Renate Künast
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Renate Künast (born December 15, 1955) was the German Minister of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture from 2001 to 2005.
She was born in Recklinghausen (North Rhine-Westphalia). She studied social work in Düsseldorf and worked from 1977 to 1979 in this profession in a jailhouse in Berlin. After that she studied law until 1985 and worked as lawyer.
Since 1979, Künast has been a member of the German Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), first in the Alternative List in West Berlin. In the 1990s she was member of parliament and chairwoman of the greens in the parliament of Berlin. From June 2000 to March 2001 she was co-chair of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen on the national level, together with Fritz Kuhn. Since her party by the time did not allow the combination of functions in the party and the government in one person, she resigned when she became minister in the first Gerhard Schröder coalition in 2001. Since then, Künast has served as the German Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, known for increasing consumer protection, supporting organic farming, and expanding animal welfare.
After the 2005 election she became co-chair of the Green parliamentary party, again together with Fritz Kuhn.
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