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Bärbel Bas

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Bärbel Bas
MdB
Bas in 2025
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2025
ChancellorFriedrich Merz
Preceded byHubertus Heil
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
27 June 2025
Serving with Lars Klingbeil
DeputyPetra Köpping
Serpil Midyatli
Achim Post
Anke Rehlinger
Alexander Schweitzer
General SecretaryTim Klüssendorf
Preceded bySaskia Esken
President of the Bundestag
In office
26 October 2021 – 25 March 2025
Preceded byWolfgang Schäuble
Succeeded byJulia Klöckner
Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic Party
in the Bundestag
In office
24 September 2019 – 26 September 2021
LeaderRolf Mützenich
Preceded byKarl Lauterbach
Succeeded byDagmar Schmidt
Member of the Bundestag
for Duisburg I
Incumbent
Assumed office
27 October 2009
Preceded byPetra Weis
Personal details
Born (1968-05-03) 3 May 1968 (age 57)
Duisburg, West Germany
Political partySPD (since 1988)
Spouse
Siegfried Ambrosius
​
​
(m. 2015; died 2020)​

Bärbel Bas (German: [ˈbɛʁbl̩ ˈbaːs]; born 3 May 1968) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz since 2025. Also since 2025, she has been serving as one of two co-leaders of her party, alongside Lars Klingbeil. [1]

Bas has been a member of the German Bundestag since the federal election in 2009. She served as the 14th president of the Bundestag from 2021 to 2025.[2] She also served as the deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group under the leadership of chairman Rolf Mützenich from 2019 to 2021.[3]

Early life and career

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Bas was born in 1968, in the Walsum district of Duisburg. In 1984, at the age of sixteen, she obtained her secondary school diploma. From 1985 to 1987 she served an apprenticeship as an office assistant at the Duisburger Verkehrsgesellschaft (DVG), where she worked from 1987 to 2001 as a clerk, and later moved to the company's own health insurance department. From 1986 to 1988 she was a representative of youth and trainees at DVG and from 1988 to 1998 member of the works council and employee representative on the supervisory board of DVG.[4]

From 1994 to 1997, Bas completed a vocational training progranme to become a social security specialist. That was followed, in 2000–2002, by in-service training as a health insurance business administrator and the instructor diploma 2003. From 2002 to 2006 she was a deputy board member of the health insurance fund EVS. From 2005 to 2007, she completed further training as a human resources economist (VWA) at the Administrative and Business Academy Essen. Subsequently, Bas served as Head of the Department of Personnel Services at the BKK Futur from 2007 to 2009.[4]

Political career

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In October 1988, Bas joined the SPD. A year later she became a member of the Jusos sub-district board Duisburg, of which she was chairwoman from 1990 to 1998. Since then she has been a member of the subdistrict board of the Duisburg SPD. She served as deputy chairwoman since 2006. Since 2004, she has been a member of the Regional Council Niederrhein, since 2009 a member of the RuhrSPD and since 2010 chairwoman of the SPD state party council in North Rhine-Westphalia.

From 1994 to 2002 Bärbel Bas was a member of the City Council of Duisburg.

Member of Parliament, 2009–present

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Bas in 2010

In the 2009 federal election, Bas was elected in the constituency of Duisburg I for the SPD as an MP in the 17th German Bundestag. She was able to defend her direct mandate in the 2013 federal election, the 2017 federal election, the 2021 federal election, and the 2025 federal election.[4] In the 17th Bundestag she was a full member of the Committee on Health, to which she continued to be a deputy member since in the 18th Bundestag. From 2014, she was a member of the parliament's Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigns committee chairpersons based on party representation. She was also a deputy member of the Gemeinsamer Ausschuss (Joint Committee) of the Bundesrat and Bundestag.

Within her parliamentary group, Bas belongs to the left party wing of the SPD, the Parliamentary Left (Parlamentarische Linke).[5] From December 2013 until 2017, she served as Parliamentary Director (Parlamentarischer Geschäftsführer, Chief whip) of the SPD parliamentary group. Bas later served as the group´s deputy chairwoman under the leadership of chairman Rolf Mützenich from 2019 until 2021.[3]

In addition to her committee assignments, Bas is a member of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the States of Central America.

President of the Bundestag, 2021–2025

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On 26 October 2021, Bas was elected as the 14th President of the Bundestag for the 20th Bundestag, with 576 votes for, 90 against, and 58 abstentions. Bas was the third female Bundestag president, after Annemarie Renger (SPD) and Rita Süssmuth (CDU).[6]

Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, 2025–present

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In the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz Bas has been serving as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs since May 2025.

In June 2025, Bas was elected as one of two co-leaders alongside with Lars Klingbeil of her party, SPD.[1]

Other activities

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Corporate boards

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  • Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann, Member of the Supervisory Board (2015–2025)[7]
  • Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftsförderung Duisburg mbH, Member of the Supervisory Board (until 2013)
  • Stadtwerke Duisburg AG, Member of the Supervisory Board (until 2013)

Non-profit organizations

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Recognition

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Foreign honors

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Bas und Klingbeil zu SPD-Vorsitzenden gewählt". tagesschau (in German). 27 June 2025. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  2. ^ "SPD-Politikerin Bärbel Bas zur Bundestagspräsidentin gewählt".
  3. ^ a b Jan Drebes (9 September 2019), Duisburgerin Bärbel Bas soll Lauterbach als SPD-Fraktionsvize nachfolgen Rheinische Post.
  4. ^ a b c Bärbel Bas, SPD, Bundestag.de
  5. ^ Mitglieder der Parlamentarischen Linken, parlamentarische-linke.de
  6. ^ "Bundestag".
  7. ^ Ulf Meinke (6 May 2025), Bärbel Bas verlässt HKM-Aufsichtsrat mit sofortiger Wirkung Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
  8. ^ "Rede: Ordensverleihung an Bärbel Bas". Der Bundespräsident (in German). Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  9. ^ Boletín Oficial del Estado
  10. ^ "El Gobierno español condecora al presidente y al canciller de Alemania" [The Spanish government honors the president and Chancellor of Germany]. Infobae (in Spanish). 11 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  11. ^ "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №734/2022" (in Ukrainian). 21 October 2022.
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Political offices
Preceded by President of the Bundestag
2021–2025 		Succeeded by
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