Andrea Nahles facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Andrea Nahles
Nahles in 2019
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office 22 April 2018 – 3 June 2019
General Secretary	Lars Klingbeil
Deputy	Manuela Schwesig Natascha Kohnen Malu Dreyer Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel Ralf Stegner Olaf Scholz
Preceded by	Martin Schulz
Succeeded by	Malu Dreyer (Acting) Manuela Schwesig (Acting) Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel (Acting) Norbert Walter-Borjans & Saskia Esken (Elected)
Leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Bundestag
In office 27 September 2017 – 4 June 2019
Chief Whip	Carsten Schneider
Preceded by	Thomas Oppermann
Succeeded by	Rolf Mützenich (Acting)
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
In office 17 December 2013 – 27 September 2017
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Ursula von der Leyen
Succeeded by	Katarina Barley (Acting)
General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party
In office 13 November 2009 – 26 January 2014
Leader	Sigmar Gabriel
Preceded by	Hubertus Heil
Succeeded by	Yasmin Fahimi
Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office 26 October 2007 – 12 November 2009
Leader	Kurt Beck Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Acting) Franz Müntefering
Preceded by	Kurt Beck
Succeeded by	Hannelore Kraft
Member of the Bundestag for Rhineland-Palatinate
In office 18 September 2005 – 1 November 2019
Succeeded by	Joe Weingarten
In office 27 September 1998 – 22 September 2002
Personal details
Born	Andrea Maria Nahles (1970-06-20) 20 June 1970 (age 54) Mendig, West Germany
Political party	Social Democratic Party
Spouse	Marcus Frings (divorced)
Children	1
Alma mater	University of Bonn

Andrea Maria Nahles (born June 20, 1970) is a German politician. She is now the director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA). This agency helps people find jobs in Germany.

She is well-known for leading the Social Democratic Party (SPD). She was the leader of the SPD from April 2018 to June 2019. She also led the SPD group in the German Parliament (Bundestag) from September 2017 to June 2019. Before that, she was a government minister for Labour and Social Affairs from 2013 to 2017. She also led the SPD's youth group. From 2020 to 2022, she was in charge of the Federal Posts and Telecommunications Agency.

Nahles was known for questioning some economic plans, like "Agenda 2010". In June 2019, after the SPD did not do well in the European elections, she decided to step down. She left her roles as SPD leader and head of the SPD group in Parliament. Manuela Schwesig, Malu Dreyer, and Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel took over for a short time. Nahles left the Bundestag on October 31, 2019.

Andrea Nahles's Early Life and Education

Andrea Nahles was born in 1970 in Mendig, a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany. Her father was a bricklayer and her mother was an office clerk. She grew up in a rural area called the Eifel region.

She finished high school in 1989 through a special program. Then, she studied politics, philosophy, and German studies at the University of Bonn. She studied for 10 years and earned a Master of Arts degree. During this time, she also worked as an assistant for a member of parliament.

In 2004, Nahles started working on a doctorate degree. Her research was about how the writer Walter Scott influenced historical novels in Germany. However, she stopped her studies in 2005 when she returned to the Bundestag.

Andrea Nahles's Political Journey

Starting Her Party Career

Andrea Nahles joined the SPD in 1988 when she was 18. Soon after, she became a youth representative for her local area. From 1993 to 1995, she was the youth representative for the whole region of Rhineland-Palatinate. In 1995, she became the national youth leader for the SPD, a role she held until 1999. Since 1997, she has been a member of the SPD's main executive committee.

In 2000, Nahles helped start a group called "Forum Demokratische Linke 21". This group was part of the SPD's left wing. As a leader of this group and former head of the party's youth section, she often disagreed with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's economic reforms, especially "Agenda 2010". She and others felt that the party leaders, like Franz Müntefering, did not always ask the party members for their opinions. For example, they were not consulted when Schröder decided to call early elections in 2005.

After Schröder left office, party leaders tried to bring different groups together. Nahles became more important in the party. On October 31, 2005, she was chosen to be the SPD's general secretary. She won against Kajo Wasserhövel, who was favored by the more conservative side of the party. Because Wasserhövel lost, Franz Müntefering felt he no longer had the party's trust and decided to step down. As a result, Nahles chose not to accept the general secretary position at that time.

From 2005 to 2009, Nahles worked on the Committee on Labour and Social Affairs in the Bundestag. From 2008, she was also part of the SPD's parliamentary group leadership.

Before the 2009 elections, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was the German foreign minister, included her in his "shadow cabinet". This was a group of politicians who would take on government roles if the Social Democrats won the election. During the campaign, Nahles was the shadow minister for education and integration policies.

Serving as SPD General Secretary (2009–2013)

In November 2009, Andrea Nahles was elected as the SPD's general secretary at a party meeting in Dresden. She took over from Hubertus Heil and worked closely with the new party leader, Sigmar Gabriel. Many people saw her appointment as a sign that the SPD would move more towards the left side of politics.

As general secretary, Nahles was in charge of the SPD's election campaign in 2013. After the SPD lost the federal elections, she had an important job. She organized a vote among the party's 472,000 members. This vote was to decide if the SPD should join a coalition government with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party. Nahles was also part of the 15-member group that negotiated the coalition agreement.

At a party meeting in Leipzig in November 2013, Nahles was re-elected as general secretary. She received 67.2 percent of the votes from party members.

Minister of Labour and Social Affairs (2013–2017)

As the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, Andrea Nahles helped bring in a national minimum wage for Germany. This law guaranteed workers at least 8.50 euros per hour. Even though Merkel's party was against a minimum wage at first, they agreed to it because the Social Democrats made it a condition for joining the government.

In early 2015, Nahles made a change to the minimum wage law. She temporarily stopped checks on foreign truck drivers to see if they were being paid the minimum wage. This was due to pressure from Germany's eastern neighbors, especially Poland.

Nahles also helped introduce a law in 2014 that allowed some long-time workers to retire early. This law was expected to be very expensive. It was criticized because Germany has an aging population and a shrinking workforce. Later in 2014, Nahles announced that the money paid into pensions by employers and employees would be cut. This was because there were high reserves in the pension system.

In 2014, Nahles worked with the Claims Conference and the German government. She successfully proposed extending pension payments for about 40,000 Holocaust survivors. These survivors were forced to work in ghettos by the Nazis during World War II. They often suffered from poor nutrition and lost their families. The payments aimed to help them with their medical problems and lack of support.

After many strikes in 2014 that affected air and train travel, Nahles introduced a new bill. This bill changed labor laws to allow only one trade union to represent workers in a company when negotiating pay. Critics said this might take away the right to strike from smaller unions.

In 2015, Nahles ordered a study to understand "work-related stress" and its economic cost. This led to talks about a possible "anti-stress act" in Germany.

In early 2016, Nahles proposed plans to limit unemployment benefits for EU migrants. This was in response to concerns about immigration policies.

Leading the SPD in the Bundestag (2017–2019)

After the 2017 elections, the Social Democrats had their worst result in German history since World War II. Their chairman, Martin Schulz, suggested that Nahles lead the party's group in the German Parliament. She took over from Thomas Oppermann and was the first woman to hold this important role.

During the talks to form a new government under Chancellor Merkel, Nahles led the group working on social affairs.

Besides her role as chairwoman, Nahles also joined the Committee on the Election of Judges. This committee is responsible for choosing judges for Germany's highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.

Leading the Social Democratic Party (2018–2019)

On April 22, 2018, Andrea Nahles made history. She was elected as the first ever female leader of the Social Democratic Party at a party meeting in Wiesbaden. She won with 414 delegate votes, while her opponent, Simone Lange, received 172 votes. This meant Nahles got 66% of the votes.

She took over from Olaf Scholz, who was acting leader after Martin Schulz resigned. Schulz had led the party to its worst election result since 1933. Nahles becoming leader was a big moment for the SPD, as it was the first time a woman led the party in its 155-year history. It was also the first time in German history that the two largest parties, the SPD and the CDU (led by Angela Merkel), were both led by women.

Nahles was seen as someone who helped guide the party towards joining another coalition government with Merkel's Christian Democrats.

However, on June 2, 2019, Nahles announced she would resign as SPD leader. This decision came after she became less popular and the SPD had a major defeat in the 2019 European Parliament election. The party also reached a record low in a public opinion poll. She also said she would resign as leader of the SPD group in the Bundestag.

Life After Politics

From July 2020, Andrea Nahles worked as a special advisor to European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit.

From 2020 to 2022, Nahles was the president of the Federal Posts and Telecommunications Agency in Bonn. She also taught at the NRW School of Governance at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

In 2022, Nahles was chosen to be the director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA).

Other Activities and Interests

Andrea Nahles is involved in several other organizations:

• She is a member of the Board of Trustees for Baden-Badener Unternehmer-Gespräche (BBUG) since 2022.
• She is a member of the Central Committee of German Catholics.
• She is on the Advisory Board of Denkwerk Demokratie.
• She is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Hermann Kunst Foundation.
• She is a member of the Board of Trustees for Maria Laach Abbey.
• She is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Willy Brandt Center Jerusalem.
• She is on the Editorial Board of spw – Zeitschrift für sozialistische Politik und Wirtschaft.
• She is a member of the IG Metall union.
• She is a member of Eurosolar.
• She is a member of Attac.
• She was an ex-officio member of the Television Board for ZDF from 2000 to 2004.

Political Views

Andrea Nahles was once a strong voice for the left side of the SPD. However, over time, she has moved more towards the center of politics. She is known for being a direct and sometimes blunt speaker.

Personal Life

Andrea Nahles was in a relationship with VW manager Horst Neumann from 1997 to 2007. In 2010, she married art historian Marcus Frings. They have one daughter, who was born in January 2011. In January 2016, the couple announced their separation.

Nahles lives in the village of Weiler, where she was born. She is a Roman Catholic and regularly attends Sunday mass in her village. She lives on a farm that belonged to her great-grandparents. Since 2017, she also has an apartment in Berlin.

Nahles enjoys horse riding. She was also a track and field athlete until an accident in 1986.

See Also

In Spanish: Andrea Nahles para niños

• Politics of Germany