Bärbel Höhn | |
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 | |
| Member of theFederal Diet of Germany | |
| In office 2005–2017 | |
| State Minister for Agriculture ofNorthrhine-Westphalia | |
| In office 17 July 1995 – 24 June 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Klaus Matthiesen |
| Succeeded by | Eckhard Uhlenberg |
| Member of theNorth Rhine-Westphalia House of Deputies | |
| In office 1990–1995 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1952-05-04)4 May 1952 (age 73) |
| Nationality | German |
| Party | Alliance '90/The Greens |
| Alma mater | University of Kiel |
| Profession | Economist |
| Website | www.baerbel-hoehn.de |
Bärbel Höhn (born 4 May 1952) is a German politician forAlliance '90/The Greens. She was elected to theBundestag in the2005 national elections, after serving as State Minister of Agriculture ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia from 1995 to 2005.
Born inFlensburg, Höhn attended theUniversity of Kiel, majoring inmathematics andeconomics, and earned herDiplom in 1976. From 1978 to 1990 she was a research assistant at theUniversity of Duisburg-Essen.
Höhn began her political career as an activist in a local initiative against air pollution and as a city councilor in her home town ofOberhausen.[1] In 1985, she joinedAlliance '90/The Greens, and gained a seat in theLandtag of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1990.
In the fifth cabinet ofJohannes Rau, Höhn became Minister for Environment and Agriculture, serving in that position under Rau's successorWolfgang Clement until 2005. In that capacity, she played a leadership role in Europe's response to themad cow disease epidemic in 2001,[2] improved consumer rights and promoted energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy.[3] Höhn has long criticized the industrial production methods of German farmers.[4]
Even before entering the German Bundestag, Höhn was a Green Party delegate to theFederal Convention for the purpose of electing thePresident of Germany in May 2004.
Höhn first became a member of the GermanBundestag in the2005 federal election. She first served as chairwoman of the Committee on Committee on Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection from 2005 to 2006. Between 2006 and 2013, she was vice-chair of the Green Party's parliamentary group – then led by co-chairsRenate Künast andFritz Kuhn (2005-2009) orJürgen Trittin (2009-2013), respectively – and headed its working group on environmental, energy, transport, agricultural and consumer policy.[5] From 2005, she was also deputy chairwoman of the German-Brazilian Parliamentary Friendship Group. Between 2009 and 2013, she was part of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with theBaltic States.
Following the2013 federal elections, Höhn stated that agreeing to a coalition with ChancellorAngela Merkel would be a "kamikaze" act for the Green Party.[6] Exploratory coalition talks with Merkel'sChristian Democratic Union ended soon after, without results.
From 2014, Höhn served as chairwoman of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Having participated in variousUN climate conferences, she was a regular speaker at internationalclimate and energy conventions.[7]
Only a few days before a trip to the2014 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Lima, the Ecuadorian government banned a parliamentary delegation led by Höhn from entering the country. Höhn and her group had planned to visit theYasuni National Park and meet with people opposed to drilling there.[8][9]
In April 2016, Höhn announced that she would not stand in the2017 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[10]
Since November 2017, Höhn has been acting as unpaid Commissioner for Energy Reform in Africa for theFederal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development.[11]
Media related toBärbel Höhn at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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