Gerald Haefner
Gerald Häfner (born November 3, 1956 in Munich ) is a German politician ( Alliance 90 / The Greens ). He was a member of the German Bundestag three times between 1987 and 2002 and was a member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2014 .
Education, job, private life
From 1978 to 1984 Häfner studied German , Waldorf education , social sciences and philosophy in Munich, Witten and Bochum.
He is an author specializing in citizen participation and direct democracy . In 2015, Häfner was confirmed as co-head of the social science section at the Goetheanum , and since Paul Mackay's resignation from the co-leadership, Häfner has been the sole head of this section.
Gerald Häfner lives in Munich, is married and has two children.
Party politics
He was one of the founders of the Green Party. In the founding years of the party, he was district chairman in Munich from 1979 to 1980, and from 1980 to 1981 managing director and press spokesman for the Bavarian State Association , and later district chairman in Swabia. From 1991 to 1994 Häfner was state chairman in Bavaria.
Member of the German Bundestag
Gerald Häfner was a member of the German Bundestag for a total of ten years (1987–1990, 1994–1998 and 2001–2002) for the Bundestag faction of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen . There he was the legal policy spokesman for his group.
From 1994 to 1998 he was a member and chairman of the Legal Committee , the Rules Committee and the German Unity Committee.
From April 2001 to October 2002, Häfner was a member of the Bundestag for the third time. He moved up for Claudia Roth , as she, as party spokeswoman, had to resign from the Bundestag mandate due to the principle of the separation of office and mandate . In the 14th legislative period, he was the democratic political spokesman for the green parliamentary group, a member of the European Committee and a deputy member of the Interior Committee of the German Bundestag .
Häfner has introduced a number of bills to strengthen democracy, civil rights and citizen participation in the German Bundestag. These contained numerous concrete and elaborated proposals to improve democracy, transparency and democratic opportunities for citizens to participate, from improving the right to vote, reforming political (re) financing and anchoring freedom of information to the introduction of referendums and referendums . He has also initiated many cross-parliamentary bills, from the alternative draft to the transplant law to the first draft of a law on the protection of non-smokers and numerous attempts at parliamentary reform. Häfner was also a co-author of several constitutional drafts and an expert on democracy and constitutional issues, citizen participation and parliamentary reform for the state parliaments of Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Brandenburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Rhineland-Palatinate as well as for several parliaments in European and international abroad.
Member of the European Parliament
Gerald Häfner was elected to the European Parliament on June 7th, 2009 for Alliance 90 / The Greens . He belonged to the Greens / EFA group. As a member of parliament, he was a member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and the Legal Affairs Committee, and a deputy member of the Petitions Committee . In addition, he was deputy chairman of the Korea delegation and a deputy member of the ASEAN and the Caucasus delegation of the European Parliament.
Memberships
Häfner is (co-) founder of various initiatives, especially in the areas of democracy, civil rights and the constitution, as well as various foundations. Mention should be made, among others, of Mehr Demokratie (whose board spokesman he was from 1999 to 2009), the Free International University , the Aktion Third Way, Aktion Volksentscheid, Democracy International e. V. (founding chairman since 2011), the Foundation for Cooperation (member of the Board of Trustees), referendum against nuclear facilities, the Federal Foundation to come to terms with the SED dictatorship and the Petra Kelly Foundation . Between 1990 and 1992 he was founder and member of the board of trustees for a democratically constituted federation of German states .
Honors
In 2001, Häfner received the “Silver Microphone” as the best speaker of the members of the German Bundestag in the 14th electoral term and in 2005 the “National Leadership Award for Political Innovation” from the Economic Forum Germany in the category of improving the political system.
Publications
- Experiences, status and perspectives of direct democracy in Germany and Austria. In: Jos Verhulst, Arjen Nijeboer (ed.): Direct democracy. Facts, arguments, experiences. Democracy International, Brussels 2009, ISBN 978-90-78820-02-4 .
- with Michael Efler, Roman Huber and Percy Vogel: Europe: not without us! Astray and a way out of democracy in the European Union. VSA Verlag, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89965-360-1 .
- Fight for direct democracy. From controlled democracy to the fight for the rudder. In: U. Müller, S. Giegold, M. Arhelger (Eds.): Guided Democracy? How neoliberal elites influence politics and the public. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-89965-100-6 .
- The renaissance of brotherhood. In: Jacques Attali: Fraternity. A necessary utopia in the age of globalization. Free Spiritual Life Publishing House, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-7725-2235-1 .
- German unity through the back door. In: W. Schulz, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (ed.): The alliance case: political perspectives 10 years after the founding of the alliance 90. Ed. Temmen, Bremen 2001, ISBN 3-86108-796-0 .
- Memorandum on a constitution for the Federation of German States. In: From the Basic Law to the German Constitution. Memorandum and draft constitution. Nomos, Baden-Baden 1999, ISBN 3-7890-2506-2 .
- The death in the life of Petra Kelly and Joseph Beuys. In: Petra Kelly, Joseph Beuys: This night into which the people ... FIU-Verlag, Wangen 1994, ISBN 3-928780-07-7 .
Web links
- Gerald Häfner's website
- Biography at the German Bundestag
- Entry on Gerald Häfner in the Members' database of the European Parliament
- Former page in the European Parliament ( Memento from May 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ^ News sheet of the General Anthroposophical Society. September 20, 2015, No. 17.
- ↑ Personnel change in Dornach. In: social impulses. 3/2016, p. 24.
State chairwoman : Halo Saibold (1979–1980) | Jutta Damm (1982–1983) | Elisabeth Sellmann (1983–1985) | Ulrike Windsperger and Claudia Solana (1985–1986) | Heidi Meinzolt-Depner (1987–1991) | Margarete Bause (1991–1993) | Barbara Hoffmann (1993-1997) | Ruth Paulig (1997–1998) | Margarete Bause (1998–2003) | Theresa Schopper (2003–2013) | Sigi Hagl (2013–2019) | Eva Lettenbauer (since 2019)
State chairman: Klaus Resch (1979–1980) | Jörg Westerhoff , Eberhard Bueb and Manfred Quickert (1980–1982) | Horst Schmidt and Rolf Gajewski (1982–1983) | Eckehard Rotter (1983–1985) | Heinz Gruber and Martin Kaltenhauser (1986–1987) | Eberhard Bueb (1987–1989) | Mike Pfeffer (1989-1991) | Gerald Häfner (1991–1995) | Kurt Haymann (1995–1997) | Bernd Schreyer (1997–1998) | Jerzy Monday (1998-2002) | Sepp Daxenberger (2002-2008) | Dieter Janecek (2008-2014) | Eike Hallitzky (since 2014)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Häfner, Gerald |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German politician (Bündnis90 / Die Grünen), MP, MEP, non-fiction author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 3rd November 1956 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Munich |