The longest-serving prime minister in Germany is resigning from office prematurely. Volker Bouffier will step down as head of government in early summer. The step does not come as a surprise.
The Hessian Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) wants to give up his office at the end of May. The 70-year-old announced this on Friday at a meeting of the Hessian CDU in Fulda.
The decision to do so was made in July 2021, he said. Bouffier did not initially name a possible successor. The media had already reported on Thursday that the Hessian state parliament president and CDU politician Boris Rhein was to be proposed as the new head of government.
Bouffier is currently the longest-serving prime minister in Germany. For almost twelve years he has led the state government in Hesse as head of government. The 50-year-old Rhein was Minister for Science and Art between 2014 and 2019, before that he was Interior Minister for four years. The Hessian state parliament is expected to be re-elected in autumn 2023. The CDU currently governs together with the Greens.
“Of course, this is not an easy decision for me either,” said Bouffier about his withdrawal, which is planned for the state parliament session on May 31. However, after such a long term in office, it is necessary to create clarity “for oneself and also for the public”. “I think the time is right,” he said. The CDU and the Greens formed a stable coalition. He is convinced that this will continue successfully without him, said Bouffier.
The CDU Hesse and the CDU parliamentary group met in Fulda for their annual retreat. Another press conference after the deliberations has been announced for 2:00 p.m. Minister of Education Alexander Lorz had also declared his interest in running to succeed Bouffier should he resign prematurely.
At the beginning of July, the board of the Hessian CDU is to be re-elected at a state party conference. So far, it has been considered agreed that the offices of party leader and prime minister or CDU top candidate for a state election are in one hand.
Bouffier moved to the Hessian State Chancellery after Prime Minister Roland Koch (CDU) retired from politics in 2010. In the same year he became CDU state leader and federal vice of his party. Bouffier had previously been Secretary of State for Justice and long-standing Minister of the Interior in Hesse, and was long considered a hardliner. In the meantime, however, he has changed from his role as the father of the country to a mediator and listener. The black-green coalition in Hesse, the first cooperation between the CDU and the Greens in a German state, is considered to be his invention.
After surviving cancer, the 70-year-old has become significantly narrower. However, he has by no means lost his energy and assertiveness. Especially in the Corona pandemic with the countless federal-state consultations and debates in the Hessian state parliament, the head of government presented himself tirelessly. Most recently, he had no longer run as a federal vice for the CDU.
Source: Stern
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