IIn Hamburg, the First Mayor Peter Tschentscher is reorganizing his Senate and is also breaking with a practice that his predecessor in the City Hall and today’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz (both SPD) introduced: that the Economics Senator switched to the Senate as a non-party representative from the economy is.
Tschentscher announced on Monday evening after a meeting of the SPD state executive and the SPD parliamentary group that the state chairwoman of the Social Democrats, Melanie Leonhard, should become the new Senator for Economics – as the first woman in the history of Hamburg. So far she has been in charge of the social authority, and since this is also responsible for health, she was able to prove herself as a top performer in the Senate during the pandemic. State Councilor Melanie Schlotzhauer, who is responsible for health, is now to become a senator.
The Senate reshuffle is necessary because the previous non-party Economics Senator Michael Westhagemann, who came to the post in 2018 as a well-connected entrepreneur, wants to resign from the Senate. Urban Development Senator Dorothee Stapelfeldt (SPD) also wants to leave the Senate. The managing director of the urban development company IBA, Karen Pein, is to become her successor. State Councilor Melanie Schlotzhauer is to move up to the top of the social authority. In Hamburg, the SPD governs together with the Greens.
“Reliable partner”
The – as yet unconfirmed – reports about Leonhard’s move had already been welcomed by Hamburg’s economy on Monday. This is “excellent news for the economy,” Chamber of Commerce President Hjalmar Stemmann was quoted as saying. Leonhard is known to be a reliable partner. He sees the fact that the SPD state chairwoman should take over the office of Senator for Economics “as a clear sign that Hamburg must once again have priority as an industrial location,” said the chairman of the Hamburg Industry Association, Matthias Boxberger. Westhagemann told the “Hamburger Abendblatt” that he wanted to leave the Senate for health reasons.
The opposition CDU criticized that the Senate reshuffle “does not bring the necessary new beginning”. The parliamentary group leader Dennis Thering said: “The red-green Senate has been in troubled waters for a long time, disputes between the SPD and the Greens and weak Senate members always make for bad headlines.” Tschentscher had the opportunity to exchange other “problem senators”, but he “obviously” lacks the strength to do so.
