Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul

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Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (2013)

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul [ ˌviːt͡ʃoʁɛkˈt͡sɔɪ̯l ] (born November 21, 1942 in Frankfurt am Main as Heidemarie Zeul ) is a German politician ( SPD ). From 1998 to 2009 she was Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development .

Life and work

After graduating from the Frankfurt Herderschule from 1961 to 1965, Heidemarie Zeul studied for teaching at secondary and secondary schools for the subjects of English and history at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main . From 1965 to 1974 she worked as a teacher at the Friedrich Ebert School and from 1977 to 1978 at the Georg Büchner School in Rüsselsheim . From 1965 to 1979 she was married to the SPD politician Norbert Wieczorek . After the divorce, she kept the surname Wieczorek-Zeul.

She is Protestant and called her Christian conviction "always my guideline".

Political career

Political party

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul as Juso chairwoman, 1976
Wieczorek-Zeul 1988 (with Erhard Eppler )

Wieczorek-Zeul has been a member of the SPD since 1965. From 1974 to 1977 she was federal chairwoman of the Young Socialists , the first woman in this position. During this time she acquired the reputation of "Rote Heidi" or "Rote Heide". Since 1984 she has been a member of the SPD federal executive committee. From 1987 to 1999 she was chairwoman of the SPD district association Hesse- South. In the 1993 strike vote of the members on a new SPD federal chairman, she ran unsuccessfully against Rudolf Scharping and Gerhard Schröder . From 1993 to 2005 she was deputy federal chairwoman of the SPD.

MPs

From 1968 to 1972 Wieczorek-Zeul was a city councilor in Rüsselsheim and in 1972 she was a member of the district council in Groß-Gerau. From 1977 to 1979 she was chairman of the "European Coordination Office of International Youth Associations".

In the first direct election in 1979 she was elected to the European Parliament, which she was a member of until she was elected to the German Bundestag in 1987 . From 1987 to 2013 she was a member of the Bundestag . Until 1998 she was always drawn into the Bundestag via the state list, from then on via her constituency . From 1987 to 1998 she was the European policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag . Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul belonged to the parliamentary left of the SPD parliamentary group. She did not run for the 2013 federal election .

Memberships

She was a member of the Europa-Union parliamentary group of the German Bundestag .

Public offices

On October 27, 1998, she was appointed Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development in the federal government led by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder . She also retained this office in the grand coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2009 and thus a total of eleven years - the longest term of service for the management of this department. In addition to her German office, she was also governor of the World Bank, a member of the board of directors of the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau and a member of the board of directors of Deutsche Welle. With the swearing-in of Merkel's second cabinet on October 28, 2009, she left office. She was thus the only continuous member of the federal government during the social democratic government coalitions since 1998. For this reason, according to Section 22 of the Federal Government's rules of procedure, she was the representative of the Vice Chancellor .

On November 1, 2016, Chancellor Angela Merkel appointed her to the Council for Sustainable Development for a three-year term .

Priorities as a minister

As a minister, she placed clear emphasis on international poverty reduction and peacekeeping. In crisis prevention, “as Federal Minister, she saw the possibility of preventing damage that would arise from a conflict right from the start”.

Development policy accents in international institutions

One of Wieczorek-Zeul's greatest successes at the beginning of her term of office was the first comprehensive debt relief for the poorest developing countries, which was achieved under the chairmanship of the newly elected red-green federal government under Gerhard Schröder at the G8 summit in Cologne in 1999 by - supported by a highly mobilized civil society campaign and numerous NGOs - IMF , World Bank and skeptical G7 states. This debt relief released funds from developing countries, who in return agreed to use the funds released for development-related areas such as a. Use education.

In her own review of her tenure in office, Wieczorek-Zeul explains how, in the years that followed, she continuously endeavored to use Germany's seat on the governing bodies of financial institutions in alliances with other governments in such a way that they increasingly take development policy aspects into account. Her informal alliance with the development ministers of Norway, Great Britain and the Netherlands, known as the “Utstein Group”, gained fame. During Wieczorek-Zeul's first term of office, the development and adoption of the Millennium Development Goals, which she is committed to implementing, also falls.

German contribution to development finance

Until Wieczorek-Zeul took office, the share of German development policy in economic output was declining and Germany was increasingly moving away from the officially announced target rate of 0.7 percent. Under her leadership, the Development Ministry was able to reverse this trend and significantly improve its funding. In 2005, she succeeded in convincing Chancellor Gerhard Schröder for a step-by-step plan for the European Union to achieve the 0.7 percent quota. This step-by-step plan was also pursued during Wieczorek-Zeul's tenure in the grand coalition (2005 to 2009).

Foreign policy accents

One of the best-known foreign policy accents was Wieczorek-Zeul's contribution to coming to terms with Germany's colonial past. In August 2004 she traveled on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the genocide of the ethnic groups a. a. the Herero to Namibia by the German imperial troops . In her speech she asked "in the spirit of the common father of Us for forgiveness of our guilt." This approach was controversial because the Foreign Ministry under the then Minister Joschka Fischer feared judicial reparation claims against Germany. In her memoirs, Wieczorek-Zeul describes how meticulously she prepared the exact formulation of her speech against this background, but how she also considered her memory of German crimes to be necessary. Political scientist Rebecca Miltsch sees this as evidence of Wieczorek-Zeul's “basic humanitarian attitude and consistent stance”.

This continues elsewhere: in the discussion about the civil war situation in Darfur in 2006 - contrary to the government's line - she advocated that Germany support a UN peacekeeping mission . In 2008 she received the Dalai Lama , although she received criticism for it. Germany's extremely extensive commitment of 80 million euros annually to the reconstruction of Afghanistan after the NATO intervention in 2001 also fell during Wieczorek-Zeul's term of office, who argued at the 2006 Afghanistan Conference that people should feel “that peace is worthwhile for them . "

Content focus

Wieczorek-Zeul herself names the strengthening of the rights of women and girls, the fight against genital mutilation as well as the epidemics of HIV / AIDS , tuberculosis and malaria as the main focus , which she will continue on a voluntary basis after her term of office. Structurally, the reduction of bilateral cooperation to a limited number of partner countries is one of the most important reforms under Wieczorek-Zeul, which it concentrated from 70 to 58 countries and added the concept of so-called “anchor countries”.

Another approach that Wieczorek-Zeul already pursued under red-green was the establishment of so-called development partnerships with the private sector, which she justified with the view that the Millennium Development Goals can only be achieved in cooperation with the economy. Wieczorek-Zeul was unable to implement another reform plan, the amalgamation of the German development organizations GTZ , KfW and inwent . a. failed due to resistance from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Voluntary service

Another lasting achievement of Wieczorek-Zeul is the founding of the development volunteer service " weltwärts ", which gives young adults the opportunity to work for a recognized development organization abroad for up to 24 months, which, according to observers, could help to address the concerns and To carry the necessities of development policy more strongly into society.

Political positions

Wieczorek-Zeul spoke of a crime in connection with the Iraq war in the summer of 2004 . According to her ministry, Wieczorek-Zeul said at the opening of an exhibition: “The Iraq war brought terrible human suffering and numerous casualties among the civilian population, but also among the soldiers. That is a real crime. "

Wieczorek-Zeul called the Israeli attack on Lebanon in July 2006 "completely unacceptable under international law" and received harsh public criticism for it, including from the Junge Union , the FDP and the Greens . The Central Council of Jews in Germany then asked “whether such a development aid minister was still acceptable in the name of the Social Democrats”.

As part of German relations with the Palestinian Authority , Wieczorek-Zeul is trying to get recognition for the unity government made up of Hamas and Al-Fatah, which was elected at the beginning of 2007 . In addition, in their view, the renunciation of force and recognition of Israel's right to exist (including parts of the so-called roadmap ) as well as the recognition of the contracts still concluded by the PLO should not be preconditions for talks.

During the civil war in Libya in 2011 , she sharply criticized Germany's abstention from the UN resolution for an international military operation and spoke of a “betrayal of the Libyan people and human rights”.

criticism

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul is largely associated with the candidacy of Andrea Nahles , which prevailed on October 31, 2005 in the party executive committee of the Social Democratic Party in a voting for the nomination for general secretary against Kajo Wasserhövel , proposed by then party leader Franz Müntefering . Müntefering then announced that he would no longer run for the party chairmanship. He thus triggered a major internal party leadership crisis, as a result of which Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul was severely criticized in some cases. She finally bowed to public pressure to give up her leadership position as deputy SPD federal chairwoman.

During the Lebanon War in 2006, the Central Council of Jews in Germany accused Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul of taking anti-Semitic positions because she criticized Israel unilaterally and did not name the emergency out of which Israel was acting.

Wieczorek-Zeul was also repeatedly criticized for her personnel management in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development . She is said to have assigned important positions primarily to befriended SPD members and regularly insulted and yelled at employees.

Volunteering

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul is volunteering as Vice President of the Friends of the Global Fund for Europe and a member of the EKD's Chamber of Sustainability. She is also a co-founder of the Humboldt Viadrina Governance Platform in Berlin and a member of the board of the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM), a non-profit product development partnership that is working on a solution that women can use to protect themselves from HIV infection .

She is the patron of Work for Peace , the student action day for Africa, which has been carried out by Weltfriedensdienst eV since 2005 , and africa action / Germany , which has been campaigning for the fight against blindness in Africa since 1983. She is also a member of the board of trustees of the aid organization CARE Germany . She is an advisory member of the SPD Fundamental Values ​​Commission (2016). Since 2016 she has been chairwoman of the Willy Brandt Circle . In addition, since the end of 2015 she has been supporting the Wiesbaden volunteer project "antoniuspaten" as patron and active sponsor, an initiative to support unaccompanied minor foreigners in their transition to self-determined adult life.

Cabinets

Awards

Publications

  • Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul: Moving the world. Experiences and encounters , Berlin, Vorwärts-Buch 2007.
  • Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul: On the way to one world (together with Hannah Wettig ), Berlin: Vorwärts-Buch, 2012, ISBN 978-3-86602-937-8
  • Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul: Justice and peace are siblings. Political engagement in times of globalization. Schüren Verlag GmbH, Marburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-89472-599-0 .

literature

  • Michael Bohnet : History of German Development Policy: Strategies, Interior Views, Contemporary Witnesses , Challenges , Konstanz / Munich, UVK Verlagsgesellschaft 2015 (utb4320), ISBN 978-3-8252-4320-3 , pp. 163–182.

Web links

Commons : Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul: Justice and peace are siblings. Marburg 2018, p. 11.
  2. ↑ Gaby Buschlinger: Before the candidate selection, fr.de, August 24, 2012.
  3. ↑ a b Rebecca Miltsch: Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. In: Wolfgang Gieler (Ed.): 50 Years of German Development Cooperation. The BMZ from Walter Scheel to Dirk Niebel. P. 213.
  4. ^ Website of the Council for Sustainable Development , accessed July 10, 2018
  5. ↑ Franz Nuscheler in an interview with Tagesschau on September 6, 2012.
  6. ↑ Interview in Deutschlandfunk Entwicklungspolitik is the most cost-effective security policy in deutschlandfunk.de , accessed on February 1, 2016.
  7. ^ Bayerischer Rundfunk: G8 summit in Cologne. ( Memento of February 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 1, 2016.
  8. ↑ Manfred Knapp / Gerd Knell (ed.): Introduction to international politics. P. 185.
  9. ^ Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul: Moving the world. Experiences and encounters p. 31f.
  10. ^ Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul: Moving the world. Experiences and encounters pp. 36–39
  11. ↑ Der Tagesspiegel: On the departure of Hilde Johnson as UNMISS boss. accessed on February 1, 2016.
  12. ↑ Hartmut Ihne, Jürgen Wilhelm (Ed.): Introduction to Development Policy . P. 43.
  13. ↑ Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation: Development of the German ODA quota 1973-2014 bmz.de ( Memento from February 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 1, 2016.
  14. ^ Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul: Moving the world. Experiences and encounters pp. 47–49
  15. ↑ Rebecca Miltsch: Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. In: Wolfgang Gieler (Ed.): 50 Years of German Development Cooperation. The BMZ from Walter Scheel to Dirk Niebel. P. 222.
  16. ↑ German Bundestag: The red fighter. Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul [1] , accessed on February 1, 2016
  17. ↑ a b Klaus Stüwe: Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. In: Udo Kempf, Hans-Georg Merz, Markus Gloe (eds.): Chancellor and Minister 2005–2013. P. 254.
  18. ^ Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul: Moving the world. Experiences and encounters p. 111ff.
  19. ^ Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul: Moving the world. Experiences and encounters p. 86ff.
  20. ^ Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul: Moving the world. Experiences and encounters p. 96ff.
  21. ↑ a b Rebecca Miltsch: Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. In: Wolfgang Gieler (Ed.): 50 Years of German Development Cooperation. The BMZ from Walter Scheel to Dirk Niebel. P. 219.
  22. ↑ According to statements made by Iraq Union: Chancellor should reprimand development minister FAZ of September 3, 2004
  23. ↑ Elephant in diplomatic china shop: politician demands muzzle for federal minister ( Memento from September 30, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) NZ Netzeitung from September 3, 2004
  24. ↑ Statement on Israel: Wieczorek-Zeul under pressure SPIEGEL ONLINE of July 18, 2006.
  25. ↑ Press release: Central Council criticizes Development Aid Minister Wieczorek-Zeul (SPD) Central Council of July 16, 2006.
  26. ↑ In the crossfire of criticism: Wieczorek-Zeul calls Israel's attacks "completely unacceptable under international law." RP Online of July 18, 2006.
  27. ^ " Wieczorek-Zeul meets the new Palestinian minister on Friday ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )", conversation with the Allgemeine Zeitung on March 21, 2007.
  28. ^ Andreas Herholz: The Chancellor's AWACS Deal , Passauer Neue Presse, March 19, 2011
  29. ↑ SPD executive committee: The "regicide" must go Handelsblatt from November 1, 2005
  30. ^ SPD Vice: Wieczorek-Zeul is no longer running SPIEGEL ONLINE from November 1, 2005
  31. ^ Social Democrats: SPD chief wants Wasserhövel ZEIT from October 24, 2005.
  32. ↑ focus.de
  33. ↑ Employees complain about the red Heidi WELT from June 3, 2008.
  34. ^ Website of the Friends of the Global Fund for Europe Archived copy ( February 1, 2016 memento in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 1, 2016
  35. ↑ Evangelical Church in Germany: Chambers and Commissions Archive link ( memento from February 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 1, 2016
  36. ^ Website of the Humboldt-Viadrina Governance Platform: Founders archive link ( memento from February 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 1, 2016
  37. ^ Directory of the Board of Directors on the IPM website , accessed July 10, 2018
  38. ↑ World Peace Service website: History archive link ( Memento from February 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 1, 2016
  39. ↑ Africa Action: Greetings from the patron Archived copy ( memento from February 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 1, 2016
  40. ↑ Our structure. CARE Deutschland eV, accessed on March 12, 2019 .
  41. ^ Members of the Willy Brandt Circle: Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. Willy-Brandt-Kreis, accessed on October 5, 2018 .
  42. ^ Youth Welfare Association Antoniusheim GmbH. Retrieved May 5, 2017 .
  43. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Wieczorek-Zeul, Heidemarie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zeul, Heidemarie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (SPD), Member of the Bundestag and Federal Minister, MEP
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main