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First official appearance as a couple: Katharina Günther-Wünsch and Kai Wegner at the Economic Ball of the Berlin Merchants and Industrialists Association
Photo: Jörg Carstensen/dpa
The first official appearance as a couple: Kai Wegner and Katharina Günther-Wünsch appeared together as a couple for the first time.
Berlin's Governing Mayor and the Berlin Senator for Education (both CDU) attended a ball in the capital.
Later in the evening they were photographed together in detail in front of a photo wall - holding hands, but without a kiss.
On Saturday evening, Wegner first attended the Berlinale awards ceremony, while Günther-Wünsch was already sitting in the Baalsaal of the Hotel Intercontinental near the Berlin Zoo.
Just before 10 p.m. sharp, she picked him up at the company car - and they both strolled to the entrance.
They were greeted by the crowd of photographers, but appeared relaxed.
In response to a question about working together and a relationship, Wegner replied: »It works quite well.
You have to have the will, you have to have good coordination.
And then you can do it quite well.
Sometimes it's challenging, especially in an office like this with very, very many appointments."
When asked, Günther-Wünsch added more formally: "As Mr. Wegner just said: a lot of organization, good communication and coordination."
In January, the mayor and the education senator announced through their lawyer that they had decided to enter into a relationship in the fall of 2023.
They had not yet appeared visibly as a couple.
There was criticism of the relationship at the time: the Greens and the Left, for example, doubted that both Senate members could separate private and professional matters clearly enough.
The FDP had pushed for transparency before the official confirmation.
Due to the personnel, the question arises as to whether there may be conflicts of interest and whether and how these could have an impact in the future, for example when drawing up a budget.
spr/dpa