Andrea Fischer (born 14 January 1960) is a former 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 ...

for the

German Green Party Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Germany in 1990). Th ...

and from 1998 until 2001 was Federal Minister for Health. She dropped out of the Bundestag in 2002.

Life

Education and profession

After graduating from high school, Andrea Fischer completed an apprenticeship as an offset printer. She then worked as a

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1640 ...

and

proofreader Proofreading is a phase in the process of publishing where galley proofs are compared against the original manuscripts or graphic artworks, to identify transcription errors in the typesetting process. In the past, proofreaders would place co ...

and additionally completed her studies in economics at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

. After completing her studies, she worked as a research assistant at the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, the

WZB Berlin Social Science Center The WZB Berlin Social Science Center (, WZB), also known by its German initials WZB, is an internationally renowned research institute for the social sciences, the largest such institution in Europe not affiliated with a university. It was fou ...

and the ''Federal Insurance Institution for Employees'' (''Bundesversicherungsanstalt für Angestellte'').

Political career

She has been a member of the

since 1985, before that she was a member of the Group of International Marxists (GIM), the then German section of the Fourth International. From 1994 to 2002 she was a member of the

German Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the lower house of the German federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for ...

. After the 1998 federal elections, she was appointed Federal Minister of Health on 27 October 1998, as a member of the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

headed by

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

. She resigned from office on 9 January 2001 in the wake of the BSE

crisis A crisis (: crises; : critical) is any event or period that will lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affairs, especially when ...

. Shortly afterwards, the resignation of the Federal Minister of Agriculture, Karl-Heinz Funke, was also announced. In the film ''Schlachtfeld Politik – Die finstere Seite der Macht'' (''Battlefield Politics – The dark side of power'') by Stephan Lamby, she describes that there was massive

pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and eve ...

from the party leadership. The film asks whether Andrea Fischer had to resign after ''

Joschka Fischer Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 12 April 1948) is a German former politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens party. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 200 ...

's wild years'' (

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

edition 2/2001), not so much because of the BSE

as to relieve

. Fischer was elected as the leading

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

candidate in the Berlin election on 18 September 2011, in the district assembly (''Bezirksverordnetenversammlung'') of Berlin's

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuz ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

, where she was chair of the

parliamentary group until 30 October 2012. On 15 October 2012 Fischer was elected by the Regional Assembly to the office of Finance Director of the

Hanover Region Hanover Region () is a districts of Germany, district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Heidekreis, Celle (district), Celle, Gifhorn (district), Gifhorn, Peine (district), Peine, Hildeshe ...

, which had been restructured by Regional President Hauke Jagau. It manages the areas of finance, facility management and hospitals. In April 2013 she took over as chairman of the supervisory board of the ''Klinikum Region Hanover''.

Lobbyism

After her time as an active politician, Fischer became active as a freelance publicist and

lobbyist Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by various entities, in ...

in international health policy. From 2001 to 2009 she was

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of the ''Federal Association of Experienced Psychiatrists'' (''Bundesverband Psychiatrie-Erfahrener''). From 2004 to 2006 Fischer was a member of the management team of the consulting firm ''Institut für Organisationskommunikation'' (IFOK GmbH), where she was responsible for health and nutrition. Previously, she was head of the Center of Canadian Universities (CUC) 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 ...

. Fischer is Vice Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Man, Ethics and Science (''Institut Mensch, Ethik und Wissenschaft''). From 2006 to 2009 she worked at the PR agency

Pleon The anatomy of a decapod consists of 20 body segments grouped into two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the pleon (abdomen). Each segment – often called a somite – may possess one pair of appendages, although in various groups these ma ...

in Munich, where she headed the medical-pharmaceutical area of healthcare. Since then she has been self-employed in this field. Since April 2006, Fischer has been co-editor of ''GesundheitsNachrichten'', a specialist journal for the health industry.

Journalism

From October 2002 to the end of 2003, Andrea Fischer and BamS editor-in-chief

Claus Strunz Claus Strunz (born 29 September 1966) is a German journalist, television host, and media manager. Biography Strunz was born in Münchberg. After graduating from high school in Bayreuth, he worked as a trainee at the ''Nordbayerischer Kurier''. ...

hosted the

n-tv n-tv (styled ntv) is a German free-to-air television news channel owned by RTL Deutschland. n-tv broadcasts news and weather every hour and half-hour in the morning. It also broadcasts magazine shows and documentaries. History n-tv began a ...

programme '' Grüner Salon''. She appears regularly in broadcasts on

Deutschlandradio Kultur Deutschlandfunk Kultur (; abbreviated to ''DLF Kultur'' or ''DKultur'') is a culture-oriented radio station and part of Deutschlandradio, a set of three national radio stations in Germany. Initially named ''DeutschlandRadio Berlin'', the station ...

, where she presents new publications of German-language crime literature.

Other commitments

Fischer supported the

Pro-Reli campaign, which failed in April 2009, as a

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, whe ...

. Since 2008 she has been the

diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

leader of the Malteser Hilfsdienst in Berlin.

Religion

As a young woman, Fischer left the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, into which she rejoined a good twenty years later.Ulrich Schnabel
''Wie man in Deutschland glaubt.''
In: ''Die Zeit.'' 22 December 2003.

Publications

*Andrea Fischer: ''Was glaubst denn du?: Die Menschen und der liebe Gott.'' Goldmann HC, 2008, . *Andrea Fischer, Rainer Sibbel (Hrsg.): ''Der Patient als Kunde und Konsument. Wie viel Patientensouveränität ist möglich?'' Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011, . ----

Gesundheitsminister of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland:
Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt ,

Käte Strobel Käte Strobel (23 July 1907 – 26 March 1996) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Biography Born in Nuremberg, from 1923 to 1938 Käte Müller worked in the office of agricultural organisations in Bavaria. In 1928, sh ...

, Katharina Focke , Antje Huber , Anke Fuchs ,

Heiner Geißler Heiner Geißler (3 March 1930 – 12 September 2017) was a German politician with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and a federal minister from 1982 to 1985. Career Born Heinrichjosef Georg Geißler in Gleisweiler, he studied law a ...

, Rita Süssmuth , Ursula Lehr ,

Gerda Hasselfeldt Gerda Hasselfeldt (born 7 July 1950) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who served as deputy chairperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and chairwoman of the Bundestag group of CSU parliamentarians. Following her dep ...

Horst Seehofer Horst Lorenz Seehofer (born 4 July 1949) is a German politician who served as Minister for the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), he served as the ...

, Andrea Fischer , Ulla Schmidt

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Andrea 1960 births Living people Alliance 90/The Greens politicians Health ministers of Germany People from Arnsberg Women federal government ministers of Germany Female members of the Bundestag Members of the Bundestag for Berlin Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 20th-century German women politicians 21st-century German women politicians