Britta Ernst

Britta Ernst (born 23 February 1961) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany who has served as the State Minister for Education and Youth of Brandenburg from 2017 to 2023. She was a member of the Hamburg Parliament from 1997 to 2011, served as School Minister of Schleswig-Holstein from 2014 to 2017, and as president of the Kultusministerkonferenz in 2021. She is the wife of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Britta Ernst
Ernst in 2019
Spouse of the Chancellor of Germany
Current
In role since
8 December 2021
ChancellorOlaf Scholz
Preceded byJoachim Sauer
Minister for Education, Youth and Sport
of Brandenburg
In office
28 September 2017 – 17 April 2023
Minister-PresidentDietmar Woidke
Preceded byGünter Baaske
Succeeded bySteffen Freiberg
President of the
Kultusministerkonferenz
In office
1 January 2021 – 31 December 2021
Preceded byStefanie Hubig
Succeeded byKarin Prien
Minister for School and Professional Education of Schleswig-Holstein
In office
16 September 2014 – 28 June 2017
Minister-PresidentTorsten Albig
Preceded byWaltraud Wende
Succeeded byKarin Prien
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the Bundesrat
for Brandenburg
In office
17 October 2017 – 19 November 2019
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded bymulti-member district
Member of the
Hamburg Parliament
In office
8 October 1997 – 31 August 2011
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded byOlaf Steinbiß
ConstituencySocial Democratic Party List
Personal details
Born (1961-02-23) 23 February 1961
Hamburg, West Germany (now Germany)
Political partySocial Democratic Party (1978–)
Spouse
​
(m. 1998)​
Residence(s)Old Market Square, Potsdam
Alma materHamburger Universität für Wirtschaft und Politik
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Civil Servant
Website

Early life

Ernst was born in Hamburg. After her Abitur in 1980, she completed an apprenticeship in real estate. Afterwards, Ernst studied general economics, graduating in 1990, and social economics, graduating in 1992.[1][2]

Ernst is a member of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and of the ver.di union.[1]

In 1998, Ernst married fellow politician Olaf Scholz, who was elected Chancellor of Germany in 2021. The couple lives in Potsdam.[2]

Political career

Ernst has been an active member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) since 1978. From 1991 to 1993 as a member of the Altona district assembly. In 1993 she was senator Traute Müller's personal advisor. From 1994 to 1997 she was senator Thomas Mirow's personal advisor. Ernst was a member of the Hamburg Parliament from 8 October 1997 to 31 August 2011.[3] She represented the SPD in the school committee, science committee and the special committee for neglected children. She was also a member of the commission for school development. From 2001 to 2006 she was deputy parliamentary group leader of the SPD parliamentary group and spokesperson for school policy. Her political priorities are school and education policy as well as gender equality. From 2006 to the beginning of 2011, Ernst was the parliamentary director of her faction. In the 2008 Hamburg state election, she was re-elected to the Hamburg parliament, this time for the Altona constituency. During this term of office, Ernst served as the SPD's spokesperson on constitutional matters. In addition, she continued to serve on the school committee and started to serve on the constitutional and district committee.[1][4][5]

During the 2009 Schleswig-Holstein state election, Ernst was a member of Ralf Stegner's shadow cabinet. In the 2011 Hamburg state election, she was re-elected to the Hamburg parliament, but resigned on 31 August of the same year in order to work as deputy parliamentary group manager for the SPD faction in the German Bundestag.[6] In 2014, she was appointed Minister for School and Professional Education of the state of Schleswig-Holstein in minister-president Torsten Albig's cabinet and served as such until 2017,[7] as well as deputy member of the German Bundesrat from 2014 to 2017.[8]

Since September 2017, Ernst has been serving as State Minister for Education, Youth and Sport of Brandenburg in minister-president Dietmar Woidke's cabinet.[9][10] From 2017 to 2019, she has been a member of the German Bundesrat, and has been a deputy member since 2019.[8] In 2021, she also served as President of the Kultusministerkonferenz, the assembly of ministers of education of the German states.[11]

Other activities

References
  1. "Britta Ernst: Politik, soziales Engagement und Privatleben – alle Infos zu Olaf Scholz' Ehefrau". Kreiszeitung.
  2. "Ministerin Ernst". Ministerin für Bildung, Jugend und Sport.
  3. "Statistiken – Mandatsveränderungen - 20. Hamburgische Bürgerschaft". Hamburgische Bürgerschaft. 1 September 2012. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  4. "Britta Ernst (SPD-Fraktion)". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 9 January 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. "Lebenslauf". Archived from the original on 1 March 2010. Retrieved 15 September 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. "Personal statement, 16 March 2011 on www.britta-ernst.de". Archived from the original on 28 August 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. "Ministerin Britta Ernst". Archived from the original on 26 April 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. "Britta Ernst". German Bundesrat. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  9. "100 Tage im Amt – das will die Bildungsministerin". Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  10. "Landesregierung Brandenburg im Überblick". Government of Brandenburg. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  11. "Präsidentin Britta Ernst". Kultusministerkonferenz. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  12. Board of Trustees Stiftung Lesen.
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