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Franziska Giffey (, Süllke, born 3 May 1978) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who is serving as Berlin State Senator for Economy, Energy and Enterprise since 2023. She served as Governing Mayor of Berlin from December 2021 to April 2023. As of 2025, she is the youngest living (sitting or former) head of a german state government. She previously served as Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 until 2021.Keilani, Fatina; Alten, Saara von (15 April 2015). " Buschkowsky-Nachfolgerin: Franziska Giffey als Bürgermeisterin gewählt" (in German). Der Tagesspiegel. tagesspiegel.de. Retrieved 26 September 2022.Monath, Hans; Van Bebber, Werner; Heine, Hannes (9 March 2018). " Große Koalition SPD-Ministerin Franziska Giffey: Von Berlin-Neukölln nach überall" (in German). Tagesspiegel. tagesspiegel.de. Retrieved 26 September 2022. From 2015 to 2018, she was the mayor of the borough of Neukölln in Berlin.Hansen, Holger; Martin, Michelle Martin (9 March 2018). " German government takes shape as SPD names ministers". Reuters. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
In addition to her studies, she worked as Commissioner for European Affairs in the district administration of Neukölln from 2002 to 2010.
In 2015, she succeeded Heinz Buschkowsky as mayor of the Berlin district of Neukölln, a borough characterized by a large immigrant population and high unemployment. During her time in office, Giffey earned a reputation as a hands-on and approachable local politician, while also being noted for her “law and order” stance in dealing with issues such as youth violence, integration, and public safety.
Following the 2018 Chemnitz protests, Giffey was the first member of Merkel's cabinet to visit the site where a 35-year-old German carpenter was stabbed to death.
In mid-2020, Giffey presented the government's first equality strategy, which bundled together measures that aim to get more women into leadership roles, narrow the gender pay gap, and improve work-life balance. By early 2021, she introduced legislation introducing stricter gender equality rules for government-controlled companies and measures to force larger listed companies to have at least one woman on their management boards.
As criticism of the university’s handling of the case persisted, the Free University decided to reopen the review. On 10 June 2021, its presidium unanimously stripped Giffey of her doctorate, citing 69 instances of either missing or improper attribution across the 200-page thesis and determining she had engaged in “at least partially intentional deception“. By that time, Giffey had already announced in 2020 that she would voluntarily cease using her doctoral title, pending the outcome of the proceedings.
She resigned as federal minister on 19 May 2021 but immediately secured the SPD’s candidacy for Berlin mayor, a position she held until the end of her term in April 2023.
On 26 September 2021, the SPD, which Giffey served as the Mayoral candidate for in Berlin, would retain most seats in the Berlin House of Representatives following the 2021 Berlin state election. On 28 November 2021, a coalition agreement between the SPD, the Green Party and the Left Party in Berlin was finalized, though the proposed government program still awaited approval from individual party committees before Giffey could take office. On 5 December 2021, 91.5 percent of Berlin's SPD delegates approved the coalition agreement.
On 21 December 2021, Giffey was sworn in as Governing Mayor of Berlin after 84 Berlin House deputies voted in favor of her, while 52 voted against her and two abstained. Immediately afterwards, the Giffey senate was appointed and sworn in, allowing the new government to commence its work.
Giffey was nominated by her party as delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2022. 17th Federal Convention, 13 February 2022, List of Members Bundestag.
Instead, Giffey opted for a different course. Intra-party debates ensued, but she ultimately decided to lead the SPD into a coalition as junior partner with the election winner, the CDU. This move handed the office of Governing Mayor to Kai Wegner, while Giffey herself became his deputy and assumed the post of Senator for Economics, Energy and Enterprises. The decision was controversial within her party, as many SPD members would have preferred to maintain the traditional red-green-red coalition. Giffey, however, justified the step with the argument of ensuring political stability and a fresh start for Berlin’s governance.
With her election as Governing Mayor of Berlin in 2021, Giffey had already become the youngest head of government in Germany’s history. Even after the coalition shift in 2023, she retained a central role in the city’s political leadership, now shaping Berlin’s economic and energy policies as part of the grand coalition with the CDU.
Against the backdrop of a series of assaults on German politicians, Giffey was attacked during an event on 7 May 2024 at a Berlin library, sustaining injuries to her head and neck. A 74-year-old man was detained in connection with the attack. Reacting to the attacks, she expressed shock at how people engaged in politics had increasingly become targets for violence and called for societal resistance against such attacks.
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