Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel may have ruled for 16 years. But what is that compared to Werner Gatzer? The budget secretary held the money for four ministers from three parties.
What exactly does a budget secretary do? “There are around 20,000 employees in the federal government,” Werner Gatzer once said. “Of these, 19,800 want to spend money and 200 want to save.” According to Gatzer, these 200 are all in the budget department of the Federal Ministry of Finance. And he is her boss, the Secretary of State.