The Permanent Secretary for International Relations, Ana-Maria Trăsnea, has a very international background. She moved to Berlin from Romania at the age of 13. She was only 27 years old when she was appointed as the State of Berlin Delegate to the Federation and Permanent Secretary for Active Citizenship, Democracy Support and International Relations in 2021.
She was a member of the borough assembly of Berlin-Treptow-Köpenick (2016 – 2021), where she also held the position of deputy chair (2019 – 2021) and chair of the SPD parliamentary group (2021). During the 2021 federal elections, she ran as a candidate (for direct election) for the constituency of Berlin-Treptow-Köpenick.
In 2020, she was awarded the Helene Weber Prize.
Ana-Maria Trăsnea studied Cultural and European Studies at the Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), and spent one semester at the University of Salamanca (Spain). Alongside her studies, she was involved in various civic engagement programs and projects, such as heading workshops on political education for young people at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Berlin (2016 – 2019), working as a mentor in the Helene Weber Kolleg’s program “Diversity in politics: What’s my background? I want to be in the foreground!” at the European Academy for Women (2021), and participating in the “United Games of Nations” (2010 – 2013). During her time at school, she joined the SPD and worked on various projects, for instance, “schools without racism” and “schools with courage,” engaged with different networks, and organized participation projects.
Photo: Fionn Grosse