A Statement from MPI on the Passing of Former MPI Board Member Rita Süssmuth

A statement from Migration Policy Institute (MPI) President Andrew Selee:

We at MPI mourn the loss of Rita Süssmuth, who was a trailblazer in German politics and policy and was the first woman to become president of Germany’s parliament.

She leaves a lasting imprint across many areas, including women’s political representation, international reconciliation, and democratic dialogue.

For us, it is in the migration space that we most directly remember her influence.

A Christian Democrat, Rita was asked by a Social Democratic chancellor to chair an expert body on immigration in 2000. The Independent Commission on Immigration, or the “Süssmuth Commission,” as it came to be called, considered how Germany should comprehensively modernize its migration and integration policy. The Commission explicitly affirmed that Germany is a “country of immigration” and laid the conceptual groundwork for a proactive and intentional immigration policy that would link admission rules, integration measures, and labor market and humanitarian protection considerations under clear, transparent legislation. Much of what the Commission recommended eventually became law in 2005, with Rita assessing in an MPI report the legislation’s strengths and shortcomings.

Closer to home, Rita played an important role in the establishment of MPI and served as wise counsel to founding president Demetrios G. Papademetriou. She became one of the founding members of MPI’s Transatlantic Council on Migration, which she remained engaged with for almost two decades, and she served for many years on the MPI board.

We are very thankful for the role that Rita played in the life of MPI and everything she did in Germany and around the world as a voice of reasoned counsel and insight on migration. Our thoughts are with her family and friends as they mourn the passing of this incredibly influential leader and inspiring human being.