage point. In electing Dreyer, the electorate voted to keep the SPD in office for their sixth consecutive term.
During her second term in office, Dreyer’s government decided to sell the state’s 82.5 percent stake in the loss-making Frankfurt–Hahn Airport in western Germany to Chinese conglomerate HNA Group.
Other activities
Personal life
Since 2004 Dreyer has been married to Klaus Jensen, a fellow SPD politician and a former mayor of Trier who had been widowed three years earlier.
She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1994. This inhibits her physical movement. She made her illness public in 2006, and when traveling she now always takes her "Rolli" (wheelchair) along, for covering longer distances.