Heiko Maas’ career as a politician spanned three decades, during which time he held various ministerial posts – most recently the office of Federal Foreign Minister. In 2023, the Social Democrat decided to make a fresh start and take his leave from politics. Heiko Maas (*1966) studied law at Saarland... Read more
Heiko Maas’ career as a politician spanned three decades, during which time he held various ministerial posts – most recently the office of Federal Foreign Minister. In 2023, the Social Democrat decided to make a fresh start and take his leave from politics.
Heiko Maas (*1966) studied law at Saarland University and passed the Second State Examination at Saarbrücken Regional Court in 1996. As a law student, he became a member of the SPD in 1989 and was considered a political talent early on. From 1994 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2013, Heiko Maas was a member of the Saarland state parliament. In Saarland, he was also State Secretary in the Saarland Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Transport, Minister of the Environment – making him Germany’s youngest state minister to date – as well as Minister of Economics and Deputy Prime Minister. From 1999 to 2012, Heiko Maas was also chairman of the SPD parliamentary group.
In 2013, Heiko Maas became Federal Minister of Justice, thus switching to federal politics and initiating numerous projects there, such as the Mietpreisbremse (rent control) and the Musterfeststellungsklage (model complaint). After the 2018 Bundestag elections, he took over the office of Federal Foreign Minister, which he held until 2021. After the formation of the traffic light government, Maas became a member of the Bundestag for the constituency of Saarlouis before resigning his Bundestag mandate at the turn of the year 2022/23.
After retiring from politics, Heiko Maas has been working as a lawyer since the beginning of 2023. He is President of the Saarhütten Association and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Montan-Stiftung Saar.