Brigitte Zypries | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Zypries in 2014 | |
| Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy | |
| In office 27 January 2017 – 14 March 2018 | |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Preceded by | Sigmar Gabriel |
| Succeeded by | Peter Altmaier |
| Minister of Justice | |
| In office 22 October 2002 – 17 October 2009 | |
| Chancellor | Gerhard Schröder Angela Merkel |
| Preceded by | Herta Däubler-Gmelin |
| Succeeded by | Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger |
| Parliamentary State Secretary for Aerospace Affairs | |
| In office 17 December 2013 – 26 January 2017 | |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Minister | Sigmar Gabriel |
| Preceded by | Peter Hintze |
| Succeeded by | Dirk Wiese |
| Member of the Bundestag forDarmstadt | |
| In office 18 September 2005 – 24 September 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Walter Hoffmann |
| Succeeded by | Astrid Mannes |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1953-11-16)16 November 1953 (age 72) |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) |
| Alma mater | University of Giessen |
| Website | brigittezypries.de |
Brigitte Zypries (born 16 November 1953) is a German lawyer andpolitician of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD). Between 2017 and 2018, she served as Minister for Economics and Energy in the government ofChancellorAngela Merkel; she was the first woman to hold that office in German history.
Zypries had previously been Parliamentary State Secretary since December 2013, charged with the coordination of Germany's aviation and space policies. She wasFederal Minister of Justice of Germany from 2002 to 2009 and State Secretary at theFederal Ministry of the Interior from 1998 to 2002.
Zypries studied law at theUniversity of Giessen from 1972 to 1977, and took her first legal state exam in 1978. Then followed in-service training in the regional court district of Gießen, and in 1980 the second state exam. Until 1985 she worked at the University of Giessen.
Following the1998 federal elections, in the first cabinet ofChancellorGerhard Schröder, Zypries becameState Secretary in theFederal Ministry of the Interior underOtto Schily. From September 1999, she chaired the State Secretary Committee for the management of the Federal Government program "Modern State – Modern Administration".
Following the2002 federal elections, Zypries becameFederal Minister of Justice in the second cabinet ofChancellorGerhard Schröder, succeedingHerta Däubler-Gmelin. Between 2007 and 2009, she was also one of 32 members of theSecond Commission on the modernization of the federal state (Föderalismuskommission II), which had been established to reform the division of powers between federal and state authorities in Germany.
In 2003, Zypries represented the German government before theFederal Constitutional Court when theFree Democratic Party challenged a German law allowing authorities to eavesdrop on conversations in private homes. While law-enforcement officials and the government argue that the law helps fight organized crime and terrorism, opponents contend it violates constitutional privacy guarantees and has not allowed authorities to crack a single major case.[1]
In 2005, the German government suffered a major setback in its efforts to combat terrorism after theFederal Constitutional Court ruled that the country's implementation of theEuropean Arrest Warrant was unconstitutional. The court said the EU idea was compatible with Germany's constitution, but that the law drafted by Zypries was sloppily written and did not go far enough in framing the leeway offered to prosecutors by the European Arrest Warrant.[2] Just hours after the ruling, German police released terrorism suspectMamoun Darkazanli, who had been held awaiting extradition toSpain where he is believed to have been linked toal-Qaida activities.[3] When German economics ministerKarl-Theodor zu Guttenberg decided to outsource the drafting of new bankruptcy legislation in 2009, Zypries criticized that Guttenberg wasted taxpayers' money and that it was the responsibility of her ministry, not his, to oversee the preparation of the legislation.[4] In 2010, the Constitutional Court ruled that a law requiring telecommunications companies toretain data from telephone, email and Internet traffic is unconstitutional; the law had been introduced by Zypries as implementation of an EU guideline.[5]
In the negotiations to form a government following the2005 federal elections, Zypries led the SPD's delegations in the working groups on justice, consumer protection, and internal affairs; her co-chairs from the CDU/CSU wereWolfgang Bosbach,Horst Seehofer andWolfgang Schäuble, respectively.[6]
After German prosecutors had issued arrest warrants in 2007 for 13 suspectedCIA operatives believed to have been involved in the abduction ofKhaled el-Masri inNorth Macedonia in late 2003 as well as in his being taken viaBaghdad to a secret CIA prison inAfghanistan in January 2004, Zypries soon decided not to further pursue the CIA agents. Though their names were still on anInterpol wanted persons list, the United States stated that it would not recognize its validity. Zypries explained that the US government had made clear to her that it would neither arrest nor hand over the agents. In the end, she concluded that, given the slim chances of success, it made no sense to even try to get them extradited.[7]
On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, Zypries participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the governments of Germany and Israel in Jerusalem in March 2008.[8]
In the case ofRichard Williamson in 2009, Zypries said that the German government was willing to press charges against the bishop if he did not clearly retract his comments.[9]
In 2009, Zypries led the resistance to theGoogle Books Library Project in Germany. In the dailyStuttgarter Nachrichten, she accusedGoogle of behaving in a "simply unlawful" way.[10]
Between 2009 and 2013, Zypries served on the GermanBundestag’s Committee on the Election of Judges (Wahlausschuss), which is in charge of appointing judges to theFederal Constitutional Court of Germany. From 2009, she was also a member of the parliamentary body in charge of appointing judges to the Highest Courts of Justice, namely theFederal Court of Justice (BGH), theFederal Administrative Court (BVerwG), theFederal Fiscal Court (BFH), theFederal Labour Court (BAG), and theFederal Social Court (BSG).
Ahead of the2013 elections,Peer Steinbrück included Zypries in hisshadow cabinet for the Social Democrats’ campaign to unseat incumbentAngela Merkel as chancellor. During the campaign, Zypries served as shadow minister for consumer protection. In the negotiations to form a so-calledGrand Coalition following the elections, she led the SPD delegation in the working group on digital policy; her co-chair wasDorothee Bär of theCSU.
Following the formation of the grand coalition in December 2013, Zypries was appointed Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy. In January 2014, she became the government's coordinator for aviation and space policies.
In February 2014, Zypries accompanied GermanPresidentJoachim Gauck on a state visit toIndia – where they met withPrime MinisterManmohan Singh andSonia Gandhi, among others – andMyanmar.[11]
In June 2016, Zypries announced that she would not stand in the2017 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[12]
In acabinet reshuffle following the nomination ofFrank-Walter Steinmeier as candidate for the federal presidency, Zypries was appointed Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy on 27 January 2017. She succeeded Sigmar Gabriel, who took the office of Minister for Foreign Affairs from Steinmeier.
During her time in office, Zypries led the government's efforts to save Germany's then second-largest airlineAir Berlin. When the company filed forbankruptcy protection in August 2017, she authorized a bridging loan of 150 million euros ($176 million) to allow Air Berlin to keep its planes in the air for three months and secure the jobs of its 7,200 workers in Germany while negotiations withLufthansa continue.[13]
In the negotiations to form afourth coalition government underChancellorAngela Merkel following the2017 federal elections, Zypries led the working group on economic affairs, alongsideThomas Strobl andAlexander Dobrindt.
From 2019 to 2023, Zypries served asombudsperson for BDIU, the national association of Germany's credit management, debt collection and debt purchase sector.[14][15] In 2020, she took on a similar role in implementing thesettlement agreed betweenVolkswagen and the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (VZBV) following the company'semissions scandal.[16] In 2021, she was appointed to co-chair – alongsideTheo Waigel – an independent expert commission established by audit firmErnst & Young to assess its involvement in theWirecard scandal.[17]
Since 2023, Zypries has been serving as ombudsperson at German privatecredit bureauSchufa.[18]
Zypries is considered a proponent of regulating more tightly access to Internet platforms such asGoogle,Facebook,Amazon.com andApple Inc.’siTunes. A joint letter to theEuropean Commission in November 2014, signed by Zypries and her French counterpartAxelle Lemaire on behalf of the German and French governments, suggested “essential” digital platforms should potentially be brought under existing rules for telecoms markets, a standalone regulation or specially tailored antitrust rules.[31]
Zypries is a supporter of theCampaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which advocates for democratic reformation of the United Nations.[32]
Ending a nasty diplomatic dispute between the United States and Germany, Zypries announced at theUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2006 that the German government was dropping its decades-long resistance to opening the archives kept at theInternational Tracing Service in the town ofBad Arolsen.[33]
On 3 June 2007, Zypries caused some controversy by saying at a meeting ofG8justice ministers inMunich that it should be assumed that missingBritish childMadeleine McCann was abducted by a gang that passes on children to be abused.[34]
In response to a 2007 meeting between chancellorAngela Merkel and theDalai Lama, China canceled a high-level meeting on the protection of intellectual property rights of Chinese legal experts and Zypries in retaliation. A statement from the German Justice Ministry later said the meeting was called off "for technical reasons."[35] The oppositionGreen Party, which was in coalition with then-ChancellorGerhard Schröder's Social Democrats from 1998 to 2005, also praised Merkel's stance.[36]
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