“Not only will you suffer pain this time, you will bleed.”
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin After the recent changes at the head of the Federal Ministry of Finance, another spectacular change in personnel in the house of Christian Lindner (FDP) is imminent: The long-standing Secretary of State for Budgets, Werner Gatzer (SPD), will leave his office for reasons of age before the end of the electoral term, the Handelsblatt learned from Budget politicians and people familiar with the process in the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Gatzer will not continue in office beyond the statutory retirement age, it is said. The Federal Ministry of Finance declined to comment.
Gatzer will be 65 this November. He would have reached the statutory retirement age next year. But even a somewhat earlier resignation as State Secretary is not completely ruled out in the Federal Ministry of Finance. Last year, Gatzer took on a demanding position as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bahn, which was mandated until 2025. There are no differences between Minister Lindner and his state secretary, their relationship is good and trusting, according to the ministry.
With Gatzer’s retirement, one of the longest top civil service careers in the history of the Federal Republic would come to an end. The Rhinelander is known in Berlin as the “eternal state secretary” or “Mr. household”.
With one short break, the lawyer has been State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance since 2005. He was in charge of preparing the budgets for the ministers Peer Steinbrück (SPD), Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), Olaf Scholz (SPD) and now Lindner. This makes him one of the most influential top officials in Berlin.
successor is still open
It will be correspondingly difficult for Lindner to replace the household expert. It is apparently not yet clear who is to follow Gatzer one day. Officials in the Ministry of Finance are talking about the former State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics and current head of the transmission system operator 50Hertz, Stefan Kapferer (FDP), as a possible successor.
However, this is also denied in the house. Lindner exchanges ideas with Kapferer on energy issues from time to time. However, Kapferer earns so much money in the private sector that a return as State Secretary is out of the question.
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In the past few weeks, Finance Minister Lindner had already replaced large parts of the top management in his house. At the end of January it was announced that the head of the FDP was retiring European State Secretary Carsten Pillath on April 1 and replacing him with Heiko Thoms, current ambassador to Brazil. A week earlier, Lindner had already replaced three department heads and dissolved another department.
Gatzer is from the Rhineland – and a FC fan
Saying goodbye to Gatzer would be a special change in the ministry. He is one of the architects of the debt brake enshrined in the Basic Law and creator of the “black zero”, i.e. a budget without new debt, which Gatzer and his then Minister Schäuble achieved in 2014 for the first time since the 1960s.
At the same time, however, Gatzer was always adaptable and developed creative ideas on how the federal government could take out more loans through special funds. He is also regarded as a master at hiding reserves in the budget – and thus keeping his ministers’ backs free.
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Gatzer repeatedly resisted the wishes of even high-ranking members of the cabinet. The latest bon mot is a quote from Gatzer that is being passed around in Berlin, which he is said to have jokingly addressed to colleagues from other houses during the ongoing budget negotiations: “This time you will not only suffer pain, you will bleed.”
The Rhinelander and fan of 1. FC Köln is humorous in his dealings, but sometimes tricky and tough when fending off expensive requests from other ministries. His departure could bring some relief in some departments, but he will leave a gap in the Treasury.
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