Manuel Ferdinand Theodor Sarrazin (born 6 February 1982) is a German politician of

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 ...

who served as a member of the

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 ...

from the state of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

from 2008 to 2021. Since 2022, he has been serving as Special Representative for the Countries of the Western Balkan in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

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 ...

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born 14 June 1958) is a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Ge ...

Early life and education

Sarrazin was born in Dortmund and has lived in the Hamburg district of Harburg since 1995. After graduating from the local Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium in 2001 and completing his civilian service, he began studying history, Polish and law at the University of Bremen in 2002. In 2005, he moved to the University of Hamburg, where he completed his studies in History, Eastern European Studies and Law in 2013.

Political career

Career in state politics

From

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

to 2008 Sarrazin was a member of the State Parliament of Hamburg.

Member of the German Parliament, 2008–2021

Sarrazin succeeded Anja Hajduk in the Bundestag on 13 May 2008. He was a member of the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. From 2008 until 2013, he also served on the Budget Committee's Subcommittee on European Affairs. He was his parliamentary group’s spokesman for Eastern European policy. In addition to his committee assignments, Sarrazin served as deputy chairman of the German-Polish Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2018 to 2021. On 24 June 2015 Sarrazin took on a godparenthood for Mikola Dziadok, Belarusian activist and

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

. On 9 July 2020 he became the patron of Ihar Losik, Belarusian blogger and political prisoner. In the negotiations to form a so-called

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition () is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' traditional colours, respectively red, y ...

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), the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the 2021 federal elections, Sarrazin was part of his party's delegation in the working group on European affairs, co-chaired by

Udo Bullmann Udo Bullmann (born 8 June 1956) is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament since 1999. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), part of the Party of European Socialists. He has been r ...

Franziska Brantner Franziska Katharina Brantner (born 24 August 1979) is a German politician of the Green Party who has been serving as a member of the German Parliament since 2013. Since 2024, she has also been serving as co-leader of Alliance 90/The Greens, along ...

and

Nicola Beer Nicola Beer (born 23 January 1970) is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a vice president of the European Investment Bank since 2024, under the leadership of president Nadia Calviño. Earl ...

Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, 2022–present

In March 2022,

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Annalena Baerbock Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock (; born 15 December 1980) is a German politician and diplomat of the Alliance 90/The Greens party. She served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), Germany's minister for foreign affairs from 2021 to 2025. I ...

appointed Sarrazin as Special Representative for the Countries of the Western Balkan in the

Other activities

* , Member of the Board * Southeast Europe Association (SOG), President *

Institute for European Politics The Institute for European Politics (IEP; German: ''Institut für Europäische Politik'') is a German foreign and European policy research centre based in Berlin. It is an independent non-governmental organization focused on the research of Euro ...

(IEP), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2012)

References

External links

* *
Bundestag biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarrazin, Manuel 1982 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Hamburg Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Politicians from Dortmund Members of the Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens