The Berlin SPD presented its senators on Monday. Previously it had been kept a secret for weeks. SPD country chief and designated governing mayor Franziska Giffey surprised with two lateral entrants into politics.
The Neukölln school director Astrid-Sabine Busse takes over the education department and the former President of the Berlin Chamber of Crafts, Stephan Schwarz, is to become Senator for Economy, Energy and Companies. Interior Senator Andreas Geisel changes to the department for urban development, the deputy SPD state chairwoman Iris Spranger takes over the interior department.
The 63-year-old elementary school teacher Busse knows Giffey from her time as Neukölln’s mayor. Busse runs the elementary school there in the Köllnische Heide, she is chairman of the interest group of Berlin school directors. As state secretaries, they will support Alexander Slotty, the head of Volkssolidarität Berlin, and the SPD integration expert Aziz Bozkurt.
In the economic administration, the entrepreneur Stephan Schwarz will in future be supported by SPD state cashier Michael Biel as State Secretary for the economy and the SPD transport politician Tino Schopf, who will be responsible for energy and operations. Schwarz is 56 years old and runs a building cleaning company. Between 2013 and 2019 he was President of the Berlin Chamber of Crafts.
Interior Senator Andreas Geisel (SPD) changes back to the department for urban development. The 55-year-old was already Senator for Urban Development between 2014 and 2016. Before that, he was city councilor and district mayor in Lichtenberg.
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Geisel is supported by the previous head of the Senate Chancellery, Christian Gaebler, who will become State Secretary for Building. Severin Fischer gets his job in the Senate Chancellery. He is considered a close confidante of Giffey and was already head of the management team for her in the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs.
In the future, the deputy SPD state chairwoman Iris Spranger will be responsible for the interior. The 60-year-old MP was State Secretary for Finance until 2016 and is actually an expert in urban development.
Torsten Akmann remains in the Interior Department as State Secretary for the Interior. Former MP Nicola Böcker-Giannini takes over the sports division. The advisor and former State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Ralf Kleindiek, will be “Chief Digital Officer” in Spranger’s department.
27-year-old Ana-Maria Trăsnea will succeed Sawsan Chebli in the Senate Chancellery as the representative of the State of Berlin at the federal level and State Secretary for Civic Engagement. She came to Germany from Romania in 2007 and is considered a political super talent in the party.
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Before that, the Greens and Leftists had presented their nominees for the Senate posts. For the Greens, top candidate Bettina Jarasch will take over the department for transport, climate and consumer protection.
The budget expert and parliamentary manager of the Greens in the House of Representatives, Daniel Wesener, becomes the Senator for Finance. The Kassel department head for health and education and former vice-president of the Bavarian state parliament, Ulrike Gote, takes over the department for health and science.
For the Left Party, the previous incumbent and top candidate Klaus Lederer will retain the cultural department. The justice department will be taken over by the lawyer Lena Kreck, the Senate Department for Labor and Social Affairs will in future be headed by the former federal chairman of the Left Party, Katja Kipping.
After the members of the Left Party had clearly voted for a resumption of the old coalition in a membership decision, nothing stands in the way of the formation of a government in Berlin. The coalition agreement is due to be signed on Tuesday morning.
Thereafter, the designated governing mayor, Franziska Giffey, is to be elected by the House of Representatives in the House of Representatives. Then the senators are sworn in.
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