After the resignation of the North Rhine-Westphalian Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU) five weeks before the state elections, Finance Minister Lutz Lienenkamper (CDU) will also take over her official duties.

This was announced by Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) late Thursday evening.

Pure burger

Political correspondent in North Rhine-Westphalia.

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Heinen-Esser has been under criticism since it became known at the end of February that she was staying at her second home in Mallorca for days after the devastating July flood – in which 49 people died in North Rhine-Westphalia alone.

Heinen-Esser had previously justified this by saying that she had to look after her underage daughter and her friends and had to organize the young people's return journey.

On Thursday it became known that her husband's birthday party on July 23 was another reason for staying longer on the island and that Minister of Construction Ina Scharrenbach, Minister for Europe Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner and the then Secretary of State for Integration Serap Güler also joined the group ( all CDU).

“The greatest asset in politics is trust”

Prime Minister Wüst said that Heinen-Esser had drawn the conclusions from the developments of the past few weeks and Thursday.

Her step is based on the fact that an ongoing public discussion, such as that recently about her stay in Mallorca and the celebration, would damage her office.

"I share that," says Wüst.

Politics also lives from consistency.

"The greatest good in politics is people's trust, because that is the basis of our work."

With regard to the celebration of several cabinet members, the opposition speaks of the "Mallorca Gate" of the state government and is now focusing on Prime Minister Wüst, who "must immediately and completely clarify this affair", as SPD top candidate Thomas Kutschaty put it.

It is also about the question of when Wüst knew what.

According to the rules of procedure of the state government, ministers must notify the Prime Minister “in advance and in good time” of “holiday periods, absences of more than three days and trips to places outside of the Federal Republic of Germany”.

In particular, the SPD, Greens and AfD are now targeting Minister for Building and Home Affairs Scharrenbach, who is responsible for reconstruction after the flood.

Scharrenbach - who is running for second place on the CDU list for the state parliament - "preferred the island to home in the middle of a crisis".

Scharrenbach pointed out that from July 16th she had made on-site visits in the flood area and also initiated emergency aid for the municipalities in the amount of 65 million euros, the payment of which began on July 22nd.

She also carried out her official business on the Mallorca weekend.

She was "extremely annoyed by the impression" that now arises from her weekend visit.

Like you, Europe Minister Holthoff-Pförtner also assures that he was "fully able to work and always available".

Güler, who is now a member of the Bundestag, wrote on Twitter: "Disrespectful and wrong - unfortunately both apply to my behavior last July.

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In this situation, I should not have taken a private weekend trip to Mallorca that had been booked weeks in advance.”

Meanwhile, the CDU district association in Cologne announced that it would stick to Heinen-Esser as a direct candidate for the state elections.

Heinen-Esser is also sixth in the CDU state list.