De Maizière stops: The “paper clip” packs up

Chancellery minister, interior minister, defense minister, nicknamed “paper clip”: Thomas de Maizière is leaving the political arena after 30 years.

Thomas de Maizière leaves, but some of his sentences remain. For example this one:

Some of these answers would unsettle the population.

That was in 2015, when de Maizière, as Federal Interior Minister, had just decided to cancel a football match between Germany and the Netherlands in Hanover because of a bomb threat. Today, after more than 30 years in politics, he says in retrospect:

I regret some statements and interviews that I have done. Some things have become proverbial. I regret some wrong personal decisions, I regret that I too sometimes let myself be driven too much by moods. Well, of course I made my mistakes. But I don’t regret going into politics. I am grateful that I was given so much responsibility.

For the fully qualified lawyer, government work began in 1990, initially in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Then the move to Saxony and in 2005 to the federal level. De Maizière became head of the Chancellery in Angela Merkel’s first cabinet. Four years later, the Chancellor appointed him Minister of the Interior. De Maizière was always loyal to Merkel’s side.

Born in Bonn, but by choice Dresdener, he was considered the voice of the East in the federal government. When Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg had to do his doctoral thesis in 2011 because of the plagiarism affair, Merkel asked her confidante de Maizière to take over the Ministry of Defense. She said about him:

What I appreciate about Thomas de Maizière is not only his brilliant intellect and his exemplary sense of duty and responsibility. What distinguishes him above all is that he conducts politics on the basis of fixed values, that he thinks in terms of people. “

Politically often under pressure

Two years later, it almost cost him his job when the “Euro Hawk” drone failed and it was clear that it would never fly despite its cost in the millions. In the years that followed, de Maizière was often under political pressure: It was the time of high terrorist threat, then came the refugee crisis, and later there were allegations that he was curtailing personal freedoms because he advocated data retention or facial recognition. But he could live with the opposition demanding his resignation. It is crucial that his own people stand behind him.

I had support in times of crisis. And I found that so impressive because I’m not that buddy type. I didn’t use everyone the same way. I don’t sit in the pub in the evening and drink too much beer. I’m more of a distance person.

For his precise, somewhat dry manner, he earned the nickname “paper clip” – and a lot of respect. For example from Wolfgang Thierse, SPD:

To be honest, I prefer a gray mouse who is hardworking and decent than one who is on the front page in the magazines and in the ‘Bild’ newspaper.

Simple MP instead of minister

In 2018 de Maizière moved from the government bench to the plenary hall. Instead of a minister, he is now a simple member of the finance committee. At first the MPs eyed him, and he them, says de Maizière. But here, too, it helped to take care of the matter without much ado. And he himself got to know Parliament in a completely different way, as he emphasized in his farewell speech in the Bundestag:

Contrary to some prejudices, I have seen mostly hard-working and knowledgeable parliamentarians in this Bundestag, sometimes even on the left, and quite sometimes even in the AfD, despite all the obvious lack of constitution.

And with the exception of the AfD, all MPs stand up to applause de Maizière. Greens politician Claudia Roth also thanks him for showing respect for those who think differently and hopes to continue the controversial dialogue somewhere.

That could come true, because the 67-year-old is saying goodbye to politics, but remains active: among other things, as chairman of the ethics committee of the German Olympic Sports Confederation and in the Kirchentag. There is still a little time left for his memoirs, says de Maizière. He doesn’t want to start until he’s 80 years old.