Renate Künast
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Renate Künast (born December 15, 1955) is a German politician who is the Bundestag co-leader of the Alliance '90/The Greens party. She was the Minister of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture from 2001 to 2005.
She was born in Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. She studied social work in Düsseldorf and worked from 1977 to 1979 in this profession in a jailhouse in Berlin. After that she studied law until 1985 and worked as lawyer.
Since 1979, Künast has been a member of the German Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), first in the Alternative List in West Berlin. In the 1990s she was member of parliament and chairwoman of the greens in the parliament of Berlin. From June 2000 to March 2001 she was co-chair of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen on the national level, together with Fritz Kuhn. Since her party by the time did not allow the combination of functions in the party and the government in one person, she resigned when she became minister in the first Gerhard Schröder coalition in 2001. Since then, Künast has served as the German Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, known for increasing consumer protection, supporting organic farming, and expanding animal welfare.
Künast is also a member of the Humanist Union, a civil rights organization.[1] She is on the board of trustees of the Berlin-based AIDS-Hilfe (AIDS-Help) group,[2] and is an honourary member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation[3] and the Angelo Roncalli Committee within that organization.[4]
After the 2005 election she became co-chair of the Green parliamentary party, again together with Fritz Kuhn. In July 2009 she was accused of antisemitism by the Jerusalem Post, after she had allegedly been overheard calling the pro-Israel "Stop the Bomb" organisation a "Mossad front", which she denied.[5][6]
[edit] Bibliography
- Die Dickmacher. Warum die Deutschen immer fetter werden und was wir dagegen tun müssen. Riemann Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-570-50062-4.
- Klasse statt Masse. Die Erde schätzen, den Verbraucher schützen. Econ Ullstein List Verlag, München 2002.
- Der Mordfall Schmücker und der Verfassungs„schutz“. Dokumentation seit dem 29. September 1986, vorgelegt von Renate Künast (MdA), Februar 1987. Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz, Fraktion des Abgeordnetenhauses von Berlin, 1987.
[edit] References
- ^ Beirat der Humanistischen Union
- ^ Kuratorium der BAH, Berliner AIDS-Hilfe.
- ^ Honorary Members, International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
- ^ Honorary Members, Angelo Roncalli Committee, International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
- ^ Benjamin Weinthal (2008-11-09). "German Kristallnacht events marred by reported rise in anti-Semitism". The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1225910058551. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
- ^ Benjamin Weinthal (2009-07-12). "German pro-Israel group labeled 'Mossad front'". http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1246443779016. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
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