Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – North Rhine-Westphalia’s Finance Minister Lutz Lienenkamper (CDU) is no longer available for this office in the new state cabinet. “I think it’s time for me to change my focus again,” said the 53-year-old on Facebook on Saturday. “After careful consideration, I take the liberty of no longer being available for a leadership position in government or in the parliamentary group in this new parliamentary term.” The “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” first reported on the personnel.
The fully qualified lawyer, who in his five years as finance minister avoided the spotlight of the media like no other in the state cabinet, has been a member of the state parliament since 2005. In the cabinet of then Prime Minister Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU), Lienenkämper was Minister of Construction and Transport from March 2009 until the end of the 2010 electoral term, after his predecessor Oliver Wittke (CDU) resigned as a result of a traffic violation.
Lienenkämper announced that he would continue to represent his Meerbusch constituency, which he had regained with a direct mandate, in the state parliament and in the CDU parliamentary group. He informed Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) about his withdrawal before the conclusion of the black-green coalition negotiations.
Lienenkamper had negotiated for the CDU in the budget and finance working group. “This future contract offers a good common basis for work in the next five challenging years,” wrote the CDU politician. That’s why he agreed on Saturday at the CDU party conference in Bonn. Like the CDU, the Greens also approved the contract with a large majority at a state party conference in Bielefeld. This clears the way for the first black-green government in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The finance department is one of the eight ministries that fall to the CDU according to the coalition agreement. While the Greens have already announced which personalities they want to send to the top of their four ministries, Wüst has so far guarded the personal secrets of the CDU.
The complete cabinet is to be presented on Wednesday and sworn in in the state parliament. Since the CDU and Greens have a clear majority in the Düsseldorf state parliament, Wüst’s re-election on Tuesday is a formality.
