Head of government Woidke: Commissioner for Eastern Europe remains important

According to Brandenburg's Minister President Dietmar Woidke (SPD), the office of Commissioner for Eastern Europe must remain in place.(archive photo) / Photo: Carsten Koall/dpa

The CDU/CSU would like to dispense with the office of Commissioner for Eastern Germany. This is met with criticism in eastern Germany: Brandenburg's head of government Woidke explains why he believes the position is indispensable.

Brandenburg's Minister-President Dietmar Woidke believes that, unlike the CDU/CSU, the establishment of the Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Europe will continue to be necessary in the future. "Reducing the differences between East and West must continue to be the task of the entire federal government," Woidke told the newspaper Nordkurier.

The position is based in the Federal Chancellery. It has been held by SPD politician Carsten Schneider since 2021. According to its website, the task of the Commissioner for Eastern Europe is to complete unification. The goals cited include, for example, more growth in East Germany and more East Germans in leadership positions.

The CDU/CSU wants to reduce the number of government commissioners and dispense with the Commissioner for Eastern Europe. The CDU/CSU deputy parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, Sepp Müller (CDU), told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND): "We no longer need a commissioner for Eastern Germany. In the 35th year of German reunification, I think this office is obsolete."

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Brandenburg's head of government told the "Nordkurier" newspaper that good progress had been made in recent years with the support of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). The equalization of pensions had been successful and the industrial base in the eastern German states had been strengthened. "However, the office of the Commissioner for Eastern Germany is still needed in order to continue working on the problems together with the eastern German heads of government," said Woidke.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Minister-President Manuela Schwesig (SPD) is also campaigning for the office to be retained. "Almost 35 years after German reunification, there are still disadvantages that we cannot accept: different wages, lower wealth, fewer large companies," she said.