Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter

Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter (born 13 October 1962) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who serves as a member of the German Bundestag (the German federal parliament) and as Parliamentary State Secretary in Chancellor Angela Merkel's third (from 2013) and fourth (from 2018) cabinet. Schwarzelühr-Sutter is an outspoken advocate and expert for sustainable development and nuclear safety, recognized both nationally and internationally.

Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter
Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter at United Nations (2016)
Parliamentary State Secretary for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety
Assumed office
17 December 2013
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Personal details
Born (1962-10-13) 13 October 1962
Waldshut
NationalityGerman
Political partySocial Democratic Party
Children2
Alma mater
Websitewww.schwarzelühr-sutter.de

Personal life and education

Schwarzelühr-Sutter was born on 13 October 1962 in Waldshut in Baden-Württemberg.[1][2] She studied Business Administration at the University of Freiburg and ETH Zurich, graduating in 1989.[3]

She is married and has two children.[1]

Political career

Career in state politics

Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1994 and has been a member of the executive board of the SPD party organization for Waldshut since 1995. Since 2001 she has been the chairwoman of the SPD constituency party for the district of Waldshut. She was a member of the municipal council of her home town of Lauchringen from 1999 to the end of 2013. Since 2004 she has also been a member of the district council of the rural district of Waldshut.[4][5]

Since September 2007 she has been a member of the SPD executive board in the state of Baden-Württemberg,[1] and from 2008 to 2009 she headed the national SPD Executive Committee's working group on sustainable mobility.[5]

From 1997 to 2005 Schwarzelühr-Sutter worked as an advisor and communications coordinator/strategist for Karin Rehbock-Zureich, a member of the Bundestag, the German federal parliament.[2]

Member of Parliament, 2005–present

In the German federal election of 2005, Schwarzelühr-Sutter was elected to the Bundestag as a party list candidate. In parliament, she has since served on the Committee on Transport (2005-2009), the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (2010-2012), and the Committee on Economic Affairs and Technology (2012-2013).

By 2007, Schwarzelühr-Sutter was reportedly being groomed by the SPD as a future leader.[6] In the 2009 federal elections, she was placed at number 16 on the party list and narrowly missed re-election to the Bundestag[7][8] but was automatically re-elected in 2010 as designated successor following the death of Hermann Scheer.[9]

Schwarzelühr-Sutter was re-elected in the 2013 federal election.[10] In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of the Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the SPD following the elections, she was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on economic policy, led by Ilse Aigner and Hubertus Heil.

On 17 December 2013 Schwarzelühr-Sutter was appointed Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety in Merkel's third cabinet.[11][12] In this capacity, she has represented successive ministers Barbara Hendricks (2013-2018) and Svenja Schulze (since 2018) in political and parliamentary affairs, particularly in her designated special areas of climate change mitigation, nuclear reactor safety, conservation, and the environment and health.[lower-alpha 1] She has led or been a member of German delegations on various topics, including the Small Islands Development Conference for Small Island Developing States (SIDS 2014), the conference of the treaty states of the Biodiversity Convention (UN-CBD COP-12),[14] and negotiations on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.[15][16][17] She represents Germany at the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF) held annually at the United Nations in New York City.

In addition, Schwarzelühr-Sutter served as deputy chairwoman of the German-Swiss Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2011 until 2017.

In the negotiations to form a coalition government under Merkel’s leadership following the 2017 federal elections, Schwarzelühr-Sutter was part of the working group on energy, climate protection and the environment, led by Hendricks, Armin Laschet and Georg Nüßlein.

Other activities

Regulatory bodies

Corporate boards
  • KfW, Member of the SME Advisory Council (since 2014)[18]

Non-profit organizations
  • Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2018)[19]
  • German Federal Environmental Foundation (German: Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, BDU), Chairwoman of the Advisory Board (since 2014)[20][21]
  • Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS), Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board (since 2014)[22]
  • University of Freiburg, Member of the Advisory Board[23]

Political positions

In July 2015, following irregularities involving the reactor pressure vessel at the Beznau Nuclear Power Plant in Switzerland, near the German border, and near her parliamentary constituency, Schwarzelühr-Sutter demanded the final shutdown of the power plant, which is the oldest still operating nuclear power station in the world, having gone on line in 1964.[24]

In January 2016, in response to an incident at the Leibstadt Nuclear Power Plant in Switzerland, near the German border, and near her parliamentary constituency, Schwarzelühr-Sutter criticized the operator's attitudes to safety.[25]

See also

Notes
  1. Directorate-General KI, RS, N, and IG of the ministry.[13]

References
  1. "Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter". Badische Zeitung (in German). 2 January 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  2. "Heads of the Ministry: Parliamentary State Secretary Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter". German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  3. "Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter: 'Gewissheit hat man erst am Wahlabend'" [Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter: 'You're never sure until the evening of the election']. Südkurier (in German). 4 September 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  4. "Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, SPD". German Bundestag. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  5. "Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages: Lebenslauf". Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  6. "Die SPD sucht den Kanzler der Zukunft" [The SPD is looking for the future chancellor]. Die Welt (in German). 8 August 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  7. "Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter verliert Bundestags-Mandat" [Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter fails to retain membership of Bundestag]. Südkurier (in German). 28 September 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  8. "Wahlkreis Waldshut: Dörflinger gewinnt, Schwarzelühr-Sutter scheitert" [Waldshut constituency: Dörflinger wins, Schwarzelühr-Sutter fails]. Badische Zeitung (in German). 28 September 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  9. "Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter (SPD) wieder im Deutschen Bundestag" [Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter (SPD) returns to Bundestag]. Südkurier (in German). 15 October 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  10. "Wissen der neuen BundestagsabgeordnetenWirtschaftlicher Sachverstand ist Mangelware" [New Members of Parliament's Knowledge: Economic Competence is Scarce]. Wirtschaftswoche (in German). 9 October 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  11. "Große Koalition: Das sind die weiteren wichtigen Posten" [Grand coalition: These are the other important positions]. Der Spiegel (in German). 15 December 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  12. "Neues Kabinett: Staatsminister und Staatssekretäre" [New cabinet: Ministers of state and secretaries of state]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 16 December 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  13. "Ministry organization chart" (PDF) (in German). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 February 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  14. "Weltbiodiversitätskonferenz in Südkorea zieht Zwischenbilanz im Kampf für biologische Vielfalt" [World Biodiversity Conference in South Korea takes stock in the fight for biological diversity] (Press release) (in German). Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2016..
  15. "Weltbiodiversitätskonferenz in Südkorea zieht Zwischenbilanz im Kampf für biologische Vielfalt" [World Biodiversity Conference in South Korea takes stock in the fight for biological diversity] (Press release) (in German). Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2016..
  16. "Als Merkel abreist, bläst Gabriel zum Angriff" [When Merkel leaves, Gabriel sounds the attack]. Die Welt (in German). 25 September 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  17. "Schwarzelühr-Sutter: 'Paris ist der Start, nicht das Ende'" [Schwarzelühr-Sutter: 'Paris is the beginning, not the end']. Badische Zeitung (in German). 13 December 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  18. "Der Mittelstandsrat der KfW" [The SME Advisory Council of the KfW] (in German). Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  19. Bernd Westphal wird neuer Beirats-Vorsitzender beim Wirtschaftsforum der SPD Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , press release of June 7, 2018.
  20. "Das Kuratorium der Deutschen Bundesstiftung Umwelt" [The advisory board of the German Federal Environmental Foundation] (in German). Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  21. "Schwarzelühr-Sutter neue DBU-Kuratoriumsvorsitzende" [Schwarzelühr-Sutter new chairwoman of the advisory board] (Press release) (in German). 11 September 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  22. "Profil" (in German). Retrieved 18 February 2016. Vorsitzende des Aufsichtsrats ist die Parlamentarische Staatssekretärin Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter (BMUB)
  23. Advisory Board University of Freiburg.
  24. "Schwarzelühr-Sutter fordert Aus für Schweizer AKW Beznau" [Schwarzelühr-Sutter demands shutdown of Swiss nuclear power station in Beznau]. Die Welt (in German). 17 July 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  25. "Deutsches Ministerium: Sicherheitsmängel in Schweizer AKW" [German ministry: Safety issues in Swiss nuclear power station]. Focus (in German). 15 January 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
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