Heiko Maas

Heiko Maas
Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection
Assumed office
17 December 2013
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Preceded by Sabine Leutheusser-
Schnarrenberger (Justice)
Ilse Aigner (Food, Agriculture and
Consumer Protection)
Personal details
Born (1966-09-19) 19 September 1966
Saarlouis, Germany
Political party Social Democratic Party
Alma mater Saarland University

Heiko Maas (born 19 September 1966) is a German SPD politician. He is Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection since 17 December 2013. Before he has been the leader of the SPD group in the Saarland regional parliament since 1999.[1]

Early life and education

Maas was born in Saarlouis on 19 September 1966.[1] He studied law at Saarland University.[2]

Political career

Maas was first appointed to the Saarland Parliament in 1996, under the mentorship of Oskar Lafontaine who would later leave the Social Democrats to found his own party.[1][3]

Leading the SPD into the 2009 state election only months before the federal elections that year, Maas announced he would form a coalition with Lafontaine’s Left Party should the two obtain a majority, suggesting that the party could become a potential ally for the SPD at federal level in the 2013 election.[4][5] At the time, any such coalition in Saarland was widely seen as undermining the pledge made by the Social Democrat’s candidate for the federal elections, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, not to rule with the Left Party.[4] Eventually, the SPD only gained 24.5 percent, making it the party’s worst election result in the state.

Maas was a SPD delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2010 and 2012.

After the 2012 state election, the SPD went into coalition with the CDU,[6] which before that election had been governing the state in coalition with the Green Party and the Liberals.[7] While the Social Democrats and Left had won enough seats to form a coalition, Maas ruled out such an alliance in favor of a coalition with the CDU led by incumbent Minister-President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.[8] As deputy minister-president, he took over responsibility for the economy,[9] transport, and employment.[10]

Following the 2013 federal elections, Maas was part of the SPD team in the negotiations with the CDU/CSU on a coalition agreement; he was a member of the energy policy working group led by Peter Altmaier and Hannelore Kraft. On 17 December 2013, he was sworn in as the minister of justice and consumer protection in the third cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel,[11] succeeding Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger.

He earned the nickname 'Prohibition Minister' by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for his many non-approved law proposals.[12]

Political positions

Homeland security

Following the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture in December 2014, Maas told German newspaper Bild: "The CIA's practice of torture is gruesome […] Everybody involved must be legally prosecuted."[13]

In early 2015, Maas successfully introduced a new law meant to mitigate radical Islamist attacks, by making it a criminal offence to travel abroad to receive military training.[14] Shortly after, he and Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU) jointly submitted a draft law permitting the temporary retention of internet and telephone data – excluding e-mail traffic – to aid criminal investigations.[15]

Crime and prosecutions

In July 2015, Maas announced plans to amend Germany's penal code on sexual assault in accordance with the Istanbul Convention of the Council of Europe; the reform is to punish abuse which exploits a victim's fear of a "perceived menace" and tighten sentences in rape cases.[16]

In August 2015, Maas initiated the dismissal and retirement of chief federal prosecutor Harald Range; his ministry had questioned Range's decision to open a much-criticized treason investigation against journalists of netzpolitik.org who had reported about plans of Germany's domestic spy agency – the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution – to expand surveillance of online communication.[17] Range, meanwhile, had accused the government of interfering in the investigation.[17]

Digital policy

In a 2014 interview with the Financial Times, Maas called it "not acceptable" that Google "dominates the search engine world, and is able to rank its search results in a manner apt to promote its own business interests."[18] In 2015, he endorsed criticism expressed by Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VzBz) which held that Facebook’s data protection terms were too vague.[19] Later that year, he publicly accused Facebook of doing too little to thwart racist posts and hate comments on the social media platform.[20]

Anti-whistleblower law

After the big Netpolitic scandal, where a German language blog leaked top secret documents, Maas introduced a new law in 2015, called 'Data Stolen Goods' (§202d StGB).[21] Ulf Buermeyer,[22] a judge of the district Court in Berlin and former scientific co-worker at the Federal Constitutional Court,[23] described the anti-whistleblower law as a massive attack on democracy and the Freedom of speech .[23][24] The law was passed by the Bundestag on October 16, 2015.[23][24]

Gender policy

Law Governing Sexual Offences

After the massive sexual assaults in Cologne at new year's eve, 2015,[25] Heiko Maas wanted to aggregate the restrictions for sexual offences.[26][27]

The law contains two major parts: first shall a quick, singular grope be seen as quick, unexpected sexual act (prison time: up to 10 years). Secondly, every sexual act that one part feels extorted to is considered illegal and corollary in 15 years prison. The law has been heavily criticized by judges for being too hard, since you get less time in prison for violence. Secondly it was criticized since you don't have to be raped, but just have to feel you have been raped.[28]

Sexist advertisment

In 2016, Maas called for a legal ban on sexist advertisement, which 'reduces women or men to sexual objects.' Experts say the law suggestion is 'absurd' and 'narrow-minded'. FDP leader Christian Linender called it the next round of the 'nanny state' and indicated a thinking close to radical Islamic leaders. The GWA, Germany's Association of Communications Agencies, criticized it's a 'matter of taste' if something is sexist or not.[29]

Other activities

Personal life

Maas enjoys football and is a triathlete. He is married and has two children.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Im Profile Heiko Maas" (PDF). SPD Saarland. 2011. Retrieved June 2013.
  2. ↑ "Heiko Maas". Munzinger. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  3. ↑ Furlong, Ray (15 September 2005). "German election diary: 15 Sep". BBC News. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  4. 1 2 Bertrand Benoit (August 17, 2009), SPD regional chief eyes deal with Left Financial Times.
  5. ↑ Bertrand Benoit (August 20, 2009), Allure of an alliance Financial Times.
  6. ↑ Politik (26 March 2012). "Saarland: Kramp-Karrenbauer als Ministerpräsidentin wiedergewählt". Spiegel. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "Huge defeat for German Free Democrats in Saarland". BBC. 25 March 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  8. ↑ Brian Parkin and Tony Czuczka (March 26, 2012), Merkel’s Party Wins Saarland State in Show of Crisis Backing Bloomberg News.
  9. ↑ "Schließungspläne für die Schleuse Güdingen?". SR-online. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  10. ↑ "Politik Kompakt I - Nachrichten Print". Die Welt. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  11. ↑ "Merkel rival to take toughest job in new-look cabinet". France24. 15 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  12. ↑ Autor, Zum (2016-04-14). "Ohne Ziegen: Verbotsminister Heiko Maas und seine willigen Helferinnen - Stützen der Gesellschaft". Stützen der Gesellschaft (in German). Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  13. ↑ Frank Jack Daniel and Peter Cooney (December 10, 2014), Psychologist Says U.S. Senate's CIA Report Makes False Charges New York Times.
  14. ↑ Daniel Tost (February 5, 2015), Germany set to pass ‘one of the harshest’ anti-terror laws in Europe EurActiv.
  15. ↑ Daniel Tost (April 16, 2015), German government repackages data retention regulations EurActiv.
  16. ↑ German justice minister announces harsher punishment against sexual assault Deutsche Welle.
  17. 1 2 German Justice Minister Fires Country's Top Prosecutor New York Times, August 4, 2015.
  18. ↑ Jeevan Vasagar (September 15, 2014), Transcript of interview with Heiko Maas, German justice minister Financial Times.
  19. ↑ Natascha Divac (February 26, 2015), German Consumer Group Warns Facebook Over Data Protection Wall Street Journal.
  20. ↑ Erik Kirschbaum (August 27, 2015), German justice minister takes aim at Facebook over racist posts Reuters.
  21. ↑ "Strafgesetzbuch (StGB) § 202d Datenhehlerei". Bundesministerium für Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  22. ↑ "buermeyer.de | Ulf Buermeyer". buermeyer.de. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  23. 1 2 3 Buermeyer, Ulf. "Datenhehlerei? Gastbeitrag von Ulf Buermeyer". Süddeutsche (in German). ISSN 0174-4917. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  24. 1 2 "Datenhehlerei | Strafverteidigung Hamburg | Strafverteidiger, Rechtsanwalt & Fachanwalt für Strafrecht". Strafverteidigung Hamburg | Strafverteidiger, Rechtsanwalt & Fachanwalt für Strafrecht (in German). Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  25. ↑ "Germany shocked by Cologne New Year gang assaults on women - BBC News". Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  26. ↑ "BMJV | Interviews | Sexuelle Gewalt findet in der Mitte unserer Gesellschaft statt". Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  27. ↑ "Strafrecht: Maas will Sexualstrafrecht reformieren | ZEIT ONLINE". Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  28. ↑ "Sexualstrafrecht: Zu früh, zu weit | ZEIT ONLINE". Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  29. ↑ "German Justice Minister Maas slammed over proposed 'sexist advert' ban - News - 11.04.2016". DW.COM. 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  30. ↑ Board of Trustees German Forum for Crime Prevention (DFK).

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger
as Minister of Justice		 Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection
2013–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by
Ilse Aigner
as Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
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