Berlin Very few had expected her: The Green finance politician Lisa Paus is to become the new Federal Minister for Family Affairs. “I have a lot of respect for this task,” she said on Thursday afternoon in Berlin. “But I’m ready – and I look forward.”
As priorities for her future work, she named the basic child security agreed in the coalition agreement, equality and campaigning for the situation of single parents. “We live in one of the richest countries and yet social injustice is an everyday problem,” she said. “I won’t put up with that.”
Like her predecessor Anne Spiegel, who resigned on Monday, Paus belongs to the left wing of the party. She is 53 years old, comes from North Rhine-Westphalia and has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009. The graduate economist is an expert in economic and financial policy, but not a “classic family politician”, as it is called in parliamentary group circles.
The Greens boss Ricarda Lang praised Paus for her “expertise and her economic knowledge”. She was “exactly the right person” for this position, she said at the presentation of the personnel in Berlin. In addition, as a “single mother, she knows the challenges that many families experience.”
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The Greens also give her credit for campaigning for basic child security from the start. In addition, she is an “excellent parliamentarian,” according to the parliamentary group that she leads as a representative.
The fact that she has no experience in comparable positions is considered only a minor flaw in Green circles. “Even Annalena Baerbock has never managed a large department and is now doing a great job,” it says. Paus also carried out her task as a faction vizin “responsibly”.
Responsible for families from Ukraine
Paus now has some urgent tasks that don’t allow for a long period of training. The ministry is responsible for looking after the women and children who have fled Ukraine. Added to this is the burden on many families and children caused by the pandemic.
Paus predecessor Spiegel had to resign at the beginning of the week due to mistakes during the flood in the Ahr valley in 2021. Among other things, she was accused of taking a four-week family vacation shortly after the disaster. At that time, as Rhineland-Palatinate’s Environment Minister, she was also responsible for civil protection. The party was largely unprepared for the resignation.
“This week started very difficult,” said Green co-leader Omid Nouripour on Thursday. The party leadership had many discussions with the parliamentary group and the government. On Wednesday evening, the decision was made for an “excellent successor”.
The fact that the choice finally fell on Paus may also have been due to the lack of alternatives. Prominent names were out of the question for the post because of party proportional representation. Katrin Göring-Eckardt, for example, who was already traded in the coalition negotiations as family minister, was calculated to have a chance.
Spiegel announced her resignation on Monday.
(Photo: imago images / Torsten Silz)
However, unlike Spiegel, it belongs to the Realo wing. From the Greens’ point of view, the balance of power with the left wing in the cabinet would be gone. However, Anton Hofreiter – a prominent left-wing voice in the party – could not become one either, as the Greens wanted to fill the ministry with a woman in order to maintain gender parity.
So far, Paus has made a name for herself primarily as a financial politician. She was spokeswoman for the Federal Working Group on Economics and Finance of the federal party at the end of the 1990s. She also devoted herself to these issues during her time in the Berlin House of Representatives, of which she was a member for ten years. In the past legislative period, she was spokeswoman on financial policy for her parliamentary group.
One of their most important projects was fighting so-called share deals. For years, investors in Germany were able to take advantage of a tax loophole by not buying companies in full, but only in large parts. This cost the state billions in revenue. In fact, Paus managed to largely close the loophole.
Lisa Paus becomes the new family minister
Another important topic for her was the fight against financial inequality in Germany. Paus spoke out several times for the introduction of a wealth tax.
She is also considered an important voice in the Greens parliamentary group. In meetings with the financial politicians of the other parties, she often takes the floor and leads the discussions, other members of the Bundestag report.
After last year’s federal elections, Paus rose to become the parliamentary group vice president of the Greens. Thematic priorities: finance, household, economy, work and social affairs. At the same time, she continued to oversee reporting on the subject of banking regulation. It is considered unusual for members of the parliamentary group executive committee to also report to the committees at the same time. That, too, should have been taken into account.
More: Search for a successor for Anne Spiegel – “It will be a woman”