The conduct of Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the reshuffling of part of his cabinet has alarmed experts of constitutional law, compelling them to voice harsh critiques. In an interview with the Legal Tribune’s online version, LTO, Professor Peter Thiele attacks the haste of Merz to appoint three new cabinet ministers without the plenary session of the Bundestag, which is legally required. Merz’s argument that he does not want to spend extra money to call parliament members back from their vacations for such a plenary session cannot be accepted, Thiele says, charging the Chancellor with disrespect of the constitution and the role of the parliament, which will not convene before September 9.
The three new cabinet ministers are: Nina Warken, leaving the health ministry to become head of the chancellor’s office; Carsten Linnemann is leaving the post as general party secretary of the CDU to become the new health minister; Steffen Bilger replaces Patrick Schnieders as Transport Minister.
In particular, the conduct of Merz in the case of Schnieders smells of an attempt to get rid of a competent critic of Merz. Last Friday during a press conference, Merz announced Schnieders’ replacement without any consultation with the latter beforehand. Over the weekend, Schnieders did not wait for Merz to tell him but announced his resignation. Sources familiar with certain non-public aspects of the government have pointed to repeated hefty clashes between Merz and Schnieders over the latter’s charges of insufficient funding of the railroad and highway reconstruction plans, with austerity-minded Merz not being willing to discuss that. The lack of Merz’s competence was also an issue at cabinet meetings.
The affair has repercussions throughout Germany: the CDU of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate felt compelled to demonstrate its disagreement with Merz and disinvite him from a planned meeting in Berlin in autumn. And in a new pre-election opinion poll in Saxony-Anhalt, which will vote on a new state parliament on September 6, the CDU dropped three percent in ratings, trailing now at 17 percent after the AfD, which is at 41 percent.
