At the end of May, an era will come to an end in Hesse.

After 27 years in government responsibility, four years as State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior, eleven years as Minister of the Interior and Prime Minister since 2010, Volker Bouffier (CDU) wants to give up his position as head of the CDU/Green coalition - voluntarily and with an orderly handover to the designated successor , the current President of the Landtag, Boris Rhein (CDU).

Bouffier will probably also forego his mandate as a member of the state parliament.

In any case, it is difficult to imagine that the Giessener could be tempted to get into the state political game as an ex-head of government from one of the back rows of parliament.

Ralph Euler

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung, responsible for the Rhein-Main section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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But it is also clear that a full-blooded politician like Bouffier will not stop working overnight.

Can't adjust at all, because even as Prime Minister a.

D., he will perform tasks that are in the national interest, which, as ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) says, "result from ongoing official duties".

After his resignation in 2010, the former Prime Minister Roland Koch (CDU) had a personal office with staff and a company car with a driver at his disposal.

In the case of Bouffiers, too, it is about offices, employees, company cars, personal security - and above all the question: How long?

There is no legal regulation on this, rather the working conditions of outgoing heads of government in Hesse have always been determined by cabinet decision.

As can be heard in Wiesbaden, Bouffier himself already has fairly precise ideas about how he could continue his work after the end of his term of office.

During a visit to the state center for political education, a state institution, he recently let it be known that he could well imagine continuing his work for the benefit of Hesse on their premises for a limited period of time.

The aim is not to rent any extra real estate for Bouffier, said deputy government spokesman Marco Kreuter on request.

"Therefore, the state center for political education could offer itself as an interim office."

"Not the fine English way"

Even in the ranks of the CDU, not everyone sees it that easily, since the state headquarters is in the same building as the state chancellery, from which Bouffier's designated successor, Rhein, wants to control Hessian politics from June.

Bouffier's new personal national headquarters, it is said, would be too much at the center of current political events.

That was "not reprehensible, but also not the fine English way".

Opposition leader Günter Rudolph (SPD) understands that a prime minister has a “temporary” right to rooms, a company car and security after resigning: “But we will look very closely, because it’s about taxpayers’ money.” For a state-funded one In any case, he sees no need for a transitional period until the end of the current election period in January 2024.

Rudolph is cautious about the state center for political education as a possible domicile for the former prime minister.

“Others will have to judge whether it is a good idea for Bouffier to continue working in the State Chancellery building.”