Federal Government: Last round in the Scholz cabinet without tears and gifts

The federal cabinet of the managing Chancellor Olaf Scholz met in Berlin for his last meeting. It was the 131st meeting after three and a half years-after the traffic lights, only SPD and Greens Minister and the non-party Minister of Transport Volker Wissing were sitting at the cabinet table. The election of CDU boss Friedrich Merz as the new Federal Chancellor is planned in the Bundestag next Tuesday. The day before, Scholz is to be adopted with a large tap of the Bundeswehr.

Cabinet meetings usually take place every Wednesday in the Federal Chancellery. Chancellor, Minister, put joint legislation or regulations on the way, which will subsequently debate and coordinate in the Bundestag and the Federal Council.

This time the agenda was clear. The red-green minority government decided to increase the increase in pension by July 1 by 3.74 percent.

Shaking hands, hugging scenes, “Hanseatic sober”

A dpa reporter reported shaking hands and some hugs in the cabinet hall, but an emotional farewell mood was not felt at the start of the session. Reporters are approved for a few minutes in front of cabinet meetings for opening pictures.

Scholz made a happy and dissolved impression. “It was as Hanseatic and sober as that also fits this Chancellor,” said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit later when asked about journalists. He also referred to a farewell dinner of the cabinet on March 25 – the day on which the newly elected Bundestag first met. Since then, the government has only been in office.

No gifts, no tears

The last cabinet session therefore only lasted around 15 to 20 minutes. Scholz found a few appreciative words for the ministers and the employees of the Chancellery. According to the government spokesman, farewell gifts or tears did not exist.

It was different with predecessor Angela Merkel, who was released into political retirement by her government team in November 2021 with a bouquet of flowers and a “Carpe Diem” tree.

Due to illness, the previous Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) was not there, as a spokeswoman for the Green Group announced when asked. Hebestreit spoke of a feverish cold.

Scholz to say goodbye to Macron in Paris

Another farewell date was planned for the outgoing chancellor in the evening: with his wife Britta Ernst, it should go to Paris for a meal with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife.

Scholz will continue to belong to the Bundestag and has announced that he will not hand over his direct mandate won in Potsdam prematurely. His previous ministers go various ways:

At least one SPD minister remains in the cabinet

– Of the SPD ministers, one will certainly also belong to the new government: Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who has been the most popular politician in Germany for many months.

– Finance Minister Jörg Kukies is replaced by SPD boss Lars Klingbeil. During a visit to Washington, Kukies recently held dozens of conversations that could indicate that the former investment banker is pulling back into business.

– Because Pistorius and Klingbeil from Lower Saxony are, because of the regional proporz for a third party in Lower Saxony, there should be no space in the cabinet. Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil is probably leaving, but is acted as a parliamentary group leader.

– The 62-year-old Karl Lauterbach would have loved to extend it as Minister of Health, but the department goes to the CDU. His direct mandate remains in the Bundestag, which he has had for 20 years.

– Minister of construction Klara Geywitz, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and Development Minister Svenja Schulze still have chances of staying in the cabinet. Schulze, the worst Geywitz.

– No chance of staying in the cabinet has Chancellor’s head Wolfgang Schmidt. He also no longer made it to the Bundestag. Political future: open.

All Greens have to look for something new

– End to the cabinet is for all Minister of the Greens. With Economics Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, it is unclear whether he wants to stay in the Bundestag. Green parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann recently said about media reports about a planned exit before the summer break that this was not agreed.

– Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock initially goes to New York and becomes President of the UN General Assembly there. The step is controversial because she had to give way to a top diplomat.

– Agriculture and transitional education minister Cem Özdemir sits on packed suitcases. The Greens politician goes back to Baden-Württemberg and applies there for the office of prime minister. The state election is next year.

– Family Minister Lisa Paus will concentrate on the subject of work and social affairs as well as households as a member of the Bundestag as a member of the Bundestag, according to her office.

– Environment Minister Steffi Lemke also stays in the Bundestag and wants to continue to take care of environmental issues: “There is no reason for me to give up the topic,” she told the “taz”.

Partialiloser Wissing will probably be a lawyer again

– Federal Transport Minister Wissing is initially eliminated entirely from politics. It is expected to work again as a lawyer. Wissing had left the FDP after the breakdown of the traffic light coalition, but remained a minister and also took over the judicial department.