Katja Keul | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Katja Keul in 2013 | |
| Minister of State | |
| Assumed office 2021 Serving with | |
| Chancellor | Olaf Scholz |
| Minister | Annalena Baerbock |
| Preceded by | Michelle Müntefering |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| In office 2009–2025 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1969-11-30)30 November 1969 (age 55) |
| Political party | Greens |
| Alma mater | University of Heidelberg |
Katja Keul (néeFehsenfeld, born 30 November 1969) is a German lawyer and politician ofAlliance 90/The Greens who served as a member of the GermanBundestag from 2009 to 2025, representing theNienburg II – Schaumburg district. In addition to her work in parliament, she has beenMinister of State at theFederal Foreign Office in thegovernment ofChancellor Olaf Scholz since 8 December 2021.
The daughter of a development aid worker, Keul was born inBerlin. She attended schools inMostaganem,Höxter,Geneva,Jacksonville, Florida, andNienburg/Weser. From 1989 to 1994 she studied law at theUniversity of Heidelberg and has been working as a lawyer since 1997.[1]
Keul has been a member of theGreen Party since 2006.[2]
Keul first became a member of the GermanBundestag in the2013 elections, representing theNienburg II – Schaumburg constituency. In parliament, she served on the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on Defense from 2013 until 2021. During that time, she served as her parliamentary group's spokesperson on legal affairs. From 2014 until 2017, she was also part of the parliament'sCouncil of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigns committee chairpersons based on party representation. Following the2017 elections, she joined the Subcommittee on Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.[citation needed]
In addition to her committee assignments, Keul was a member of the German-American Parliamentary Friendship Group. She was also a member of the German delegations to theParliamentary Assembly of theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe from 2014 and to theFranco-German Parliamentary Assembly from 2019.[3]
On 7 June 2011, Keul was among the guests invited to thestate dinner hosted by PresidentBarack Obama in honor ofChancellorAngela Merkel at theWhite House.[4][5]
In 2019, Keul co-founded a cross-party support group for theTreaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[6][7]
In the negotiations to form a so-calledtraffic light coalition of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD), the Green Party and theFree Democratic Party (FDP) following the2021 German elections, Keul was part of her party's delegation in the working group on children, youth and families, co-chaired bySerpil Midyatli,Katrin Göring-Eckardt andStephan Thomae.[8]
In October 2024, Keul announced that she would not stand in the2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.
In 2014, Keul – alongside fellow Green Party parliamentariansClaudia Roth andHans-Christian Ströbele – lodged a complaint before theFederal Constitutional Court of Germany, arguing that it was unconstitutional for the government to keep the Bundestag in the dark about planned arms deals because it prevented the parliament from fulfilling its role of keeping the government in check. The court ruled that while the government did not have to disclose information about planned defense exports, it did have an obligation to provide the Bundestag with details, on request, once specific arms deals had been approved.[13]
In 2016, Keul andVolker Beck submitted a compensatory draft law to all parliamentary groups in the German Parliament, urging them to removeParagraph 175 in the penal code, which criminalized homosexual acts.[14]
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| People | |
