48 Facts About Annalena Baerbock

Annalena Baerbock was the party's candidate for chancellor in the 2021 federal election.

Annalena Baerbock was first elected to the Bundestag in 2013.

Annalena Baerbock is the daughter of a social worker and a mechanical engineer who worked for WABCO Vehicle Control Systems.

Annalena Baerbock's family lived in Nuremberg for several years during her early childhood years, then moved to Schulenburg, which is part of Pattensen, near Hanover in Lower Saxony.

Annalena Baerbock attended the Humboldt School in Hanover and at the age of 16 spent an exchange year in the United States at Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Florida.

From 2000 to 2004, Annalena Baerbock studied political science at the University of Hamburg, where she qualified for a pre-diploma.

Annalena Baerbock worked as a journalist for the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung from 2000 to 2003.

Annalena Baerbock completed internships at Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Deutsche Presseagentur and the Council of Europe.

In 2005, Annalena Baerbock completed a one-year master's course in public international law at the London School of Economics.

Annalena Baerbock started a dissertation on natural disasters and humanitarian aid at the Free University of Berlin, but did not finish it.

Annalena Baerbock served as the national spokesperson for the Green Party's working group on European affairs from 2008 to 2013.

In 2009, Annalena Baerbock unsuccessfully ran for a place on her party's electoral list for the federal elections.

Annalena Baerbock served as deputy chair of the Berlin-Taipei Parliamentary Circle of Friends and a member of the German-Polish Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2014 until 2017.

Annalena Baerbock has since been a member of the Committee on Families, Seniors, Women and Youth.

On 27 January 2018, at the Green Party's national convention in her hometown of Hanover, Annalena Baerbock was elected as one of two equal chairpersons of her party at the federal level, with Robert Habeck.

Annalena Baerbock is the second woman after Angela Merkel to seek the highest government office, and the first woman nominated by her party.

Annalena Baerbock lost the constituency to Scholz by over 15,000 votes, but was nonetheless elected to the Bundestag through the Green list in Brandenburg.

How we renew our country came to light, with Annalena Baerbock becoming the latest in a series of German politicians found to have plagiarised since the 2011-Guttenberg scandal.

Around the same time, scrutiny of Annalena Baerbock's published curriculum vitae revealed falsehoods.

For example, Annalena Baerbock claimed membership of the German Marshall Fund and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees when she, in fact, was not a member.

Annalena Baerbock was named Foreign Minister and took office on 8 December 2021, the first woman ever to hold the role.

Annalena Baerbock visited Warsaw in December 2021 to meet with the Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau.

Annalena Baerbock backed Poland's efforts to stop the flow of migrants seeking entry in EU territories from Belarus.

Annalena Baerbock rejected the notion of Germany paying further World War II reparations to Poland.

On 23 December 2021, Annalena Baerbock warned that Afghanistan is "heading into the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our time", with major economic sectors collapsing and more than 24 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

When Germany held the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven in 2022, Annalena Baerbock chaired the meetings of G7 Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

In January 2022, Annalena Baerbock refused to supply German weapons to Ukraine amid rising tensions on the Ukraine-Russia border, while the NATO allies including the United States opted to send arms in support of Ukraine.

In January 2023, Annalena Baerbock made her third visit to Ukraine by touring Kharkiv, following her travels to Bucha in May and Kyiv in September of the previous year.

Annalena Baerbock's phrasing received criticism from conservative and right-wing politicians in Germany as demonstrating un-professionalism, and criticism from Russia.

In March 2023, on a visit to Baghdad, Annalena Baerbock called on Iran to cease its missile attacks on Iraqi territory.

Annalena Baerbock opposed the decision of the Biden administration to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine.

In September 2023, Annalena Baerbock accused Azerbaijan of breaking its promise not to resort to military action in Armenian-held Nagorno-Karabakh and called on it to halt the offensive and return to negotiations.

Annalena Baerbock rejected calls for a ceasefire but supported "humanitarian pauses" to deliver aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Francesca Albanese, incumbent UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, criticised Annalena Baerbock following a speech by the Foreign Minister in the German Bundestag on 7 October 2024, in which Annalena Baerbock alluded to Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilian sites as "self-defense" and said that "that's what Germany stands for" to much applause.

Annalena Baerbock is regarded as taking a centrist line on defense and pushing for a stronger common EU foreign policy, especially against Russia and China.

Annalena Baerbock has proposed a post-pacifist foreign policy, calling for a European army under the supervision of the European Parliament and outlining steps toward the denuclearization of Germany in consultation with allies.

On 2025, following the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy, Annalena Baerbock said Trump's conduct represented a "new era of ruthlessness" and called on European countries to "defend the rules-based international order and the strength of law more than ever against the power of the strongest".

Annalena Baerbock has argued in favor of a European and trans-Atlantic Green Deal.

Annalena Baerbock opposes the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project between Russia and Europe.

Annalena Baerbock has called for phasing out of coal use in Germany by 2030, implementation of a speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour, and restriction of registration to emission-free cars "by 2030 at the latest".

Annalena Baerbock has said that "agricultural subsidies should be oriented towards the common good" and that animal populations and meat production should be "reduced very significantly".

Annalena Baerbock called for the quota for the annual expansion of renewable energy sources to be doubled by the mid-2020s.

Annalena Baerbock has said that environmental destruction caused by climate change is becoming increasingly expensive.

Amid the European migrant crisis in 2015, Annalena Baerbock joined fellow Green parliamentarians Luise Amtsberg, Franziska Brantner, Manuel Sarrazin, and Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn in calling for more responsibilities for the European Commission in managing the EU's intake of refugees, a clear mandate for Frontex, and EU-managed facilities for asylum seekers in their countries of origin.

In September 2023, Annalena Baerbock criticized the European Union's migration deal with Tunisia.

Annalena Baerbock advocated the German government's financial support for NGOs, such as SOS Humanity, that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean.

Since 2020, Annalena Baerbock has participated in the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders program, a group that has coached political representatives such as Emmanuel Macron, Sanna Marin and Jacinda Ardern.

Since 2007, Annalena Baerbock has been married to Daniel Holefleisch, a political consultant and PR manager who has been Senior Expert Corporate Affairs for Deutsche Post DHL Group since 2017, a lobbyist position.