The second Wüst cabinet is the current state government of North Rhine-Westphalia, sworn in on 29 June 2022 after Hendrik Wüst was elected as Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia by the members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the 26th Cabinet of North Rhine-Westphalia.
It was formed after the 2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE). Excluding the Minister-President, the cabinet comprises twelve ministers. Eight are members of the CDU and four are members of the Greens.
Formation
The previous cabinet was a coalition government of the CDU and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Hendrik Wüst of the CDU, who took office in October 2021.
The election took place on 15 May 2022, and resulted in small gains for the CDU and major losses for the FDP. The opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) recorded a decline, while the Greens almost tripled their vote share to 18% and moved into third place. Overall, the incumbent coalition lost its majority.[1][2]
After the election, the CDU and SPD both held exploratory discussions with the Greens, who held the balance of power and could form a government with either the CDU or the SPD and FDP. However, the FDP refused talks in the belief that a CDU–Green government was a foregone conclusion.[3] With no other options available, the Greens voted to initiate coalition talks with the CDU, who reciprocated on 29 May.[4] Negotiations began on 31 May.[5]
The CDU and Greens presented their coalition agreement on 23 June.[6] It was approved near-unanimously by a CDU conference on 25 June.[7] The same day, it passed the Greens congress with 85%. There were objections from members who criticised the proposed separation of the agriculture portfolio from the environment ministry, as well as the state Green Youth, who rejected the prospect of coalition with the CDU outright on the basis that it could not sufficiently address pressing issues such as climate change, affordability, and rent and housing.[8]
Wüst was elected as Minister-President by the Landtag on 28 June, winning 106 votes out of 180 cast.[9] His new cabinet was sworn in the next day.[10]
Composition
| Portfolio | Minister | Party | Took office | Left office | State secretaries | Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minister-President | 
|
Hendrik Wüst born 19 June 1975 |
CDU | 28 June 2022 | Incumbent |
|
CDU | ||
| Deputy Minister-President Minister for Economics, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy |
|
Mona Neubaur born 1 July 1977 |
GRÜNE | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent | GRÜNE | |||
| Minister for Finance | 
|
Marcus Optendrenk born 21 July 1969 |
CDU | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent | CDU | |||
| Minister for Interior | 
|
Herbert Reul born 31 August 1952 |
CDU | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent | CDU | |||
| Minister for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Asylum and Integration | 
|
Josefine Paul born 2 March 1982 |
GRÜNE | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent | CDU | |||
| Minister for Labour, Health and Social Affairs | 
|
Karl-Josef Laumann born 11 July 1957 |
CDU | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent | GRÜNE | |||
| Minister for School and Education | 
|
Dorothee Feller born 6 May 1966 |
CDU | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent | CDU | |||
| Minister for Homeland, Communities, Construction and Digitalisation | 
|
Ina Scharrenbach born 30 September 1976 |
CDU | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent | GRÜNE | |||
| Minister for Justice | Benjamin Limbach born 1970 (age 54–55) |
GRÜNE | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent | CDU | ||||
| Minister for Environment, Nature Protection, and Transport | 
|
Oliver Krischer born 26 July 1969 |
GRÜNE | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent | GRÜNE | |||
| Minister for Agriculture and Consumer Protection | Silke Gorißen born 15 December 1971 |
CDU | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent | CDU | ||||
| Minister for Culture and Science | 
|
Ina Brandes born 1977 (age 47–48) |
CDU | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent | CDU | |||
| Minister for Federal, European and International Affairs Chief of the State Chancellery |
|
Nathanael Liminski born 19 September 1985 |
CDU | 29 June 2022 | Incumbent |
|
CDU | ||
External links
- "Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst appoints his new state cabinet". State Government of North Rhine-Westphalia (in German). 29 June 2022.
References
- ^ "Germany: Scholz's party defeated in bellwether North Rhine-Westphalia election". Deutsche Welle. 15 May 2022.
- ^ "Germany's conservatives on track to win key state vote". Deutsche Welle. 15 May 2022.
- ^ "After the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia: SPD and Greens meet for talks". Ruhr Nachrichten (in German). 20 May 2022.
- ^ "CDU agrees to start coalition negotiations with the Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia". Stern (in German). 29 May 2022.
- ^ "NRW: Greens and CDU have started coalition negotiations". Westdeutsche Zeitung (in German). 31 May 2022.
- ^ "CDU and Greens come together in North Rhine-Westphalia". Tagesschau (in German). 23 June 2022.
- ^ "NRW CDU votes for coalition with the Greens". Westdeutscher Rundfunk (in German). 25 June 2022.
- ^ "Greens say yes to the coalition with the CDU". Tagesschau (in German). 25 June 2022.
- ^ "Wüst re-elected Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia". Der Spiegel (in German). 28 June 2022.
- ^ "These are the new NRW ministers". Rheinische Post (in German). 29 June 2022.
You must be logged in to post a comment.