The first black-green state government in North Rhine-Westphalia is in the starting blocks. The twelve ministers in the Wüst cabinet will receive their certificates of appointment on Wednesday and will be sworn in in the state parliament. After that the work can begin.
Düsseldorf (dpa/lnw) - One and a half months after the state elections, the final act of forming the first black-green state government in North Rhine-Westphalia is due on Wednesday (from 1 p.m.). The freshly re-elected Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) presented his twelve ministers with their certificates of appointment in the Ständehaus in Düsseldorf. The cabinet members will then be sworn in in the state parliament (2:00 p.m.).
Wüst was re-elected Prime Minister in the state parliament on Tuesday. For eight months, the 46-year-old lawyer led a black and yellow state government in NRW as the successor to the failed Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet. After the FDP crashed in the state elections in mid-May, it was no longer enough for black and yellow. The election winner, the CDU, and the third-placed Greens then formed a coalition.
According to the coalition agreement, the Greens will have four ministries and have already named their cabinet members. The CDU receives eight ministerial posts - Wüst kept the names and layout of the departments secret until the end. Only shortly before the ministers are appointed does he want to reveal the secret in a press statement (12:00 p.m.) on Wednesday.
The Greens' top candidate, Mona Neubaur, will become the new Vice Prime Minister. The 44-year-old will lead a key ministry for business, industry, climate protection and energy in the future - similar to Green Federal Minister Robert Habeck in Berlin. The current Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Oliver Krischer, will become NRW Minister for Transport, Environment and Nature Conservation.
The previous leader of the Greens, Josefine Paul, is to become Minister for Family, Children and Youth, Gender Equality, Integration and Flight. Benjamin Limbach, previously President of the Federal University for Public Administration, is planned as Minister of Justice.
Among other things, the Ministries of the Interior, Health, Finance and Schools go to the CDU. It is awaited with particular excitement who Wüst appoints to head the Ministry of Education.
Immediately after the ministers have been sworn in, the plenary session moves on to day-to-day business. The first thing to do is to pass the amended Higher Education Act. The new state government wants to clear the way for a collective agreement to relieve the employees of the university hospitals who have been on strike for weeks.
In addition, the SPD opposition wants to find out from the new state government during question time what measures it is planning to prepare for the corona virus in the fall.
