New task: Former Minister of Transport Wissing goes into the economy

Former Federal Minister of Transport Volker Wissing changes professionally from politics to business. He will take over the chair of a new Advisory Board of Christ Capital GmbH, as the company announced. This advisory board should therefore become an advisory body for the entire group of companies. Among other things, it includes the advisory company “Joschka Fischer & Company” by former Foreign Minister and Greens politician Joschka Fischer.

Wissing is already the second former Federal Minister this week, of which new professional plans are known. Ex-business minister Robert Habeck (Greens) only announced his departure from politics on Monday.

Wissing and Christian know each other well from the FDP

Wissing was General Secretary of the FDP from 2020 to 2022. In the traffic light coalition, he took over the office of Federal Minister of Transport. After the coalition of the SPD, the Greens and FDP break in November last year, he left the FDP and was the only liberal in the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). Until the formation of the new Black and red federal government in May, he also took over the Federal Ministry of Justice from his former party friend Marco Buschmann.

The owner of the group of companies, Harald Christ, has had a moving political past. He was initially a member of the SPD and at times their medium -sized officer. At the end of 2019 he left the party and justified this with the left course of the new SPD chairman Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans. A few months later, Christ became a member of the FDP and took over the office of Federal Treasurer there in 2020. After the traffic lights failed, he resigned from the FDP in December last year.

New job needs approval from the federal government

The Federal Government must agree to the appeal to Wissings as the advisory board chairman. According to the Ministerial Act, it can prohibit such an activity for the period of 18 months after leaving the office in whole or in part if this affects public interests. This is the case, for example, when it comes to employment in areas where a former member of the federal government worked during his term.

Many ex-government members no longer in politics

Wissing is just an example of many former members of the Scholz government who have now left politics. Almost inevitably, the former FDP cabinet members of the traffic light coalition took this step. First they were released from the government after the traffic light crash. Then the FDP missed the return to parliament in the Bundestag election.

Christian Lindner: Lecture trips and father joys

This was hard the former FDP chairman and Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner. He had made no secret of the fact that he would have liked to be the highest treasurer of the nation again in the next federal government. After the FDP election debacle of February 23, the 46-year-old disappeared from the political stage in a flash.

In May, the Federal Government Lindner approved a new job as a freelance speaker and author. At the time, he showed the government that he had accepted invitations in particular from international congresses and that he was planning appearances in Vienna, Sofia and Zurich.

In addition, private life is now a high priority for the former thoroughbred politician: in April his wife Franca Lehfeldt received a baby. “At the moment, of course, the family is in the foreground, every day and every night,” Lindner announced in a video clip in early May.

Robert Habeck: task of the Bundestag mandate

The former Greens chairman, Federal Minister of Economics and Vice Chancellor took some time with his retreat from politics. He initially took his place in the Bundestag. It was only on Monday that he announced in a “taz” interview to put down the mandate on September 1st.

His plans for the future: “I will research, teach and learn at various foreign research and educational institutions,” the 55-year-old told the newspaper. He called the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen and the University of Berkeley in California. He had to “gain distance from the too tight corset of Berlin’s political business”.

This is not a preparation for the next political career steps, said Habeck on the show “Markus Lanz” on ZDF. However, he left open whether he could imagine a political comeback.

Annalena Baerbock: departure to New York

The former Foreign Minister and – on Habeck’s side – Greens boss said goodbye to the United Nations in New York. There she was elected President of the UN General Assembly. The top position is primarily given to protocol importance. Baerbock heads the meetings of the general assembly and defines processes and agendas.

The new job in New York is seen as a possible start of an international career for the 44-year-old who has a master’s degree in international law. The German top diplomat Helga Schmid was originally intended for the office. Baerbock was criticized for her late candidacy after the lost federal election. Your official inauguration is on September 9th.

Olaf Scholz: From Chancellor to the simple MP

Less than four years – only the Chancellor Ludwig Erhard (1963 to 1966) and Kurt Georg Kiesinger (1966 to 1969) were shorter in office as Olaf Scholz. Under his CDU successor Friedrich Merz in the cabinet, the Social Democrat was out of the question. But not the waiver of his Bundestag mandate either.

Although he reached retirement age at the age of 67, Scholz switched from the Chancellery to the Bundestag’s back bench. There, the MP elected in his constituency Potsdam also wants to remain the whole legislative period. The following applies to him: “The highest office in which one can be elected directly in Germany is that of the MP in the German Bundestag.”

Cem Özdemir: State Chancellery in Stuttgart as a goal

The former Federal Minister of Agriculture and Greens chairman would like to switch from the federal level to the state level. In the state election in Baden-Württemberg in March next year, the 59-year-old wants to inherit the non-recurring Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens). A state party conference elected him to be top candidate in May.

However, it is in the stars whether this works. The Greens were last behind the CDU in the surveys. With the popularity values, however, the Green politician clearly depends on his CDU controller Manuel Hagel.

Boris Pistorius: Minister of Defense in Age and New Government

Boris Pistorius was the only Federal Minister who completed the feat to switch from the old to the new government. The SPD man was Minister of Defense under Scholz – and was again under Merz.

The 65-year-old had replaced the hapless Christine Lambrecht in the past parliamentary term. He quickly became the most popular politician in Germany in surveys. Pistorius, which speaking in the troops, is also popular in the troop. The Federal Cabinet has just passed its law to introduce a new military service.