Saskia Esken

Saskia Esken MdB
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 December 2019 Serving with Norbert Walter-Borjans
General Secretary	Lars Klingbeil
Deputy	Klara Geywitz Hubertus Heil Kevin Kühnert Serpil Midyatli Anke Rehlinger
Preceded by	Malu Dreyer (acting)
Member of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 September 2013
Constituency	At-large
Personal details
Born	Saskia Hofer (1961-08-28) 28 August 1961 Stuttgart, West Germany
Political party	SPD
Spouse	Roland Esken ​ ​ (m. 1993)​
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Stuttgart
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Saskia Esken (née Hofer; born 28 August 1961) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has been serving as co-leader of the party since being elected as co-leader on December 2019 (alongside Norbert Walter-Borjans). She has been a member of the Bundestag since 2013 and is an IT specialist.

Early life and career

Esken was born 1961 in Stuttgart. After unfinished studies in literature and sociology, she obtained, in 1990, a professional certificate in IT. She worked in this field until the birth of her children.

Political career

Esken entered the SPD in 1990. She has been a member of the German Bundestag since the 2013 elections, representing Calw. In parliament, she has since been serving on the Committee on the Digital Agenda. In this capacity, she is her parliamentary group's rapporteur on privacy, IT security, digital education, and eGovernment.

From 2013 until 2017, Esken was a member of the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment as well as of the Parliamentary Advisory Board on Sustainable Development. Following the 2017 elections, she also joined the Committee on Internal Affairs.

Within her parliamentary group, Esken is part of working groups on digital issues (since 2014) and on consumer protection (since 2018) as well as of the Parlamentarische Linke (Parliamentary Left), an association of left-wing MPs.

In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Esken was part of the working group on digital policy, led Helge Braun, Dorothee Bär, and Lars Klingbeil.

Together with Norbert Walter-Borjans, Esken announced her candidacy for the 2019 Social Democratic Party of Germany leadership election. The November 2019 run-off was won by Esken and Walter-Borjans.

Other activities

Regulatory agencies

• Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (BNetzA), Member of the Advisory Board (since 2018)

Non-profit organizations

• Stiftung Datenschutz, Member of the Strategic Advisory Board
• Ein Netz für Kinder, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2014)
• German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND), Member
• Greenpeace, Member
• German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member
• Federal Agency for Civic Education, Alternate Member of the Board of Trustees (2014-2018)

Political positions

In March 2019, Esken opposed the European Union's Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market and its article 13.

Also in 2019, Esken called repeatedly for a renegotiation of the 2018 coalition treaty on issues such as government spending and climate change policy.

Controversy

In mid-2020, the Berlin attorney general's office received hundreds of complaints accusing Esken of slander for using the term "Covidiots" on Twitter; Esken had said that protesters at a Berlin march threatened the health of others by violating social distancing rules and ignoring requirements to wear face masks. The prosecuters dismissed the legal complaints, arguing that Esken was exercising her constitutional right to express her opinion.