Berlin Andrea Nahles knows Schloss Meseberg in Brandenburg very well. In 2016, the then labor minister announced on the terrace, together with interior minister Thomas de Maizière, that they had reached an agreement in the coalition dispute over the integration law. Two years later, before the cabinet meeting in Meseberg, Nahles Chancellor Angela Merkel called for order and a clear list of priorities in the grand coalition. She was chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group and designated party leader.
If the change is still nagging at her, Nahles doesn’t let it be felt during the conversation in the manager’s office on the first floor of the BA headquarters in Nuremberg. From her previous life she knows how laws are made and how compromises are forged, she says, which will help her in her new job.
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After her rough departure from politics, she was able to experience the other side, the life in the authorities, for almost two years as head of the Federal Post and Telecommunications Agency.
Desired cultural change in the employment agency
Nahles says that it is only now that she has really realized what wheels politics sets in motion in the apparatus when they pass new laws. This applies, for example, to the planned citizens’ allowance, which the federal government wants to come into force in January.
But the federal agency needs time to reprogram the software and to train the job center employees for the desired cultural change. Nahles is therefore courting Hubertus Heil, who succeeded her as Labor Minister after a short interlude by Katarina Barley, for a little more time for the reform.
In conversation, the spirited, impulsive Juso boss sometimes shines through, as she appeared at the beginning of her political career. The piercing laughter is the same as it was during her time in the Bundestag. On the other hand, she is reluctant to make political statements, which her new role demands.
Her predecessor Detlef Scheele, whom Nahles looked over the shoulder in the last few months of his tenure, had found a way over time to show the reluctance expected of a head of authority and still clearly express what worries him . Anyone who knows Nahles suspects that she, too, will not mince her words when it comes down to it.
Andrea Nahles, as head of the BA, will present the labor market data for the first time this Wednesday.
(Photo: imago images/Jan Huebner)
The top job in Nuremberg, which Nahles is the first woman to hold, is the temporary end of a life full of highs and lows. She was accused of the resignation of SPD leader Franz Müntefering because his preferred candidate for the post of general secretary drew the short straw against the party left.
Nahles himself emerged damaged from the affair, but later became secretary general, then head of the labor ministry, which turned her into a law machine. Even her employers, who were not always friendly to her, respected her for being able to rely on a word that Nahles had given her.
The ministerial job was followed by the years as parliamentary group leader and the months as the first woman to lead the SPD, which came to an abrupt end after the poor result in the European elections and fierce internal party politics. In June 2019, Nahles left politics.
The fact that it was not just a matter of withdrawing into private life also has to do with Olaf Scholz, who, when he was Finance Minister, proposed Nahles for the post of President of the Post and Telecommunications Agency. In the end, despite initial resistance from employers, she also prevailed on the Scheele successor.
Empty coffers and an incalculable economic situation
Nahles has moved into a small BA apartment in Nuremberg. It is about four hours from there to her home village of Weiler in the Eifel region, where her mother and daughter live – as well as to Berlin, where Nahles will probably be more frequent in her new role in the future. As the first woman to head the BA, she leads the board, which has been expanded to four members. Your current colleague on the board, Vanessa Ahuja, was sub-head of department in the Ministry of Labor under Minister Nahles.
The federal agency has come through a storm with the corona pandemic, the coffers are empty and the next test is looming with the incalculable economic consequences of the Russian war of aggression. In addition to handling the consequences of the pandemic and preparing for possible new crises, there is everyday business. The introduction of the citizen’s income, the stronger focus on the qualification of employees, the securing of skilled workers, the reduction of long-term unemployment.
At the cabinet meeting in Meseberg, Nahles urged a strengthening of dual training, which she sees in a deep crisis. From the baroque palace we then went back to Nuremberg, where the presentation of the labor market data is due on Wednesday. In this role you will experience Nahles every month in the future.
More: 26 billion euros in reserves are gone – Andrea Nahles starts with empty coffers in the new office