Anke Rehlinger


Anke Rehlinger is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party who has been serving as Deputy Minister President of Saarland since 2013.

Early life and education

Rehlinger studied law at Saarland University.

Career

Since 2004 Rehlinger has been a member of the Landtag of Saarland. In parliament, she served as Chairwoman of the Committee on European Affairs and of the Committee on Education, Cultural Affairs and Media. From 2011 until 2012, she was her parliamentary group's deputy chairwoman.
Between 2012 and 2014, Rehlinger was State Minister of Justice, Consumer Protection and Environmental Affairs in the government of Minister President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer of Saarland. In 2014, she succeeded Heiko Maas and has since been serving as Deputy Minister-President and State Minister for Economic Affairs, first under the leadership of Kramp-Karrenbauer and later Tobias Hans. She was the candidate of SPD in 2017 state elections, but lost against Kramp-Karrenbauer and continued her role in the state government instead.
As one of her state's representatives at the Bundesrat, Rehlinger serves on the Committee on Labour, Integration and Social Policy; the Committee on Economic Affairs; and on the Committee on Transport. In the negotiations to form a coalition government on the national level following the 2017 federal elections, Rehlinger co-chaired the working group on agriculture; her counterparts were Julia Klöckner and Christian Schmidt. She was also a member of the working group on transport.
In March 2018, Rehlinger succeeded Heiko Maas as leader of the SPD in Saarland; at a party convention, she was elected with a majority of 94.5 percent. At a SPD national convention in 2019, Rehlinger was elected as one of the five deputies of the party’s co-chairs Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans, alongside Klara Geywitz, Hubertus Heil, Kevin Kühnert and Serpil Midyatli.

Other activities

Regulatory bodies

Rehlinger is married and has one son.