Two double ministers and a new one
Published: Thursday, Nov 7th 2024, 18:30
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The red-green minority government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was complete just 19 hours after the end of the traffic light coalition. With Jörg Kukies, the Chancellor's former economic advisor, there will only be one new member. The 56-year-old former investment banker is standing in for Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), who was fired by Scholz.
The posts of Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger and Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (both FDP), who resigned following the collapse of the traffic light system, will be taken over by two former cabinet members.
Volker Wissing: The renegade
The transport minister is rewarded for his departure from Lindner's course. He will also be given the justice portfolio. In an unprecedented move, he had resigned from his party in the morning in order to remain transport minister in Scholz's cabinet. In contrast to many of his party colleagues, Wissing had recently campaigned for the FDP to remain in the traffic light coalition. He now wants to join the government as a non-party member. "I don't want to be a burden on my party," he says.
Cem Özdemir: On the way out
The SPD and Greens had originally agreed to divide the four FDP ministries equally between them, i.e. two for each party. After Wissing announced that he would stay on, there were only three left. So the distribution was as follows: One for the former FDP member, one for the SPD and one for the Greens. The latter went to Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir. He is now also Minister of Education. The 58-year-old is actually almost on his way out. Just two weeks ago, he announced that he would like to stand as the top candidate for the Greens in the 2026 elections in Baden-Württemberg in order to become Minister President there.
Jörg Kukies: The new guy
The Social Democrat Kukies is currently State Secretary in the Chancellery and is considered one of Chancellor Scholz's most important advisors. He is his man for economics and finance and negotiates the final documents of the G7 and G20 summits for him. He used to be an investment banker at Goldman Sachs for a long time until Scholz brought him into the Ministry of Finance as State Secretary in 2018. In his private life, he is a passionate marathon runner and football fan of Mainz O5.
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