Nancy Faeser | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2023 | |
| Minister for the Interior and Community | |
| In office 8 December 2021 – 6 May 2025 | |
| Chancellor | Olaf Scholz |
| Preceded by | Horst Seehofer(Interior, Building and Community) |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Dobrindt |
| Leader of theSocial Democratic Party inHesse | |
| In office 1 October 2019 – 9 March 2024 | |
| General Secretary | Christoph Degen |
| Deputy | Kirsten Fründt Timon Gremmels Kaweh Mansoori |
| Preceded by | Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel |
| Succeeded by | Sören Bartol |
| Leader of theSocial Democratic Party in theLandtag of Hesse | |
| In office 4 September 2019 – 8 December 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel |
| Succeeded by | Günter Rudolph |
| General Secretary of theSocial Democratic Party inHesse | |
| In office 2014–2019 | |
| Member of theLandtag of Hesse | |
| In office 5 April 2003 – 8 December 2021 | |
| Preceded by | multi-member district |
| Succeeded by | Rüdiger Holschuh |
| Constituency | Social Democratic Party List |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| Assumed office March 2025 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1970-07-13)13 July 1970 (age 55) |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 1 |
| Residence | Schwalbach am Taunus |
| Alma mater | Goethe University Frankfurt |
| Occupation |
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| Website | |
Nancy Faeser (German pronunciation:[ˈnɛnsiˈfɛːzɐ]; born 13 July 1970) is a German lawyer and politician of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD), served asFederal Minister of the Interior and Community inChancellorOlaf Scholz'scabinet from 2021 to 2025. She was a member of theState Parliament of Hesse from the2003 elections until 2021.[2] In 2019, she became the party's leader inHesse, as well as theleader of the Opposition in theLandtag of Hesse.
Faeser went toelementary school inSchwalbach am Taunus, a suburb of Frankfurt am Main, and passed herAbitur at the Albert-Einstein-Gymnasium.
From 1990 to 2000 Faeser studied law at theGoethe University Frankfurt. She completed a semester abroad at theNew College of California and graduated with her second state bar exam as a licensed attorney.[3]
Until 2000, Faeser worked as a research assistant atClifford Chance in Frankfurt am Main and then, after her bar exam, worked as a full-time lawyer at Clifford Chance from 2000 to 2007.[3]
Faeser joined theSPD in 1988.[4]
In parliament, Faeser served as a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs (2003–2009), the Committee on the Election of Judges (2003–2013), the Committee on Economic Affairs, Energy and Transport (2014–2018) and the Committee on Internal Affairs (since 2009).[5] From 2009, she was her parliamentary group's spokesperson on internal affairs.
In the2013 Hesse state election, Faeser was theshadow minister for internal affairs in the campaign team of SPD candidateThorsten Schäfer-Gümbel.[6] In 2019, she was elected her parliamentary group's chairwoman.
On 17 June 2023, Faeser was elected as the top candidate on the party list in the upcoming2023 Hessian state election, and also stood as the party's direct candidate in the Main-Taunus I electoral district in Frankfurt's northwestern suburbs, which includes her hometown of Schwalbach am Taunus. However, she won only 14.8% of the direct vote in the district, coming third after CDU (43.9%) and the Greens (16.1%).[7][8] She was elected on the party list, but all three federal government parties (SPD, the Greens and FDP) suffered losses in the election, with SPD winning only 15% of the vote in its worst performance in the state history and coming third after CDU (34.6%) and AfD (18.4%). The loss can be attributed to discontent with Scholz's government, of which she is a minister.[9]In March 2025, Faeser became member of theBundestag for Hesse.[10]
In the negotiations to form a so-calledtraffic light coalition of the SPD, theGreen Party and theFree Democrats (FDP) following the2021 German elections, Faeser was part of her party's delegation in the working group on migration and integration, co-chaired byBoris Pistorius,Luise Amtsberg andJoachim Stamp.[11]
After the coalition was successfully formed, on 6 December 2021, it was announced that Faeser would become the first femaleInterior Minister of Germany in the German government in theScholz cabinet.[12] In her capacity as minister, Faeser also takes part in the meetings of theStanding Conference of Interior Ministers and Senators of the States (IMK).
Faeser was nominated by her party as delegate to theFederal Convention for the purpose of electing thePresident of Germany in2022.[13]
In September 2022, the Ministry of the Interior under Faeser closed the "Expert Group on Political Islamism" set up by her predecessor,Horst Seehofer.[14]
Prior to the2022 FIFA World Cup inQatar, when asked in an interview withARD'sMonitor about the awarding of the event to the country, she emphasised that awarding major sporting events should be linked to compliance with human rights and principles of sustainability, by saying: "There are criteria that must be adhered to and it would be better that tournaments are not awarded to such states."[15] In response, theGulf Cooperation Council condemned the remarks, and Qatar summoned the German ambassador to protest against her comments.[16][17] Faeser attended Germany's first game at the World Cup on 23 November where she wore aOneLove armband (a pro LGBTQ+ symbol)[17] whichFIFA had prevented players from wearing in the tournament with threats of sanctions.[18]
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In March 2023, Faeser participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the governments of Germany and Japan inTokyo, chaired by Chancellor Scholz andPrime MinisterFumio Kishida.[19]
In April 2023, Faeser appointed an eight-person commission to re-appraise theattack on Israeli athletes and team members at the1972 Summer Olympics to answer unresolved questions.[20]
After the outbreak of theGaza war, Faeser passed laws criminalizing alleged Hamas slogans, including "from the river to the sea".[21]Liz Fekete criticized Faeser's interpretation that the slogan was uniquely linked to Hamas. Such a reading, according to Fekete, can be seen as "silencingPalestinians and smearing their aspirations".[22]
In July 2024 Faeser imposed aban on the magazineCompact arguing that it worked against constitutional order.[23] The editor-in-chiefJürgen Elsässer described the decision as "the worst invasion of press freedom in Germany."[24] The ban was later reversed by theFederal Administrative Court.
On 2 May 2025, days before theMerz cabinet took office, Faeser was responsible for quoting from a report by theFederal Office for the Protection of the Constitution which apparently classified the political partyAlternative for Germany (AfD) as a confirmed right-wing extremist endeavor. The report itself was kept secret, but later leaked to various media outlets. Faeser was criticized for her verdict, since the report did not contain compelling evidence, but was merely a collection of already publicly available quotes by AfD members.[25] ChancellorFriedrich Merz critisized Faeser for the timing of her announcement and the fact, that her office had not checked the report before going public.[26]
Immigration
In her first year in office, Faeser extended border checks at crossings from Austria for six months after a rise in the number of migrants arriving via the Western Balkans route.[27][28]
Following Faeser's propospal, Germany's coalition government listedGeorgia andMoldova as safe countries of origin in August 2023, in an effort to process asylum applications from those countries more quickly and lead to faster deportations for failed applicants.[29]
In September 2023, more than 120 boats carrying around 7,000migrants from Africa arrived on the Italian island ofLampedusa within 24 hours.[30] Faeser said that "in view of the massive influx of migrants to Lampedusa, Berlin wants to once again, voluntarily, accept migrants from Italy, which was recently halted."[31]
Faeser's father Horst (1942–2003) was the mayor of her hometown of Schwalbach am Taunus from 1988 to 2002.
Faeser has been married to lawyer Eyke Grüning since 2012.[37] The couple have a son and live inSchwalbach am Taunus.[38]
Media related toNancy Faeser at Wikimedia CommonsScholz Cabinet (2021–2025) | ||
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