The new governing mayor has had a steep political career behind her.
(Photo: imago images / Emmanuele Contini)
Berlin Franziska Giffey has made it: six months after retiring from federal politics, the 43-year-old is now the Governing Mayor of Berlin – as the first woman in this office. And on the very first day she returns to the federal stage when she and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and North Rhine-Westphalia State Chief Hendrik Wüst (CDU) announce the new anti-omicron course.
The Social Democrat only had to give up her position as Federal Family Minister in May of this year due to a plagiarism affair, and only a few weeks later the Free University of Berlin actually took her doctorate away from her. But by this time the Berlin comrades had already chosen their party leader and former district mayor of Berlin-Neukölln as the top candidate for the state election.
Her pale predecessor Michael Müller did not run again, he moved to the Bundestag. At the polls, which took place in September at the same time as the general election and made headlines nationwide because of an organizational disaster, it won 21.4 percent for the SPD – and thus the historically worst result of the Berlin Social Democrats. Nevertheless, she took first place in front of the Greens, CDU, Left, AfD and FDP.
The Brandenburg woman, who grew up near Fürstenwalde, made a name for herself in federal politics with the “Good Day Care Act”. And she does not shy away from uncomfortable positions: She not only advocates compulsory daycare from the third birthday, but also demanded fines for families who do not allow their children to take part in swimming lessons for cultural or religious reasons. In this context, she welcomed the purchase of burkinis by a grammar school in Herne for Muslim students.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
In the Berlin election campaign in the summer, she called for serious criminals to be deported to Syria and Afghanistan – although this contradicts a decision made by her party.
The Senate is more feminine than ever
In the capital, she is now continuing the coalition with the Greens and the Left Party, which has been in power since 2016. With many new Senators: With seven women and four men, the Senate is more feminine than ever. The government program ranges from the expansion of local public transport to more climate protection and 20,000 new apartments per year to more citizen-friendly administration and more video surveillance of places with high crime rates.
It will be difficult to deal with a referendum in which, parallel to the election, almost 58 percent of voters voted for the expropriation of housing groups with more than 3,000 apartments – in the hope that this would stop the rise in rents. Red-Green-Red plays for time: In one year a commission of experts is to make proposals for implementation.
Franziska Giffey sworn in as governing mayor
The SPD is against expropriations, the left is in favor, and the Greens can also envision them “as a last resort”. With an expropriation law, Berlin would break new legal and political territory again after the rent cap that failed before the Federal Constitutional Court in April.
Franziska Giffey originally wanted to become a teacher – but the doctors urgently advised her against that because of a larynx problem. She changed saddles and became a graduate in administration at the University of Applied Sciences. Meanwhile, the low voice did not hinder her advancement in politics.
Now she is the first “ruler”, as it is affectionately known in Berlin. But it still has a predecessor: In 1947/1948, the SPD politician Louise Schroeder served as provisional mayor in post-war Berlin. In 1949 she was even traded as a possible candidate of the SPD for the office of Federal President against Theodor Heuss, but could not prevail against her party colleague Kurt Schumacher.
More: In Berlin, the Deutsche Wohnen group in particular has come under fire. This is merging with its larger rival Vonovia – but that is not without friction