Renate Elly Künast (born 15 December 1955) 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 ...

party. She was the Minister of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture from 2001 to 2005 and subsequently served as chairwoman of her party's parliamentary group in 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 ...

Early life and career

Künast was born in Recklinghausen,

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. She studied social work in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

and worked from 1977 to 1979 in this profession in a jailhouse 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 ...

. After that she studied law 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 ...

until 1985. During her student years, she often protested against the Gorleben nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant. She later worked as lawyer specializing on aliens law and

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

Political career

Career in state politics

Since 1979, Künast has been a member of the German Green Party (''Bündnis 90/Die Grünen''), first in the Alternative List in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

. In the 1990s she was member of parliament and chairwoman of the Green Party's group in the state parliament of Berlin. During that time, she won cross-party respect for her leading role in drafting a new democratic constitution for the reunified city-state. Künast eventually became the party's spokeswoman for legal issues. In 1998, she re-assumed the floor leadership post alongside Michaele Schreyer. In national politics, Künast came to be known as a tough negotiator for her work in drafting the national red-green coalition agreement after the 1998 federal parliamentary elections. In October 1999, she was the Green' front-runner in Berlin's state elections. From June 2000 to March 2001, Künast served as co-chair of ''Bündnis 90/Die Grünen'' on the national level, together with Fritz Kuhn.

Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, 2001–2005

Künast became Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in the second government of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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 ...

in 2001. Since her party at the time did not allow the combination of functions in the party and the government in one person, she had to resign from her role as the party's co-chair. By naming someone with no experience in farming to head a ministry with such sweeping powers, Schröder was widely considered gambling that any loss of support among farmers would be more than compensated by support from ecologically conscious Germans alarmed by the discovery of

mad cow disease Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is an incurable and always fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course of th ...

. Künast held the office of Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection until 2005, over time becoming known for increasing

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

, supporting organic farming, and expanding

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

. During her time in office, she ranked behind only Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in public opinion polls.

Member of the German Parliament, 2002–2025

Following the 2002 elections, Künast was part of the Green Party's team in the negotiations with the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

on a coalition agreement for the second

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 ...

under the leadership of

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 ...

. After the 2005 federal election, Künast became co-chair of the Green Party's parliamentary group, initially together with Fritz Kuhn and later with Jürgen Trittin. In the 2005 vote, she won against Trittin and Katrin Göring-Eckardt. Also since 2005, she has been serving on the Committee on the Election of Judges (''Wahlausschuss''), which is in charge of appointing judges to the

Federal Constitutional Court of Germany The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme court, supreme constitutional court for the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, Basic Law ...

. Künast announced on 5 November 2010 that she we would be the candidate for

Governing Mayor of Berlin The governing mayor () of Berlin is the head of government, presiding over the Berlin Senate. As Berlin is an independent city as well as one of the constituent states of Germany (), the office is the equivalent of the ministers president of ...

for

in the 2011 Berlin state election. At the time of the announcement, her party was eight percentage points ahead of the Social Democrats in the opinion polls. Under her leadership, the Green Party came third with 17.6 percent of the vote, ten percentage points behind the Social Democrates but still up from the 13.1 percent they won in the previous election. However, incumbent Klaus Wowereit from the

chose to enter a coalition with the conservative CDU, leaving Künast without any role in Berlin state politics. Ahead of the 2013 elections, Künast announced her candidacy to lead the Green Party’s campaign. In an internal vote, she ultimately lost against Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Jürgen Trittin. After the 2013 elections, the resignation of Künast and Trittin as co-leaders of the Green Party's group in parliament cleared the way for the election of Göring-Eckardt and Anton Hofreiter. Instead, Künast unsuccessfully ran against Claudia Roth for the office of Vice President of the German

. She eventually served as chairwoman of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection from 2014 until 2017. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Committee on Food and Agriculture. 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

(SPD), the Green Party and the FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Künast led her party's delegation in the working group on agriculture and nutrition; her co-chairs from the other parties are Till Backhaus and Carina Konrad. In July 2024, Künast announced that she would not stand in the 2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* KfW, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Supervisory Directors (2003-2005)

Non-profit organizations

* Stiftung Forum Recht, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) * Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences, Member of the Board of Trustees * Association of German Foundations, Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board * German Forum for Crime Prevention (DFK), Member of the Board of Trustees * German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation ( IRZ), Member of the Board of Trustees * Humanist Union, Member In addition, Künast serves on the board of trustees of the Berlin-based ''

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

-Hilfe'' (AIDS-Help) group, and is an honorary member of the International

Raoul Wallenberg Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945)He is presumed to have died in 1947, although the circumstances of his death are not clear and this date has been disputed. Some reports claim he was alive years later. In ...

Foundation and the Angelo Roncalli Committee within that organization.

Political positions

Human rights

In 2010, Künast criticized

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

for speaking at an award ceremony for Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, arguing that while it was true that the right to

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

also applies to Westergaard's controversial Muhammad cartoons "if a chancellor also makes a speech on top of that, it serves to heat up the debate." In August 2012, Künast was one of 124 members of the Bundestag to sign a letter that was sent to the Russian ambassador to Germany, Vladimir Grinin, expressing concern over the trial against the three members of

Pussy Riot Pussy Riot is a Feminism in Russia, Russian feminist protest and performance art group based in Moscow that became popular for its provocative punk rock music which later turned into a more accessible style. Founded in the fall of 2011 by the th ...

. "Being held in detention for months and the threat of lengthy punishment are draconian and disproportionate", the lawmakers said in the letter. "In a secular and pluralist state, peaceful artistic acts -- even if they can be seen as provocative -- must not lead to the accusation of serious criminal acts that lead to lengthy prison terms." In 2015, Künast was the initiator of a bill in favor of legalizing

assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...

, arguing that "a punishment of commercial euthanasia would expose doctors to the severe risk of legal investigations." However, the Bundestag later voted to criminalize organizations that assist patients seeking to terminate their lives in return for payment and makes assisting a suicide punishable by up to three years in prison.

Regulation of digital platforms

In 2021, Künast requested the personal data of several

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

users to pursue the authors of 22 insulting comments against her, many of which were of a sexist or violent nature. In 2022, the

Federal Constitutional Court The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post-W ...

sided with Künast personal data.

Economic policy

Amid the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, Künast proposed to solve the state-owned banks' financial woes and to merge the Germany's then eight regional banks into one institution, which would concentrate on regional economic development. In a 2008 interview with newspaper ''

Welt am Sonntag ''Welt am Sonntag'' (German for ''World on Sunday'') is a German Sunday newspaper published in Germany. History and profile ''Welt am Sonntag'' was established in 1948. The paper is published by Axel Springer SE. Its head office is in Berlin. ...

'': "The regional banks should be merged into one and their functions need to be clearly laid out." Ahead of the 2009 federal elections, in an attempt to come up with an antidote to the other political parties' hijacking of green ideas, Künast and her fellow lead candidate Jürgen Trittin backed up their critique of incumbent

's government with a "Green New Deal", calling for €20 billion ($27.4 billion) a year to be invested in climate protection, environmental technology and education.

Consumer protection

In 2010, Künast called for a ban on advertising for sweets aimed at children.

Relations with the CDU

Over the course of her career, Künast has regularly dismissed prospects for an alternative coalition between the Greens and

's Christian Democratic Union on a national level.

Recognition

In 2010, Künast – along with Cécile Duflot, Monica Frassoni, and

Marina Silva Maria Osmarina Marina da Silva Vaz de Lima (born Maria Osmarina da Silva; 8 February 1958), known as Marina Silva, is a Brazilian politician and environmentalist, currently serving as Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, a position ...

– was named by ''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

'' magazine to its list of top global thinkers, for taking

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

mainstream.

Personal life

Künast has been married to lawyer Rüdiger Portius since 2011. From 2001, she shared an apartment with Katrin Göring-Eckardt in Berlin’s Friedenau district.

Controversy

Hate speech

Künast was personally extremely insulted by hate speech on the net; mostly on Facebook she got sexually insulted. Künast fights more consistently than almost any other German politician against these form of violent by anonymous persons. The Berlin Regional Court initially found that these were all permissible expressions of opinion, Künast had provoked these comments because of a misleading statement in 1986 about sex with children. Künast lodged an appeal. As a result, the district court obliged Facebook to provide information about the authors of some comments, so that the politician could take legal action against these people. All this has been annulled by the

(BVG) in February 2022. The Berlin courts had not weighed properly. The Berlin court had always evaluated all comments in the context of the discussion, BVG said. But even with a reference to a public debate, not everything is allowed.

Antisemitism

In July 2009 Künast was accused of antisemitism by the ''

Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Je ...

'', after she had allegedly been overheard calling the pro-Israel " Stop The Bomb" organisation a "

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

front", which she denied.

Domestic security

In October 2015 Künast advised the police officer Tania Kambouri during a talk show that the police should take their shoes off before raids in mosques. Kambouri had published a book about her experience with the rising violence by Muslim men against law enforcement and especially against women. In July 2016 Künast posted a Tweet in which she questioned the shooting of an Afghan refugee and ISIS sympathiser who severely injured five people with an axe. She was criticized for publicly accusing the police of wrongdoing without knowing the details and before the official investigation was started. Members from her party distanced themselves from the statement and said that they trusted the German police. Police union chief Rainier Wendt called her a "parliamentary smart aleck".

Bibliography

* ''Die Dickmacher. Warum die Deutschen immer fetter werden und was wir dagegen tun müssen.'' Riemann Verlag, 2004, . * ''Klasse statt Masse. Die Erde schätzen, den Verbraucher schützen.'' Econ Ullstein List Verlag, München 2002. * ''Der Mordfall Schmücker und der Verfassungs„schutz". Dokumentation seit dem 29. September 1986, vorgelegt von Renate Künast (MdA), Februar 1987. Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz, Fraktion des Abgeordnetenhauses von Berlin, 1987.

References

External links