Andrej Hunko

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Andrej Hunko, 2014

Andrej Konstantin Hunko (born September 29, 1963 in Munich ) is a German politician ( Die Linke ). He has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2009 and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2010 . Since 2015 he has been deputy chairman of the parliamentary group of the European United Left and since 2020 deputy chairman of the left parliamentary group in the Bundestag . He has been a member of the Left Party Executive Committee since 2014.

Origin, education and professional activities

Andrej Hunko is of Ukrainian descent. His grandfather fought against the Red Army in the Ukraiinska Nazionalna Armija during World War II .

Hunko was born in Munich and grew up in Aachen . There he graduated from the Kaiser-Karls-Gymnasium in 1983 and then did his community service at the DPWV .

In 1985 he started at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg , a study of medicine , which he finished in 1991 without a degree. In an interview in 2018, he said that it was "a response to the 1991 Iraq war", "not a very mature response, in retrospect". He then carried out various activities in Freiburg, Aachen and Berlin, including as a truck driver, printer, nurse and publicist. From 1999 to 2004 he completed a professional training as a media designer and worked as a media designer and printer. From 2007 to 2009 he worked for MEP Tobias Pflüger . Since 2009 he has been a member of the German Bundestag for the DIE LINKE party.

Political engagement and career

Andrej Hunko was a member of the Socialist Workers' Group from 1991 to 1995 , after having been active in the Freiburg Colorful List from 1986 to 1989 .

From 2004 he was one of the organizers of the Monday demonstrations against social cuts in Aachen. In 2005, Hunko joined the newly founded WASG , whose district spokesman for the city and district of Aachen he became in 2006. In the same year he also joined the PDS , for whose merger with the WASG, including the social movements, he advocated. When the WASG and PDS merged and the state association Die Linke Nordrhein-Westfalen was founded, Hunko was elected to the state board.

In 2009 he moved into the Bundestag at number 6 on the state list of his party. His group sent him to the Committee on Affairs of the European Union and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe .

For the 2013 federal election , the electoral assembly of the members of the party Die Linke in the city of Aachen had again set him up as a direct candidate for the constituency of Aachen-Stadt (now constituency 87) without dissenting votes . The North Rhine-Westphalia regional assembly of representatives of the party Die Linke elected him with 91 percent of the delegate votes as a candidate in fourth place on the state list.

At the federal party conference in May 2014, he was elected to the party executive for the first time.

In the spring of 2016 he was elected to succeed Diether Dehm as the European political spokesman for the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag.

In the 2017 federal election , Andrej Hunko made it into the Bundestag for a third time. He ran in fourth place on the state list of North Rhine-Westphalia and as a direct candidate in the Aachen I constituency.

On February 11, 2020, he was elected deputy chairman of the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag after no candidate for successor to Sevim Dağdelen was able to achieve a majority in the board election on November 12, 2019 .

Content focus

Hunko received media attention in 2009 when, in view of the global financial and economic crisis, he spoke out in favor of “social unrest” that was wrongly “purposefully associated with violence and fascism”. The opposite is the case, however, as the example of Iceland shows: "Social protest against the crisis can overthrow a government, force new elections and generate new social hope," Hunko said at the time. The Tübingen political scientist Josef Schmid saw social unrest in Germany as unlikely.

At the turn of the year 2010/2011, Hunko caused a stir in the media when he opposed the obligation to wear a tie for secretaries in the Bundestag.

In the first years as a member of the Bundestag, one of Hunko's main areas of work was the crisis policy of the member states and the EU , which in his opinion threaten democracy and social human rights and do not solve the crisis, but exacerbate it. For the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, he prepared a report entitled “Austerity measures - a threat to democracy and social rights”, the resolution of which was adopted by a large majority. In the Bundestag he repeatedly criticized the German and European crisis policy. In addition, Hunko regularly traveled to European “crisis states” to meet local actors and to take part in protests against European crisis management as a German representative.

In 2011, Hunko was involved in debates in the party Die Linke and in the left faction, which revolved around allegations of anti-Semitism , the Boycott campaign , Divestment and Sanctions and the Gaza flotilla . On 25 May 2011, the Bundestag debated in a topical interest about "Current social science research into possible anti-Semitic and anti-Israel positions and behaviors in the Left Party". The occasion was, among other things, an anti-Semitic leaflet that had been on a server of the Duisburg district association of the party and was deleted after it became known. On June 7, 2011, the left-wing parliamentary group unanimously passed a resolution in which support for calls for boycotts against Israeli goods, a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or participation in another Gaza flotilla was clearly rejected. Unanimity was only achieved by Hunko and 14 other parliamentary group members either staying away from the vote or leaving the meeting room beforehand. In a personal statement, Hunko then criticized the fact that the decision “came about in a highly undemocratic way” and demanded “to discuss the sense and nonsense of the Gaza flotilla, the BDS campaign or the one / two-state solution in an open and democratic atmosphere and can decide ".

From 2013 the Ukraine crisis became one of Hunko's main areas of work. He was a member of election observation delegations of the Council of Europe in the parliamentary elections in 2012 and, after the overthrow of the Yanukovych government , in autumn 2014. After the outbreak of war in Eastern Ukraine , he and his fellow MP Wolfgang Gehrcke collected donations totaling 135,200 euros for the children's hospital in Horlivka . At the beginning of 2015, the two MPs brought the first part of the aid delivery to the war zone in the internationally unrecognized “ Donetsk People's Republic ”. They also met the “head of state” of the “People's Republic”, Alexandr Sachartschenko , which German journalists rated as a “propaganda success for the separatists”. The Ukrainian government protested at the Foreign Office in Berlin. As a result of this and the violation of the Ukrainian right of residence, he was banned from entering Ukraine .

In April 2019 he was the first federal politician to visit Venezuela since the beginning of the power struggle between Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó and to meet both politicians in Caracas. Previously, an expert opinion by the Scientific Services of the Bundestag, which was commissioned by Hunko, questioned the conformity of the recognition of Juan Guaidó by the federal government with international law .

Another focus of Hunko is European domestic policy, which focuses on educating about European police and secret service cooperation as well as research projects on surveillance technologies . To this end, he put a number of small inquiries and individual questions to the federal government in the Bundestag, for example at the beginning of the debate on the acquisition of combat drones for the Bundeswehr or on the support of authoritarian regimes in Egypt and Tunisia with Internet surveillance by the BKA . An oral question from Hunko to the federal government in 2016 revealed that the importance of the US base in Ramstein is central to the US drone war.

In the Council of Europe, Hunko campaigned for the return of the Russian delegation. After the Parliamentary Assembly sanctioned them in 2014 for Russian acts in violation of international law in the wake of the Crimean crisis , the Russian parliamentarians did not attend the meetings for five years. A legal opinion classified the withdrawal of voting rights in 2018 as unlawful. After an agreement in June 2019 on a new mechanism in the event of legal violations by a member state of the Council of Europe, the Russian delegation returned. Hunko welcomed this as an "important signal of relaxation". In 2014 he was the only MP from Germany who voted against the withdrawal of voting rights.

Andrej Hunko is actively committed to the freedom of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange . On his initiative, among other things, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe called on the 47 member states in a resolution to assess the case as a “dangerous precedent for journalists” and to stand up for its “immediate release” and against extradition to the USA.

In April and May 2020, Hunko took part in the nationwide protest against the government's crisis policy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic . In this context he appeared as a speaker at two rallies under the motto "Thoughts are free" in Aachen. In an interview, he responded to reviews of his performance.

Also in May, Andrej Hunko was appointed rapporteur in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for a report on the first lessons learned from dealing with the pandemic. On June 26, the report was adopted by the Standing Committee with a large majority. The Parliamentary Assembly calls for, among other things, better preparation of states for pandemics , legally compliant measures, a better database and better public funding for the World Health Organization .

Activity as election observer

Andrej Hunko in his role as head of the Council of Europe's election observation delegation in Georgia (2018)

Andrej Hunko was a member of numerous election observation missions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the OSCE . He observed the following elections, among others:

Hunko canceled his participation in the election observation delegation of the Council of Europe for the local elections in Ukraine in 2015. He was also scheduled to serve as the OSCE election observer for the 2018 parliamentary and presidential elections in Turkey. However, Turkey denied him entry.

Publications

  • More and more drones and bigger: the police are upgrading. together with Matthias Monroy. In: Peter Strutynski (ed.): Killing by remote control. Combat drones in the global shadow war . Vienna: Promedia, 2013. pp. 187–199 ISBN 978-3-85371-366-2

Web links

Commons : Andrej Hunko  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Anti-imperialist front. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung . January 10, 2010, accessed February 26, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Andrej Hunko: About the person. In: andrej-hunko.de. Retrieved February 26, 2020 .
  3. ^ Franz Ludwig Averdunk: The protester: Andrej Hunko. In: The Parliament. October 22, 2018, accessed July 9, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Andrej Hunko: About the person. In: andrej-hunko.de. Retrieved February 26, 2020 .
  5. ^ Andrej Hunko and others: Aachen Appeal for the Emergence of the New Left from Social Movements, WASG and Left Party. In: neue-linke.info. October 19, 2005, accessed February 26, 2020 .
  6. ^ Nils Heinichen: Aachen: "Die Linke": Dream result for Andrej Hunko. In: Aachener Nachrichten. January 20, 2013, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  7. ↑ DIE LINKE: Election of the party executive. In: die-linke.de. Retrieved February 26, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Markus Decker: Demands: Gregor Gysi gives the left a choice. In: Berliner Zeitung. April 11, 2016, accessed on February 26, 2020 (German).
  9. ^ Federal Returning Officer: Elected on state lists of the parties in North Rhine-Westphalia. Retrieved February 26, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Matthias Meisner: This is how the newly elected vice-head of the left-wing faction ticks. In: Tagesspiegel. February 12, 2020, accessed February 26, 2020 .
  11. ^ A b Franz Solms-Laubach: Economic crisis: Left calls for social unrest in Germany . In: The world . April 27, 2009.
  12. ^ Andrej Hunko: Social unrest is necessary and desirable. April 27, 2009, accessed on February 26, 2020 (German).
  13. ↑ Press review on mandatory ties
  14. ↑ Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: Austerity measures - a danger for democracy and social rights - Doc. 12948 (2012). 2012, accessed on February 26, 2020 .
  15. ^ Andrej Hunko: Council of Europe for the reorientation of crisis policy in Europe. June 27, 2012, accessed on February 26, 2020 (German).
  16. ↑ Andrej Hunko: Europe will be social - or it will not be. In: linksfraktion.de. January 20, 2011, accessed February 26, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Andrej Hunko: Let's stop an authoritarian and austeritarian Europe. In: linksfraktion.de. March 9, 2012, accessed February 26, 2020 .
  18. ↑ German Bundestag - 'Left should take a stand against anti-Semitism'. In: bundestag.de. 2011, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  19. ^ Philipp Wittrock: Anti-Semitic leaflet: Duisburger Linke spreads agitation against Israel. In: Der Spiegel. April 27, 2011, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  20. ^ Dierkes writes an open letter after the left wing scandal in Duisburg. In: WAZ. May 6, 2011, accessed on February 27, 2020 (German).
  21. ↑ Marcus Meier: Hakenkreuz@die-linke-duisburg.de. In: New Germany. April 29, 2011, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  22. ↑ DIE LINKE parliamentary group in the Bundestag: Decided against anti-Semitism. In: linksfraktion.de. June 7, 2011, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Bruno Engelin: Unanimously with dissenters. June 14, 2011, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  24. ^ Uwe Kalbe: Three-point catalog against anti-Semitism. In: New Germany. June 9, 2011, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  25. ^ Andrej Hunko: On the so-called anti-Semitism decision of the left-wing faction. In: andrej-hunko.de. June 9, 2011, accessed on February 27, 2020 (German).
  26. ↑ Daniel Tost: "You have to deal fairly with Ukraine now". In: Euractiv. October 29, 2012, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  27. ↑ Jasper Barenberg: Ukraine election - "Signs of escalation again". In: Deutschlandfunk. October 27, 2014, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  28. ^ Final report on the initiative “Help for the children in Donbass”. June 1, 2016, accessed on February 27, 2020 (German).
  29. ↑ Klaus Joachim Herrmann: The children in Gorlowka lack everything. In: New Germany . January 27, 2015, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  30. ^ A b c Matthias Meisner and Claudia con Salzen: Left-wing MPs on an adventure tour in the war zone. In: Tagesspiegel. February 20, 2015, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  31. ↑ Separatists do propaganda with left-wing MPs. In: Zeit Online. February 18, 2015, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  32. ↑ Georg Ismar: “State Visit” in Venezuela The strange journey of a German left-wing politician to Maduro . In: Der Tagesspiegel . April 26, 2019.
  33. ^ Andrej Hunko: Report on the Venezuela trip in April 2019. In: amerika21. July 20, 2019, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  34. ↑ Expert opinion feeds doubts about Guaidó recognition. In: FAZ. February 9, 2019, accessed March 10, 2020 .
  35. ^ Veit Medick: Federal government urges the use of armed drones. In: Der Spiegel. January 24, 2013, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  36. ↑ Christian Fuchs, John Goetz : Support for Authoritarian Governments - Internet Monitoring with BKA Help ( Memento from April 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). In: tagesschau.de . April 29, 2013.
  37. ↑ USA carries out drone war from Germany. In: NDR. November 30, 2016, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  38. ↑ Andrej Hunko and René Jokisch: Russia's exclusion from the Council of Europe would be a big mistake. In: euractiv.de. June 7, 2016, accessed on February 28, 2020 (German).
  39. ↑ Citing Crimea, PACE suspends voting rights of Russian delegation and excludes it from leading bodies. April 10, 2014, accessed February 28, 2020 .
  40. ^ Council of Europe: Russia regains voting rights in Parliamentary Assembly. In: Der Spiegel. June 25, 2019, accessed February 28, 2020 .
  41. ↑ Andrej Hunko: Russia's remaining in the Council of Europe is an important signal of relaxation. In: linksfraktion.de. June 25, 2019, accessed February 28, 2020 .
  42. ^ Voting results (participants). Retrieved February 28, 2020 .
  43. ^ Sara Chessa: Council of Europe sides with Julian Assange. In: Independent Australia. February 5, 2020, accessed on February 27, 2020 .
  44. ^ PACE - Resolution 2317 (2020) - Threats to media freedom and journalists' security in Europe. Retrieved February 27, 2020 .
  45. ^ Speech manuscript for the rally "Thoughts are free" on May 16 in Aachen. May 16, 2020, accessed on May 26, 2020 (German).
  46. ^ Scandal about left-wing parliamentary group deputy Andrej Hunko. Retrieved May 18, 2020 .
  47. ↑ Ralf Wurzbacher: The Left and the Pandemic: "The most consistent lockdown party?" In: NachDenkSeiten. May 22, 2020, accessed on May 26, 2020 (German).
  48. ↑ Lessons for the future from an effective and rights-based response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, June 11, 2020, accessed July 9, 2020 .
  49. ↑ COVID-19: 'Drawing lessons from the pandemic is instrumental in order to respond to future health crisis,' said participants at a hearing. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, May 20, 2020, accessed July 9, 2020 .
  50. ↑ COVID-19: 'Rapid and sustained' rights-based responses to epidemic outbreaks. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, June 2, 2020, accessed July 9, 2020 .
  51. ↑ Council of Europe adopts Andrej Hunko's Corona report with a large majority. Andrej Hunko, June 26, 2020, accessed on July 9, 2020 .
  52. ^ Andrej Hunko as an election observer in Turkey. Retrieved on February 27, 2020 (German).
  53. ^ Election observation of the presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan. Retrieved on February 27, 2020 (German).
  54. ↑ »You can't really feel the spirit of optimism«. In: young world. November 1, 2011, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  55. ^ OSCE criticism, detention visit and Merkel appeal: Shadow on Kazakhstan election. In: euractiv.de. January 16, 2012, accessed on February 27, 2020 (German).
  56. ↑ "You have to deal fairly with Ukraine now". In: euractiv.de. October 29, 2012, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  57. ↑ Jasper Barenberg: Ukraine election - "Signs of escalation again". In: Deutschlandfunk. October 27, 2014, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  58. ↑ Andrej Hunko on election observation in Belarus. October 7, 2015, accessed on February 27, 2020 (German).
  59. ↑ Ruth Ciesinger and Andrea Dernbach: For election observers, the referendum was "neither free nor fair". In: Tagesspiegel. April 17, 2017, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  60. ↑ Beklan Kulaksızoğlu: Election observer Hunko: "Obstructions by the police". In: Deutsche Welle. April 17, 2017, accessed on February 27, 2020 (German).
  61. ↑ These insights from an election observer speak volumes. In: world. April 18, 2017, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  62. ↑ The West should recognize Putin's support in the Russian population. In: andrej-hunko.de. March 19, 2018, accessed on February 27, 2020 (German).
  63. ↑ Observation of the presidential election in Georgia (October 28 and November 28, 2018) PACE - Doc. 14784 (2018). In: PACE. December 14, 2018, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  64. ↑ Andrej Hunko cancels election observation in Ukraine after threats. October 23, 2015, accessed on February 27, 2020 (German).
  65. ↑ Turkey does not allow MP Hunko to enter the country for the election. In: Deutsche Welle. June 21, 2018, accessed on February 27, 2020 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Hunko, Andrej
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hunko, Andrej Konstantin (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (Die Linke), Member of the Bundestag
DATE OF BIRTH September 29, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich