Malu Dreyer
Malu Dreyer, born Marie-Luise Dreyer on 6 February 1961, is a German politician from the SPD. She was the minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate from 2013 to 2024, the first woman to hold the post. She announced her resignation in June 2024, with effect from 10 July 2024, and was succeeded by Alexander Schweitzer.
Dreyer grew up in Neustadt an der Weinstraße as the second of three children. Her father was a principal and her mother a teacher. After a year as an exchange student in California in 1977, she finished school in 1980 and studied at the University of Mainz, first English and theology, then law. She passed both state exams and worked as a research assistant before becoming a probationary judge and later a prosecutor.
She joined the SPD in 1995 and was mayor of Bad Kreuznach from 1995 to 1997. She then headed Mainz's department of social affairs, youth and housing. From 2002 to 2013 she was Rhineland-Palatinate's minister for Labour, Health and Demography, and in 2013 she was elected minister-president.
As a member of the Bundesrat she sat on the foreign affairs and EU affairs committees and served as president of the Bundesrat from November 2016 to October 2017. In the SPD, she served as acting party leader in 2019 and as deputy leader from 2017 to 2019.
Dreyer is married to Klaus Jensen, a fellow SPD politician and former mayor of Trier. She has had multiple sclerosis since 1994 and publicly disclosed her illness in 2006; she uses a wheelchair for longer trips. Her website is malu-dreyer.de.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 08:19 (CET).