Eva Alexandra Ingrid Irmgard Anna Högl (German pronunciation: [ˈeːfa ˈhøːɡl̩];[1] née Kampmeyer; born 6 January 1969) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces of Germany since May 2020.

Eva Högl
Armed Forces Commissioner
of the Bundestag
Assumed office
28 May 2020
President
Nominated bySPD
Preceded byHans-Peter Bartels
Chair of the
Edathy scandal Inquiry Committee
In office
2 July 2014 – 12 November 2015
DeputyMichael Frieser
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Deputy Leader of the
Social Democratic Party
in the Bundestag
In office
22 October 2013 – 28 May 2020
Leader
Preceded byChristine Lambrecht
Succeeded byDirk Wiese
Bundestag constituencies
Member of the Bundestag
for Berlin
In office
27 October 2009 – 25 May 2020
Preceded byJörg-Otto Spiller
Succeeded byMechthild Rawert
ConstituencyBerlin-Mitte
In office
12 January 2009 – 27 October 2009
Preceded byDitmar Staffelt
Succeeded bymulti-member district
ConstituencySocial Democratic Party List
Personal details
Born
Eva Alexandra Ingrid Irmgard Anna Kampmeyer

(1969-01-06) 6 January 1969 (age 55)
Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, West Germany (now Germany)
Political partySocial Democratic Party (1987–)
Residence(s)Wedding, Berlin
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Academic
  • Civil Servant
Website

Högl previously served as a member of the Bundestag, the German parliament, from 2009 until 2020. From 2013 until 2020, she served as deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group.[2] She has been a member of her party since 1987.

Early career

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Högl was born in Osnabrück. From 1999 until 2009, she worked at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) in Berlin. At the ministry, she was head of the unit in charge of European labor and social policy between 2006 and 2009.[3]

Political career

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Career in state politics

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Since 2007, Högl has been a member of the executive board of the SPD in Berlin, under the leadership of party chairman Michael Müller. Before the 2008 elections in Lower Saxony, candidate Wolfgang Jüttner included Högl in his shadow cabinet for the Social Democrats' – unsuccessful – campaign to unseat incumbent Minister-President Christian Wulff. During the campaign, she served as shadow minister for regional development and European affairs.[4][3]

Member of Parliament, 2009–2020

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Högl was elected to the German Bundestag in 2009, representing the constituency of Berlin-Mitte. In her first full legislative term from 2009 until 2013, she was a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on European Affairs. On the latter committee, she was her parliamentary group's rapporteur on the 2010 European Union directive on the rights to interpretation and to translation in criminal proceedings. In addition to her committee assignments, she served as deputy chairwoman of the German-Dutch Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2010 until 2013. Within the SPD parliamentary group, she was a member of the working group on municipal policy from 2009 until 2017.

In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the SPD following the 2013 federal elections, Högl was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on families, women and equality, led by Annette Widmann-Mauz and Manuela Schwesig.

From December 2013 until May 2020,[3] Högl served as deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group under the leadership of successive chairpersons Thomas Oppermann (2013–2017), Andrea Nahles (2017–2019) and Rolf Mützenich (2019–2020). In addition, she was appointed to the Committee on the Election of Judges (Wahlausschuss), which is in charge of appointing judges to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. She also served on the parliamentary body in charge of appointing judges to the Highest Courts of Justice, namely the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG), the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH), the Federal Labour Court (BAG), and the Federal Social Court (BSG). In 2019, she joined the Parliamentary Oversight Panel (PKGr), which provides parliamentary oversight of Germany's intelligence services BND, BfV and MAD.[5]

In the negotiations to form a fourth coalition government under Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Högl was part of the working group on migration and integration, led by Volker Bouffier, Joachim Herrmann and Ralf Stegner.[6][7]

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, 2020–present

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In May 2020 Högl was appointed Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces of Germany and gave up her seat in the Bundestag.[8] Her seat was taken up by Mechthild Rawert.[9]

Other activities

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Corporate boards

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  • Berliner Stadtreinigung (BSR), Member of the Advisory Board[10]

Non-profit organizations

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Political positions

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Högl has been a vocal proponent of banning the extreme rightwing National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), arguing that a ban would "hit the party as an organisation and also stop it being financed by taxpayers".[15]

Högl has also demanded improved voting rights for foreigners living in Germany.[2]

Personal life

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Högl is married to an architect. The couple resides in Berlin's Wedding district, in the same building as Peer Steinbrück.[16]

References

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  1. ^ YouTube [dead link]
  2. ^ a b "SPD-Fraktionsvize Högl will Wahlrecht für Ausländer erweitern" [SPD Parliamentary Group Deputy Högl Wants to Extend Voting Rights for Foreigners]. Frankfurter Allgemeine (in German). dpa. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Zawatka-Gerlach, Ulrich (8 February 2019). "Neue SPD-Ministerin? Eva Högl hat es wohl geschafft" [New SPD Minister? Eva Högl has pulled it off]. Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  4. ^ "Schattenkabinette" [Shadow Cabinets]. Die Tageszeitung (in German). 30 January 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  5. ^ "SPD-Politikerin Högl neu im Parlamentarischen Kontrollgremium" [SPD Politician Högl New in Parliamentary Supervisory Committee]. Yahoo! News (in German). afp. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  6. ^ Fahrun, Joachim (15 January 2018). "Michael Müller verhandelt über große Koalition mit". Berliner Morgenpost. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  7. ^ Amann, Melanie; Medick, Veit; Neukirch, Ralf; Pfister, René (19 January 2018). "Distrust and Anger: Inside Germany's Rocky Coalition Talks". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  8. ^ Bennhold, Katrin (1 July 2020). "Germany Disbands Special Forces Group Tainted by Far-Right Extremists". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 November 2022. The KSK needs to be our elite for freedom and democracy," said Eva Högl, the parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces.
  9. ^ "Deutscher Bundestag - Mechthild Rawert". Deutscher Bundestag. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Beirat der Berliner Stadtreinigung" [Advisory Board of the Berliner Stadtreinigung]. Berliner Stadtreinigung (BSR).
  11. ^ Board of Trustees Archived 8 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine Leo Baeck Foundation.
  12. ^ "Beirat" [Advisory Board]. German-Arab Friendship Association (DAFG). Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Kuratorium" [Board of Trustees]. Europäische Akademie für Frauen in Politik und Wirtschaft Berlin. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  14. ^ "Mitgliederversammlung" [Members]. Friedrich Ebert Foundation (in German). Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  15. ^ Chazan, Guy (17 January 2017). "Germany's top court blocks ban on far-right NPD". Financial Times.
  16. ^ Ruppel, Ulrike (21 July 2013). "Wie ist Peer Steinbrück als Nachbar, Frau Högl?" [How is Peer Steinbrück as a Neighbor, Ms. Högl?]. B.Z. (in German).