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Andrea Maria Nahles (born 20 June 1970) is a former German politician who has been the director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) since 2022.Jan Klauth (2 August 2022), Andrea Nahles steht vor großen Reformen – doch ihr fehlt das Geld Die Welt.
Nahles is best known for having served as leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from April 2018 until June 2019 and the leader of the SPD in the Bundestag from September 2017 until June 2019. She served as a Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2013 to 2017 and SPD Youth leader. From 2020 to 2022, she was the president of the Federal Posts and Telecommunications Agency.Martin Greive (26 June 2020), Nahles zur neuen Präsidentin der Bundesanstalt für Post und Telekommunikation gewählt Handelsblatt.
Nahles is known within the party for criticising Gerhard Schröder's Agenda 2010. In June 2019, in the aftermath of the SPD's result in the 2019 European elections, she announced her resignation as leader of the SPD and as parliamentary leader of the SPD. For the transition period until a new SPD-leader was elected, Manuela Schwesig, Malu Dreyer and Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel acted as her successors. Nahles left the Bundestag on 31 October 2019.
In 2004, Nahles began working towards a doctorate in Germanistics. She abandoned her dissertation in 2005 when she returned to the Bundestag. The title of her planned dissertation was "Walter Scott's influence on the development of the historical novel in Germany".
In 2000, Nahles was one of the founders of the "Forum Demokratische Linke 21" (Forum of the Democratic Left 21). As leader of the SPD's left wing and former head of party's youth section, she opposed many of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's economic reforms, namely the Agenda 2010. Andrea Nahles, 35 Financial Times, 2 November 2005. She and others repeatedly criticized the leadership style of the party's chairman Franz Müntefering, saying the party was never consulted over Schröder's decision in May 2005 to call early elections or the decision to join a grand coalition under Merkel that would include the major parties.Judy Dempsey (1 November 2005), Merkel is dealt another setback International Herald Tribune.
As party leaders sought to reconcile the bickering factions in the post-Schröder era, Nahles gained in leverage.Patrick Donahue (15 December 2013), Merkel's Third-Term Cabinet: Social Democratic Party Ministers Bloomberg. On 31 October 2005, she was voted the SPD's general secretary, defeating Kajo Wasserhövel, the favoured man from the conservative side of the party. Wasserhövel's defeat prompted Franz Müntefering to declare that he no longer felt he had the confidence of the party and would step down. As a result, Nahles refused to accept the position of general secretary.
Between 2005 and 2009, Nahles served on the Committee on Labour and Social Affairs. From 2008, she was also a member of the SPD parliamentary group's leadership under chairman Peter Struck.
Ahead of the 2009 elections, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier included her in his shadow cabinet of 10 women and eight men for the Social Democrats' campaign to unseat incumbent Angela Merkel as chancellor.Bertrand Benoit (30 July 2009), Lagging SPD starts campaign Financial Times. During the campaign, Nahles served as shadow minister for education and integration policies, being a counterweight to incumbent Annette Schavan.Veit Medick and Markus Feldenkirchen (29 July 2009), Germany's Election Pre-Game: Social Democrats to Announce Campaign 'Team Steinmeier' Der Spiegel.
In her capacity as secretary general, Nahles oversaw the SPD's electoral campaign in 2013. After the SPD's defeat in the federal elections, she was in charge of organizing a referendum among her party's 472,000 members before signing any coalition treaty with re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel and her conservative bloc. In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the elections, Nahles was part of the 15-member leadership circle chaired by Merkel, Gabriel and Horst Seehofer.
At a three-day party convention held in Leipzig in November 2013, delegates re-elected Nahles to her post with reduced majority. She received 67.2 percent of members' ballots.Brian Parkin and Birgit Jennen (15 November 2013), German SPD Chief Set to Sell Party on Merkel Coalition Bloomberg.
After having campaigned on the promise of early retirement for longtime workers during the elections, Nahles also managed the introduction of an early retirement law in 2014. The move, which – at expected total costs of about 160 billion euros between 2015 and 2030Henrik Böhme (3 February 2015), Opinion: Minimum wage law is overbureaucratized Deutsche Welle. – is likely to be the most expensive single measure of the legislative period,Erik Kirschbaum and Monica Raymunt (29 January 2014), Germany Loosens Own Pension Rules While Asking EU for Austerity The New York Times. was sharply criticized as Germany grapples with an aging population and a shrinking work force and promotes austerity among its European Union neighbors.Melissa Eddy (30 June 2014), After Tightening Pensions, Germany Eases Rules for Some The New York Times. In late 2014, Nahles also announced that the combined pension contributions from employers and employees would be cut by a total of 2 billion euros in 2015 due to the high level of reserves.Holger Hansen (6 November 2014), Germany to cut pension contributions, free up 2 billion euros Reuters.
Following annual negotiations between the Claims Conference and the German government in 2014, Nahles successfully introduced a proposal for extending German pension payments totaling 340 million euros ($461 million) for some 40,000 Holocaust survivors who were used by the Nazis in ghettos as laborers in exchange for food or meager wages. Most Holocaust survivors suffered serious malnutrition during World War II and also lost almost all of their relatives, leaving them with many medical problems and little or no family support network to help them cope. German Parliament Extends Holocaust Pensions The New York Times, 5 June 2014.
Following a succession of strikes that disrupted Germany's air and train travel in 2014, Nahles introduced a bill which amended labor laws to allow only one trade union to represent employees of one company in negotiating wage agreements, a move critics say in effect will deprive small unions of their right to strike.Andrea Thomas (11 December 2014), Germany Looks to Curb Trade-Union Power The Wall Street Journal.
In 2015, Nahles commissioned an in-depth study to establish a definition of work-related stress and calculate its economic cost, leading to speculation that the study could pave the way for an "anti-stress act" as proposed by Germany's IG Metall.Philip Oltermann (18 September 2014), Germany ponders ground-breaking law to combat work-related stress The Guardian.
In response to rightwing populist assaults on chancellor Angela Merkel's liberal immigration policies, Nahles presented plans in early 2016 to ban EU migrants from most unemployment benefits for five years after their arrival.Stefan Wagstyl (28 April 2016), Germany plans 5-year benefit ban for jobless migrants Financial Times.
In addition to her role as chairwoman, Nahles also joined the Committee on the Election of Judges ( Wahlausschuss), which is in charge of appointing judges to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.
Nahles was widely credited with stewarding the party toward another coalition government with Merkel's Christian Democrats.Madeleine Schwartz (22 April 2018), Andrea Nahles: German SPD's last hope Politico Europe.
On 2 June 2019, Nahles announced that she would resign as SPD leader in the face of personal unpopularity, a major defeat for the SPD in the 2019 European Parliament election, and a record low result in the Forsa poll of 1 June 2019. She stated she would also resign as leader of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag.
From 2020 to 2022, Nahles served as president of the Federal Posts and Telecommunications Agency in Bonn. In addition, she taught at the NRW School of Governance of the University of Duisburg-Essen. Andrea Nahles wird Professorin – zumindest für ein Semester Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, 11 August 2020.Clemens Gatermann (26 November 2020), Nahles tritt Gastprofessur in Duisburg an: SPD muss Fragen klären Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
In 2022, Nahles was nominated as director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA).Mona Jaeger (26 January 2022), Das Comeback der Andrea Nahles Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Nahles lives in the village of Weiler, where she was born. A Roman Catholic, she attends Sunday mass in the village regularly. She resides on a farm that belonged to her great-grandparents.Michelle Martin and Andrea Shalal (8 February 2018) Germany's SPD bets on first female chair in 154 years to revive fortunes Reuters. Since 2017, she has an apartment in Berlin's Moabit district.Miguel Sanches (27 December 2017) Das Scheitern der SPD ist die große Chance für Andrea Nahles Berliner Morgenpost.
Nahles enjoys Equestrianism. Until an accident in 1986, she also was a track and field athlete. Warum sich Andrea Nahles bestens mit Groschenromanen auskennt Stern, 22 January 2018.
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