The goals of the first traffic light coalition at federal level have been defined. Now all that’s left to do is find the government team. What we know so far about the future cabinet – and what not.
In the FDP it was noiseless, in contrast to the Greens. Actually, they wanted to present their candidates for the ministerial posts in the future traffic light coalition on Thursday afternoon. But then there was a row of wings – and it got late in the evening. The result: the candidate of the left wing, parliamentary group leader Anton Hofreiter, is out. That should not make the member vote on the coalition agreement that starts on Friday any easier.
After all: around two thirds of the traffic light cabinet is now in place. Only the SPD has not yet named its ministers – but not because there is trouble. The Social Democrats have to redeem an election campaign promise made by their Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz. His team of ministers should be set up on an equal footing, i.e. consist of at least as many women as men. Secretary General Lars Klingbeil said that one would therefore wait until the potential partners had nominated their ministers. Now it is clear: it will not be easy. The Greens and the FDP have nominated four women and six men together – the SPD has to compensate.
Who will now what in the three-party coalition that is committed to “progress”?
You know for sure:
Chancellor: The previous Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz is promoted. In the week from December 6th, the 63-year-old will be elected Chancellor in the Bundestag.
Finances: Party leader Christian Lindner (42) takes on this central position in the cabinet, prevailed against Green leader Robert Habeck in terms of personnel. But he will not be Vice Chancellor. The Greens are the second strongest force in the post – and two vice chancellors are not provided for in the Basic Law.
Economy and climate protection: Here Habeck was set, after all, climate protection is the central theme of his party. The 52-year-old can fall back on experience from six years as Minister for Energy Transition, Environment, Agriculture and Digitization in Schleswig-Holstein. Habeck also becomes Vice Chancellor after the disappointing election result of the Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Baerbock still gets one of the most prestigious positions with the Foreign Ministry. International politics is not new territory for the 40-year-old: Among other things, she studied international law. So far, Baerbock’s strengths have been to explain complex political concepts in an understandable way. As Foreign Minister, she has to master rather confident appearances in delicate situations.
Transport and digital: The Ministry of Transport was more likely to be seen by the Greens. Now FDP General Secretary Volker Wissing (51) should lead it. For many Greens, this is difficult to cope with, after the FDP had already failed in the explorations of the speed limit on highways. Wissing is also to tackle the large-scale digitalization construction site. This includes the expansion of the infrastructure and the question of how government data should be made available for new applications.
Judiciary: This department is taken over by the First Parliamentary Managing Director of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Marco Buschmann (44). He was a tireless critic of corona measures that were passed by the Bundestag.
Education and Research: This is what the parliamentary manager Bettina Stark-Watzinger (53) is supposed to do. She is the only woman in the FDP ministerial team and probably the least known face nationwide. In May she was elected with 91 percent as an assessor in the FDP presidium – with only slightly less approval than Christian Lindner.
Family, seniors, women and youth: The Rhineland-Palatinate Climate Minister Anne Spiegel is to move up to the federal level. The 40-year-old is probably familiar with the topic, as she was already the state minister for families, women, youth, integration and consumer protection in Rhineland-Palatinate. She belongs to the left wing of the Greens.
Environment, nature conservation, nuclear safety and consumer protection: This is what Steffi Lemke is supposed to do, who as federal managing director steered the fortunes of the Greens for eleven years – straightforward, straightforward and straightforward. The East German from Saxony-Anhalt resigned after the lost election in 2015 with the entire federal executive committee and returned to the Bundestag. There she devoted herself above all to environmental and nature protection, one of her priorities was the fight against the destruction of the marine habitat. She is a trained agricultural scientist and trained zoo technician.
Food and Agriculture: After a long tussle, this post falls to the former head of the Greens, Cem Özdemir. The left wing of the Greens could also have imagined parliamentary group leader Anton Hofreiter at the post. Özdemir (55) was federal chairman until 2018 and was the green top candidate with Katrin Göring-Eckardt in the 2017 federal election. In the 2021 election he was the green first-vote king nationwide with 40 percent in his Stuttgart constituency. Supporters had argued that the eloquent politician cannot be ignored because he is one of the few top Greens from a family with foreign roots.
Open, almost certain SPD posts:
Head of the Chancellery: This post will be even more important than before in a traffic light coalition. Because the head of the Chancellery coordinates the government work and that should be more complicated with three partners. It is certain that Scholz’s close confidante Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD) will take on this central task. Most recently, the 51-year-old lawyer was State Secretary for Finance, but acted behind the scenes primarily as a “spin doctor” and puller.
Work and social: Hubertus Heil is firmly in the saddle. The 49-year-old was already seen as assertive and hard-working in the last electoral term – on issues such as pensions, the labor market and Hartz IV, which are particularly important for his SPD.
Inside and home: The previous Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) is favored for this. The interior and the judiciary are regarded as “mirror ministries” with numerous overlaps. Technically, the 56-year-old would already have been trained.
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That is still unclear:
defense: This ministry surprisingly fell to the Social Democrats in the coalition negotiations. Klingbeil is said to be interested in leading the Bundeswehr. However, he should be elected party leader in December. It could be difficult to do both at the same time. Other candidates are SPD parliamentary group manager Carsten Schneider, but also the Bundestag defense commissioner, Eva Högl – especially if the SPD still needs a woman.
Bless you: An obvious line-up would be health expert Karl Lauterbach, who has had a media presence like hardly any other politician since the beginning of the corona pandemic. The SPD politician, however, has a problem: he is not particularly popular with Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz.
Build: The ministry was newly created. One possible candidate is the previous Environment Minister Svenja Schulze. She did not cut a bad figure in the Merkel cabinet; her greatest success was the Climate Protection Act. Her expertise would be useful in the construction department, because there is a lot to do in terms of climate in the building sector.economical co-operation and Development: The previous human rights officer in the Federal Foreign Office, Bärbel Kofler, is acting for this. But the Potsdam-based Klara Geywitz (45) would also be an option, who ran in duo with Scholz for the SPD chairmanship in 2019.