Marieluise Beck | |
|---|---|
 Beck in 2009 | |
| Member of theBundestag forBremen | |
| In office 2 November 1994 – 24 September 2017 | |
| Constituency | Alliance '90/The Greens List |
| In office 25 January 1987 – 2 December 1990 | |
| Preceded by | The Greens List |
| Member of theBürgerschaft of Bremen | |
| In office 11 December 1991 – 2 November 1994 | |
| Constituency | The Greens List |
| Leader ofThe Greens in theBundestag | |
| In office 29 March 1983 – 3 April 1984 Serving with Otto Schily andPetra Kelly | |
| Chief Whip | Joschka Fischer |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Annemarie Borgmann |
| Member of theBundestag forBaden-Württemberg | |
| In office 6 March 1983 – 14 April 1985 | |
| Constituency | The Greens List |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1952-06-25)25 June 1952 (age 73) |
| Citizenship | German |
| Political party | Alliance '90/The Greens |
| Spouse | Ralf Fücks |
| Children | Two |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | Teacher |
| Website | marieluisebeck |
Marieluise Beck (born 25 June 1952) is a Germanpolitician who served as member of theAlliance '90/The Greens group in theBundestag until 2017. She was also a member of theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Beck studied history and sociology inBielefeld andHeidelberg.[1] Beck also studied in theUnited States as a Youth for Understanding exchange student in 1967–1968. She is a 1968 graduate of Quincy High School (Quincy, Michigan).
Beck was among the founding members of the German Green party,Alliance '90/The Greens. In 1983 she was elected to the German Bundestag and in the first electoral term in which the Greens were represented in Parliament she was one of the spokespersons of the parliamentary group, together withPetra Kelly andOtto Schily. That year, Beck went on a trip toWashington, D.C., with Kelly andGert Bastian to discuss theNATO Double-Track Decision.[2]
In 1984, along with Kelly and Schily, she withdrew her candidacy for the party's parliamentary leadership when a majority of the party's legislators nominated an all-female slate headed byAntje Vollmer in an unexpected move.[3] She again served as a Member of the German Bundestag in the following electoral term from1987 to 1990. After serving as a member of theParliament of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen from 1991 to 1994, Beck was re-elected to the German Bundestag and has been a Member ever since.[1]
Under chancellorGerhard Schröder between 1998 and 2005, Beck served as the government's Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration.[citation needed] From 2002, she was also State Secretary at theFederal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, led byRenate Schmidt. In this capacity, she initiated a campaign against a plannedheadscarf ban for Muslim teachers, convening politicians from across the party spectrum, scientists and leaders from the church and media, includingRita Süssmuth,Renate Künast,Claudia Roth,Katja Riemann andRenan Demirkan.[4]
Since 2005, Beck has been member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the German parliament, where she focuses as the spokesperson on Eastern European affairs for the Green Party's parliamentary group on matters concerning Russia, Belarus and Western Balkan countries. She serves as the chairperson of the German-Bosnian Parliamentary Friendship Group and as a member of the German-Ukrainian and German-South Caucasus Parliamentary Friendship Groups.[1]
Between 2005 and 2009, Beck also served as a member of theOSCE Parliamentary Assembly and as Deputy chairwoman of the German-Belarusian Parliamentary Friendship Group. In April 2010, she spent one week in several cities ofAfghanistan to visit German military and aid activities.[5] Later that year, she and fellow Putin criticAndreas Schockenhoff accompanied GermanPresidentChristian Wulff on a state visit to Russia.[6]
In 2012, Beck became a member of the German delegation to theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where she has since served on the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. She observed the2012 parliamentary and presidential elections in Russia, and commented: "Putin is president of a managed democracy – the voters had no choice."[7] Despite having been member of thePutin-friendly government underGerhard Schröder between 1998 and 2005, she was among the few diplomats and lawmakers who lobbied forMikhail B. Khodorkovsky’s release[8] and was once described by news magazineDer Spiegel as "a woman despised by the Kremlin."[9]
In September 2012,Belarus denied visas for Beck and fellow parliamentarianEmanuelis Zingeris, who both planned to monitor theparliamentary elections as part of theOSCE Parliamentary Assembly mission.[10] As a consequence Andrej Hiro, the Belarusian ambassador to Germany, was summoned to theFederal Foreign Office and told that the German government did not understand the reason for the visa denials. In a reaction, Beck said that "Dictator Lukashenka is not even trying to keep up appearances of free and fair elections if he locks journalists and observers out."[10]
In October 2014, Beck joined a 36-member delegation of theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, led by British MPChristopher Chope, to observe the conduct of theearly parliamentary elections in Ukraine.[11] Ahead of theBelarusian presidential election in 2015, she was part of a pre-electoral delegation led by Turkish MPReha Denemeç to assess the preparations of the vote, including the procedure of collecting signatures for registration of presidential candidates.[12]
In September 2015, amid theEuropean migrant crisis, Beck joined Vice ChancellorSigmar Gabriel on a trip to theZaatari refugee camp inJordan to learn more about the plight ofSyrians fleeing the violence in the ongoingSyrian civil war that erupted in 2011.[13]
In August 2016, Beck announced that she would not stand in the2017 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[14]
In 2017, Beck co-founded the Zentrum Liberale Moderne, a think-tank focusing on defending the open society and liberal democracy against anti-liberal revolt in Germany, European Union and abroad.[15] FormerPresident of GermanyJoachim Gauck spoke at the opening of Zentrum.[16]
Since 2018, Beck has been a member of the so-calledLimbach Commission (Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property), a panel convened by the German government to give recommendations on restitution claims regarding art works stolen or purchased under duress by the Nazis.[17]
Source:[18]
Beck is married to fellow Green politicianRalf Fücks, the former chairman of theHeinrich Böll Foundation. She lives inBremen.[20]
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