Incoming German Family Minister Franziska Giffey is typical of the fresh new faces in the government. Although not experienced at the national level, she’s down-to-earth, female and, above all, young.
As political quantum leaps go, the one Franziska Giffey is about to take is particularly daring.
When Chancellor Angela Merkel starts her fourth term on Wednesday, 39-year-old Giffey, a Social Democrat, will assume responsibility for the Ministry of Family Affairs despite having no prior experience at either the state or national level of politics.
Giffey only joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 2007, and her political activity has previously been confined to the Neukölln district of Berlin, where she has been mayor since April 2015. She has drawn high marks for her political leadership in a relatively poor part of the capital with a high percentage of immigrants. The district has a somewhat undeserved reputation as a ghetto, and Giffey is seen as someone who is unafraid to take a firm approach.
“It’s more difficult to run Neukölln than it is to run a ministry,” acting SPD chairman Olaf Scholz announced last Friday when introducing Giffey as part of the new cabinet.
For more read the full of article at The DW
