born: 1948 in Schwandorf/Bayern
profession: Teacher
land list: Lower Saxony

Office in berlin
T: +49-30 / 227 - 74291
F: +49-30 / 227 - 76291
dorothea.steiner@bundestag.de

Spokesperson on environmental policy

Commitees

• Committee on Environmental Protection and Reactor Safety (sp. + m.)
• EU Committee (alt. m.)

My involvement in politics began before the Greens had even been founded. Whenever I found something to criticise I just had to get involved, firstly at university and then at school. In 1980, a series of specific issues made me see the need for environmental policy both in the here and now and for the future. Chernobyl was the last straw – three days later I was a member of the Green party. When the Greens were voted out of the Bundestag in 1990 ("everyone's talking about Germany, we are talking about the weather"), I began to play a more active role in Green politics – on a local level in the first SPD/Green coalition in Osnabrück and then full-time in the State Parliament in Lower Saxony, in opposition to the SPD at times and to the CDU/CSU/FDP coalition at others. The recurrent theme in all my work is environmental policy – based on the understanding that "the economy" must find environmentally-friendly ways to produce its goods or it will ruin the future for all of us. The crucial theme these days is to make sure our course towards renewable energies is not blocked by an alliance of coal and nuclear power fans. Antagonising multinational energy players in the process is an appealing prospect for me – and my previous political experience should stand me in good stead.

Political CV

• Member of Alliance 90 / The Greens since 1986
• 1992 to 1999: Councillor and Chairperson of Green Group in Osnabrück
• 1998 to 2008: Member of State Parliament in Lower Saxony; 1998 to 2003: Spokesperson on Economy Policy; 1998 to 2008: Spokesperson on Environmental Policy
• Since 2007: Chairperson of the Greens in Lower Saxony