Lisa Paus | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Paus in 2022 | |
| Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth | |
| In office 25 April 2022 – 6 May 2025 | |
| Chancellor | Olaf Scholz |
| Preceded by | Anne Spiegel |
| Succeeded by | Karin Prien |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| Assumed office 27 October 2009 | |
| Constituency | Berlin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1968-09-19)19 September 1968 (age 57) |
| Political party | Alliance 90/The Greens |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | Free University of Berlin |
Elisabeth "Lisa"Paus (born 19 September 1968)[1] is a German politician who served as theFederal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth from 2022 to 2025. A member ofAlliance 90/The Greens and an economist by training, she has served as aMember of the German Bundestag for the state ofBerlin since2009.
Paus was born inRheine,West Germany, and grew up in nearbyEmsbüren, close to theDutch border. She grew up in an affluent family; her father, the engineer Hermann Paus, founded and owned theHermann Paus Maschinenfabrik [de], a company with around 300 employees that produces special-purpose machines and vehicles for the mining industry.[2] The name Paus means pope, originating as aMiddle Low German nickname for someone renowned for their piety, and is found in northern Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia; her family is unrelated to thefamous literary family of the name.[3]
After graduating from high school she volunteered for one year at an orphanage inHamburg. She then moved toBerlin to study at theFree University. She graduated in 1999 with a master's degree in economics.
From 1997 until 1999, Paus worked for Frieder Otto Wolf who was aMember of the European Parliament (MEP) for Germany's Green Party. In 2005 she became a teacher at theBerlin School of Economics and Law.
In 1995, Paus joined Germany's Green Party, Alliance 90/The Greens. She was involved in the party in various forms. In the1999 state election, she was elected to theState Parliament of Berlin (Abgeordnetenhaus). There she was her parliamentary group's spokesperson on economic policy.
Paus has been a Member of the GermanBundestag since the2009 federal elections. She has stood inBerlin-Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in 2013, 2017 and 2021. She is a member of the Finance Committee and within the committee she is the Green's spokesperson. In her first term between 2009 and 2013, she also served on the Committee on the Affairs of theEuropean Union.
On the Finance Committee, Paus was involved in the parliamentary inquiry into theWirecard scandal from 2020 until 2021; following the inquiry's completion, she co-authored a 675-page report together withFlorian Toncar andFabio De Masi.[4]
In addition to her committee assignments, Paus has served as deputy chairwoman of the German-Irish Parliamentary Friendship Group (since 2014) and of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with Malta and Cyprus (since 2018). She is also a member of the German-Italian Parliamentary Friendship Group and the German-Slovenian Parliamentary Group.
Ahead of the national elections in2017[5] and2021,[6] Paus was elected to lead her party's campaign in the state of Berlin.
In the negotiations to form a so-calledtraffic light coalition of theSocial Democrats (SPD), the Green Party and theFDP following the2021 federal elections, Paus led her party's delegation in the working group on financial regulation and thenational budget; her co-chairs from the other parties wereDoris Ahnen andChristian Dürr.[7]
From December 2021 to April 2022, Paus served as one her parliamentary group's deputy chairs, under the leadership of co-chairsBritta Haßelmann andKatharina Dröge, where she oversaw the group's activities on financial policy, economic and social affairs.[8]
In 2022, Paus succeededAnne Spiegel as Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
In August 2023, Paus made news headlines when she rejected the coalition government's proposal for a law offering wider corporate tax relief worth billions of euros aimed at reviving growth in Germany's economy and instead suggested to raise spending on child support in tandem with giving more tax benefit to companies.[9] Shortly after, the coalition government agreed on a new basic child benefit allowance at an initial cost of around 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion) from 2025.[10]
In October 2023, Paus participated in the first joint cabinet retreat of the German and French governments in Hamburg, chaired by Scholz andPresidentEmmanuel Macron.[11][12]
In 2009, Paus had her first child. The child's father died ofcancer in 2013.[15]
Media related toLisa Paus at Wikimedia Commons
