Magdeburg (dpa/sa) - Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) was dismayed after the death of ex-Finance Minister Jens Bullerjahn (SPD). "With Jens Bullerjahn, Saxony-Anhalt loses a politician who decisively shaped this state. After Saxony-Anhalt was re-established, he was ready to take on political responsibility. He devoted himself to this task with dedication and all his strength," explained Haseloff on Sunday . The news of Bullerjahn's death fills him with sadness and dismay.

The 60-year-old Bullerjahn died on Saturday in a hospital in Eisleben (Mansfeld-Südharz district). The SPD politician was finance minister in Saxony-Anhalt from 2006 to 2016. That year he had made it public that he suffered from the rare nervous disease ALS. This is an incurable disease of the nervous system.

Haseloff said it was thanks to Bullerjahn that the state finances could be restructured. "He created room for decision-making for future generations." Last year, Prime Minister Bullerjahn awarded the state's Order of Merit.