From student protests to parliamentary sessions in Strasbourg, from grassroots activism to European manifestos, from the Alliance Of Her Academy to the ALDE Party Presidency, Svenja Hahn’s political journey is an inspirational story. We sat down with the tenth leader of European liberals to track her rise to office, grasp her future vision and meet the person behind the politician.
This interview was originally published in ALDE Party's Liberal Bulletin in December 2024. Click here to read the full publication.
If you thought that politics these days is a boring affair, think again. Because there is always a passionate, optimistic liberal for every self-serving populist delivering deadpan statements to an audience looking for easy answers.
Svenja Hahn is no different. Now a seasoned European lawmaker into her second mandate, her story is one guided by passion and hard work, one which finds its foundations in getting engaged with grassroots movements, raising awareness on social injustice, and becoming a powerful and hopeful voice for expression.
“I joined politics because I was mad! And I think a lot of people join politics because they're upset: there's something in their environment or in their community that they want to change.”
In her case, it all started in June 2009 at the age of 20, as she joined students across Germany in nationwide strikes to denounce an educational system they called underfunded and unfair. More than 100,000 activists in over 70 cities blocked the entrances to institutional buildings, occupied administrative offices and marched in parades over several days of protest.
“I thought to myself ‘you're not making education better by keeping people away from getting one – but also, you're not doing anything to make the situation better. Who are you to complain?’. And then I was like, well, if I don't agree with the means, I need to go where I can make a difference.”
“And that was politics.”
When Svenja was elected to lead fellow young liberals as LYMEC President in 2018, it would mark the start of a trajectory which would culminate months later with her election as a Member of the European Parliament.
As party members in Germany voted her as the second lead candidate for the 2019 European elections, political commentators labelled her as “the new European face of the FDP”.
“As young liberals, we were fighting for a better future: young people were out on the street demanding change to protect the environment and drive digitalisation forward.
“So when the opportunity arose for myself to stand as a candidate, I took it, because I'm in politics to make a difference. For me, it was always a dream: if I would have run for political office one day, it would have been the European Parliament.”
An integral part of her journey was presented through the Alliance Of Her. The culture of empowerment and best practice sharing with other aspiring liberal women provided her with the skills and confidence needed to achieve her political dream.
For her, success means making a difference and leaving a lasting impact. Even through her unusual mandate, dominated by a global health pandemic, wars, the climate crisis, disinformation, the rise of autocratic regimes and extreme political polarisation.
It was within this backdrop that Svenja took a leading role within the liberal group in the European Parliament and drove change on legislation such as the EU’s AI Act, ensuring the protection of citizens’ rights in the world's first legal framework of its kind.
But away from the policy work, meetings and committee room, she enjoys engaging in honest, open conversations with citizens, especially in her home city of Hamburg.
“We should never underestimate the impact we have as politicians on people's lives, not only for the legislation that we're working on for the citizens, but also for the way we interact with people. And that is something I draw a lot of energy from.
"I personally always feel very happy when I go to schools to talk to young people and they tell me I motivated them to be active and stand up for what they believe in. That’s when I feel the proudest to be a politician.”
Keen to find compromises and engage in the – sometimes – difficult policy discussions, Svenja was entrusted by the Bureau to lead the development of the ALDE Party Manifesto for the 2024 European elections, crafting our plan to deliver a more liberal Europe in the coming years.
Presenting her candidacy for ALDE Party President at the last Congress in Portugal, she unveiled her vision to lead the party into a future of new opportunities. By focusing on our security and defence and continuing to support free trade, she believes we can create a strong economy that safeguards our democratic and social values and ensure freedom for all European citizens.
“My goal is for liberals to come back stronger in the 2029 European elections: we need to be a strong force in order to drive change in Europe. I want to start a great listening process within our members, to analyse where we are and to make a strategy on where we need to go.
“I want liberals to thrive again. We need to reach out again to the hearts and to the minds of people. We see liberals are winning elections where they bring a message of hope to people that even if the times feel very dire, there is a force for positive change, and that is us liberals.
“We need to be louder. Because there's so much we need to fight for, together.”