The digital expert, the NRW minister and the digital state minister are three candidates.
Armin Laschet (CDU) wants it, Christian Lindner (FDP) wants it and the vast majority of Germans also want it, according to surveys: a digital ministry. After the election, the newly created department should ensure that Germany is transformed from a fax republic into a “digital pioneer”, as the CDU puts it.
However, there is a problem here: digitization is a “cross-cutting issue” that plays a role in all ministries. The new digital ministry would have to emerge from a transplant of many other areas, including brain drain, i.e. the departure of highly qualified personnel from other ministries.
So what exactly could a digital ministry look like?
The Handelsblatt met with digital experts, civil servants and experts on political Berlin and, based on these discussions, designed a detailed blueprint for its own digital ministry.
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In order for a digital ministry to develop clout, two basic conditions must be met in any case: The ministry would have to have its own budget and legislative competence. Without even one of the two, the new department would be powerless.
Six content departments
The ministry itself could then consist of six content departments. The nucleus is made up of three departments from the Federal Ministry of the Interior: “Digital Society” would be the policy department that deals with all fundamental issues relating to digitization.
The “Digital Administration” department takes on the subject of e-governance. There is also the cyber and information security department, which prepares authorities, companies and citizens against cyber attacks and ensures that new technologies do not endanger security.
The “Digital Infrastructure” department would also move from the Ministry of Transport to the new digital department, as would the promotion of digital business models from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The new digital department would be rounded off by the “Information Technology Center”, which takes care of the IT of the federal administration and which has so far been located in the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Some authorities also belong to the Ministry of Digital. Those who deal with data processing in order to inform the population, such as the Federal Statistical Office and the German Weather Service. But of course also the previous digital authorities: the Agency for Leap Innovation and the Federal Office for Information Security.
Minister Pinkwart, Pausder, Bear?
Without a strong minister at the top, however, the new digital ministry would have little influence. Some candidates are already warming up for the office. The most obvious person would be Dorothee Bär (CSU), who as Minister of State is already supposed to advance digitization.
Bär is blamed for the slow digitization, but its scope is also very limited. But there are two party-political advantages that speak for her: She is a CSU member and a woman. Two aspects that would definitely be in demand in a government with Union participation.
In a Jamaica or traffic light coalition, the FDP would push the department. The North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Economics and Digital, Andreas Pinkwart, would offer himself as a minister. After all, he already has practical experience in the management of such an authority, which was attached to the Ministry of Economics in North Rhine-Westphalia after the 2017 election.
The SPD could send General Secretary Lars Klingbeil into the race. The Greens also have a proven digital expert in their ranks, Member of the Bundestag Dieter Janecek. And then there are also a number of surprise candidates. The name of digital expert Verena Pausder is also circulating in Berlin. Such an external occupation without party reference is considered unlikely.
When it comes to digitization, Germany is clearly behind other countries.
(Photo: dpa)
Markus Richter could take over the personnel core of the ministry work. The 45-year-old is currently State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Federal Government Commissioner for Information Technology. He would also be the first choice for the office of State Secretary in the new digital ministry.
At his side, Thomas Jarzombek (CDU), a member of the Bundestag, could represent the ministry externally in the role of parliamentary state secretary, for example in committees or parliamentary groups. Jarzombek is currently the Federal Ministry of Economics’ representative for the digital economy and start-ups.
But in the end, the filling of the posts of state secretaries and department heads depends above all on which party actually occupies the ministry. An FDP minister Pinkwart, for example, could bring some top officials with him from North Rhine-Westphalia, and there are also some experts in the SPD, such as the Berlin State Secretary Frank Nägele, who could be considered.
More: What Germany can learn from digital initiatives in Japan, Singapore and Taiwan