The Federal Minister of the Interior was at home in state politics for almost 20 years.
(Photo: dpa)
Nancy Faeser will be the SPD’s top candidate for the state elections in Hesse in autumn. So far so good and foreseeable. The problem: Faeser wants to remain Federal Minister of the Interior and only go to Hesse if she ends the almost 25-year rule of the CDU and becomes Prime Minister, i.e. wins the election.
At least that’s what the Minister agreed with the Chancellor. It’s a daring manoeuvre. Not because Faeser would be overwhelmed with her dual role as interior minister and top candidate and the office would suffer as a result, as is now widely criticized.
There is no question that an interior minister has many and very responsible tasks: Faeser has to fight cybercrime, curb terrorism and control immigration. But to explain your candidacy as a problem seems somewhat bizarre.
Following this logic, Willy Brandt, Helmut Kohl or Gerhard Schröder should have given up their jobs as prime ministers when they stood as chancellor candidates. Or, to put the Faeser case even more specifically, the then Federal Minister of the Interior, Manfred Kanther (CDU), when he ran for Prime Minister of Hesse in 1995.
Comparisons with the former Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen (CDU), who only wanted to move to NRW in 2012 if he won the election, are also misleading. Unlike Röttgen, Faeser was at home in state politics for almost 20 years before she was appointed Federal Minister of the Interior.
The problem is different: The question is whether the voters are not assuming that Faeser is a half-hearted candidate despite her long time in the Hessian state parliament. Faeser’s chances of winning in what is actually the traditional swing state of Hessen would undoubtedly be higher if she had dedicated herself completely to her homeland – without a return ticket to Berlin.
More: Interior Minister Faeser becomes SPD top candidate