Editing Renate Künast (section)

===Member of the German Parliament, 2002–2025===
Following the [[2002 German federal election|2002 elections]], Künast was part of the Green Party's team in the negotiations with the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]] on a coalition agreement for the second [[Second Schröder cabinet|government]] under the leadership of [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]] [[Gerhard Schröder]]. 

After the [[2005 German federal election|2005 federal election]], Künast became co-chair of the Green Party's parliamentary group, initially together with [[Fritz Kuhn]] and later with [[Jürgen Trittin]]. In the 2005 vote, she won against Trittin and [[Katrin Göring-Eckardt]].<ref>Robert Roßmann (17 May 2005), [https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/nach-kampfabstimmung-kuenast-und-kuhn-fuehren-neue-gruenen-fraktion-1.805279 Nach Kampfabstimmung: Künast und Kuhn führen neue Grünen-Fraktion] ''[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]]''.</ref> Also since 2005, she has been serving on the Committee on the Election of Judges (''Wahlausschuss''), which is in charge of appointing judges to the [[Federal Constitutional Court of Germany]].

Künast announced on 5 November 2010 that she we would be the candidate for [[Governing Mayor of Berlin]] for [[Alliance 90/The Greens]] in the [[2011 Berlin state election]].<ref>{{cite news|title=German Green leader to run for Berlin mayor|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|date=6 November 2010|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/1106/1224282789735.html|access-date=7 November 2010}}</ref> At the time of the announcement, her party was eight percentage points ahead of the Social Democrats in the opinion polls.<ref>Siobhán Dowling (15 December 2010), [http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/letter-from-berlin-star-candidate-s-gaffes-have-berlin-greens-jittering-a-734889.html Letter from Berlin: Star Candidate's Gaffes Have Berlin Greens Jittering] ''[[Spiegel Online]]''.</ref> Under her leadership, the Green Party came third with 17.6 percent of the vote, ten percentage points behind the Social Democrates but still up from the 13.1 percent they won in the previous election.<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/state-election-in-german-capital-klaus-wowereit-wins-third-term-as-berlin-mayor-a-786967.html  State Election in German Capital: Klaus Wowereit Wins Third Term as Berlin Mayor] ''[[Spiegel Online]]'', 18 September 2011.</ref> However, incumbent [[Klaus Wowereit]] from the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]] chose to enter a coalition with the conservative [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|CDU]], leaving Künast without any role in Berlin state politics.

Ahead of the [[2013 German federal election|2013 elections]], Künast announced her candidacy to lead the Green Party’s campaign.<ref>Florian Gathmann (17 August 2012), [https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/kuenast-und-goering-eckardt-bewerben-sich-als-gruenen-spitzenkandidaten-a-850720.html Kandidaten-Gerangel bei den Grünen: Zwei Plätze, vier Bewerber] ''[[Der Spiegel]]''.</ref> In an internal vote, she ultimately lost against [[Katrin Göring-Eckardt]] and [[Jürgen Trittin]].<ref>Christoph Hickmann (10 November 2012), [https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/gruenes-spitzenduo-trittin-und-goering-eckardt-baff-bumm-sensation-1.1519787 Grünes Spitzenduo Trittin und Göring-Eckardt: Baff. Bumm. Sensation.] ''[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]]''.</ref> 

After the 2013 elections, the resignation of Künast and Trittin as co-leaders of the Green Party's group in parliament cleared the way for the election of Göring-Eckardt and [[Anton Hofreiter]].<ref>Quentin Peel (24 September 2013), [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7d783944-2537-11e3-b349-00144feab7de.html Centre-left opposition to coalition with Merkel deepens] ''[[Financial Times]]''.</ref> Instead, Künast unsuccessfully ran against [[Claudia Roth]] for the office of Vice President of the German [[Bundestag]]. She eventually served as chairwoman of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection from 2014 until 2017. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Committee on Food and Agriculture. 

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]], Künast led her party's delegation in the working group on agriculture and nutrition; her co-chairs from the other parties are [[Till Backhaus]] and [[Carina Konrad]].<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>

In July 2024, Künast announced that she would not stand in the [[2025 German federal election|2025 federal elections]] but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.<ref>Felix Hackenbruch (8 July 2024), [https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/es-ist-zeit-um-platz-fur-jungere-zu-machen-renate-kunast-kundigt-ruckzug-aus-der-aktiven-politik-an-11982467.html „Es ist Zeit, um Platz für Jüngere zu machen“: Renate Künast kündigt Rückzug aus der aktiven Politik an] ''[[Der Tagesspiegel]]''.</ref>