Editing Claudia Roth (section)

== Biography ==
Roth was born in [[Ulm]], Germany. She began her artistic work, which she always regarded as also being political, in the 1970s as a trained artistic director at a theatre in [[Memmingen]]. She then worked at the municipal theatre in [[Dortmund]] and the Hoffmanns-Comic-Teater, and subsequently began managing the political rock band "[[Ton Steine Scherben]]" until 1985, when the band disbanded due to the band's high debt burden.

She came into contact with the [[Alliance 90/The Greens|Green party]] on election campaign tours. In 1985, she became press spokesperson for the Green Party's parliamentary group in the [[Bundestag]], despite being a newcomer to this line of work.

=== Member of the European Parliament ===
In [[1989 European Parliament election in West Germany|West Germany's 1989 European elections]], Roth was elected for the first time as a [[Member of the European Parliament]] for the Greens.

Roth served as a member of the new [[European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs|Committee on Civic Liberties and Internal Affairs]], the [[European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs|Committee on Foreign Affairs]] and the [[European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights|Sub-Committee on Human Rights]]. In addition, she was a member of two committees of inquiry in the [[European Parliament]], namely the Committee of Inquiry into Racism and Xenophobia and the Committee of Inquiry into Links between Organized Crime and Drugs, as well as of the EC-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee.

From 1989 to 1990, Roth briefly served as deputy chairperson of the [[The Green Group in the European Parliament|Green Group in the European Parliament]].

In the [[1994 European Parliament election in Germany|1994 European elections]], Roth was again elected to the European Parliament as a lead candidate of Alliance 90/The Greens. She was chairperson of the Green Group in the European Parliament until 1998, first alongside co-chairman [[Alexander Langer]] (1994–1995) and later [[Magda Aelvoet]] (1995–1998). During this second term as an MEP, she was again a member of the [[European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs]], the [[European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights|Sub-Committee on Human Rights]] and the EC-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, of which she was elected deputy chairperson. She also remained involved with the Committee on Foreign Affairs as a substitute member.

=== Member of the German Bundestag ===
[[file:Claudia roth.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Roth in 2005]]
Claudia Roth ended her work as an MEP when she became part of the [[Alliance 90/The Greens]] parliamentary group in the Bundestag after the [[1998 German federal election]]. She became a member of the Committee on the Affairs of the [[European Union]] and a substitute member of the Committee on Internal Affairs of the German Bundestag. Furthermore, she was elected chairperson of the newly established [[Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid]].

On 9 March 2001, Roth was elected Federal chairperson of Alliance 90/The Greens at the party conference in [[Stuttgart]] and resigned as a Member of the Bundestag at the end of March 2001 as a result. At the same time, she was spokesperson of the Alliance 90/The Greens on women's affairs.

In the [[2002 German federal election|2002 national elections]], Roth was elected to the Bundestag as Bavarian lead candidate for Alliance 90/The Greens. Since then, she has been a member of the Bundestag's Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs. She is also cultural affairs spokesperson for the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group in the Bundestag and chairperson of the German-Turkish Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Between March 2003 and October 2004, in Chancellor [[Gerhard Schröder]]'s second cabinet, Roth served as the Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the [[Federal Foreign Office]].<ref>[http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/sid_3E309E94C6AE9A69CDC3697C2DB5044F/EN/AAmt/Koordinatoren/MR-Koordinator/Uebersicht-MRBeauftragter_node.html The Commissioner for Human Rights Policy] [[Foreign Office (Germany)]]</ref>

Roth became federal chairperson of Alliance 90/The Greens again in October 2004 and was re-elected as such several times, most recently in November 2010. In 2012, she failed to become the number-one woman in the campaign for the [[2013 German federal election|2013 national elections]]. After this defeat she was unsure to run again for the position of leader of the party's board. Fellow party member [[Volker Beck (politician)|Volker Beck]] started a support campaign in favour of her in social media networks and called it [[candystorm]]. The party members subsequently re-elected Roth with 88.5 percent backing.<ref>Erik Kirschbaum (17 November 2012), [https://www.reuters.com/article/germany-politics-greens-idUSL5E8MH3QW20121117 "German Greens avoid split by re-electing leftist"], ''[[Reuters]]''.</ref>

Roth served as deputy chairwoman of the German-Iranian Parliamentary Friendship Group between 2005 and 2009 and held the same office in the German-Turkish Friendship Group between 2005 and 2013.

===Vice-President of the German Bundestag===
Roth was elected as Vice-President of the German Bundestag on 22 October 2013. In addition, she is a member of the parliament's [[Council of Elders of the Bundestag (Germany)|Council of Elders]], which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigning committee chairpersons based on party representation. She also serves as a member of the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development as well as of the Sub-Committee on Cultural Relations and Education Policy. In addition, she is a member of the Art Advisory Board of the German [[Bundestag]].

In the unsuccessful negotiations to form a [[coalition government]] with the Christian Democrats – both the [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU) and the [[Christian Social Union in Bavaria]] (CSU) – and the [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] (FDP) following the [[2017 German federal election|2017 national elections]], Roth was part of the 14-member delegation of the [[Alliance 90/The Greens|Green Party]]. In the negotiations to form a so-called [[traffic light coalition]] of the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]] (SPD), the Green Party and the [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|FDP]] following the [[2021 German federal election|2021 federal elections]], she led her party's delegation in the working group on cultural affairs and media; her co-chairs from the other parties are [[Carsten Brosda]] and [[Otto Fricke]].<ref>Andreas Apetz and Thomas Kaspar (22 October 2021), [https://www.fr.de/politik/ampel-koalition-verhandlung-spd-gruene-fdp-arbeitsgruppen-scholz-lindner-baerbock-91069532.html "Ampel-Koalition: Alle Verantwortlichen, AGs und Themen im Überblick"], ''[[Frankfurter Rundschau]]''.</ref>