Bärbel Bas
This is the “political all-rounder” who is supposed to be President of the Bundestag
The SPD wants the health expert Bärbel Bas as the new President of the Bundestag. The executive group executive unanimously supported a corresponding proposal by SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich, said a group spokesman on Wednesday. The 53-year-old Bas is to be the successor of the CDU politician Wolfgang Schäuble in the office. The politician from North Rhine-Westphalia has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009 and has been deputy leader of the SPD parliamentary group since 2019. The SPD parliamentary group executive is expected to approve it on Wednesday evening, the Social Democrats group on Monday. Controversial debates are not expected. Traditionally, this office is held by the strongest parliamentary group. The new Bundestag will hold its constituent session on October 26th. The appointment of Bas could also have an impact on other personnel decisions such as that of the Federal President. Since SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz is to become head of government of the emerging traffic light coalition of the SPD, Greens and FDP, the SPD parliamentary group also argued that not all three top political positions in Germany should be held by men again.
She is to follow Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) as President of the Bundestag: Bärbel Bas, SPD parliamentary group vice and health politician. She would be only the third woman in the high office. A personal description.
Annemarie Renger (SPD), Rita Süssmuth (CDU) and now Bärbel Bas – should the SPD health politician be elected president at the constituent session of the Bundestag next Tuesday, she would only be the third woman in the second highest office in the republic.
Bärbel Bas, the SPD parliamentary group vice-president with a weakness for football
Born in 1968 in Walsum – now Duisburg – the trained HR manager has represented her hometown in North Rhine-Westphalia in the Bundestag since 2009. The former works council member, who belongs to the left wing of the party, has been one of seven deputies of the SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich since 2019. As an expert in education, research and health, Bas succeeded the health politician Karl Lauterbach, who has been omnipresent in the media since the beginning of the corona pandemic and who ran for the SPD party chairmanship in 2019.
“Everything we want to do now has to be geared towards the generation of tomorrow,” says the 53-year-old, explaining one of the guidelines of her policy. “Equal opportunities and social security are important components for peaceful coexistence in a society,” writes the “political all-rounder” on the group’s website. In addition to health policy, the issues of pensions, the labor market and social issues are particularly important to her.
Bas, who had started as an office assistant at the Duisburger Verkehrsbetriebe in 1985, joined the party in 1988. In the Council of the City of Duisburg she was mainly involved in youth and health policy. From 2013 to 2019, Bas was Parliamentary Managing Director of the SPD parliamentary group.
Her website reveals that the social democrat from the Ruhr area, who grew up with five siblings, has remained down-to-earth despite a steep party career. There she confesses her passion for soccer, the Toten Hosen and one of her favorite dishes: currywurst, french fries, mayonnaise.