Hendrik Wüst (CDU) made it exciting.

Unlike the Greens, who now govern North Rhine-Westphalia with the CDU and named their ministers last week, he, those around him and the parliamentary group have long been covered.

That's why rumors were rampant, like the one that Wüst was planning a spectacular poaching from federal politics, making the former Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus finance minister.

Pure burger

Political correspondent in North Rhine-Westphalia.

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On Wednesday, one day after his re-election, Wüst announced who was in charge of the eight departments to which the CDU was entitled according to the coalition agreement.

Finance minister will be a CDU member of the state parliament who has been trusted across party lines for years: Marcus Optendrenk, who used to work as a group leader in the ministry's budget department.

In fact, a lot of things on Wüst's tableau could be taken for granted.

It is no surprise that Interior Minister Herbert Reul, who was appointed by Wüst's predecessor Armin Laschet in 2017, remains in his post.

Reul, who will soon be 70, was one of the Wust skeptics for a long time, but embodies the state CDU's claim to be the party of internal security like no one else.

In his second term of office, Reul is likely to fight many a bouquet with the green coalition partner, who is latently critical of the police.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Wüst is so important to the personnel that he introduces Reul as the first of the CDU ministers.

Maintain intra-party balance

It was also agreed that Karl-Josef Laumann, the federal chairman of the socio-political CDU wing CDA, would remain Minister for Labour, Health and Social Affairs.

Wüst, who himself comes from the employer wing, not only wants to maintain the balance within the party.

He also wants to underline that under his leadership, former Prime Minister Karl Arnold's claim that North Rhine-Westphalia must remain Germany's social conscience still applies.

There was no way around Ina Scharrenbach for Wüst either.

She is state chairwoman of the Women's Union and has proven herself at the head of the Ministry for Homeland, Building and Municipal Affairs since 2017.

Unlike before, Scharrenbach will no longer be responsible for the equality department, which has gone to the Minister for Children, Youth and Family Affairs Josefine Paul (Greens).

Instead, Scharrenbach is now also responsible for digitization.

Ina Brandes, who only took over the Ministry of Transport from Wüst at the end of October, is now Minister for Culture and Science.

Managing the Ministry of Schools and Education is a particular challenge in North Rhine-Westphalia.

No matter which party took over the department in recent years, there was always considerable resentment among teachers, parents and students.

The CDU and the Greens have therefore agreed in their coalition agreement that the next five years should not be about system changes, but about better staffing and equipment.

The top school-political maxim is that “calmness and reliability” return to the schools, as Wüst emphasizes again and again.

The previous district president of Münster, Dorothee Feller, should take care of this.

Born in 1966, the administrative lawyer was a member of the school and education working group in the black-green coalition negotiations.

Wüst praises Liminski

On Wednesday, he made it clear several times how much Wüst values ​​his head of the State Chancellery, who he took over from his predecessor Laschet.

On the one hand, with the greatest possible praise: "He has been managing the government of Germany's largest federal state for five years, he is simply the best for this task." On the other hand, Wüst promoted his head of state chancellery from state secretary to minister.

From now on, Nathanael Liminski will also be responsible for federal and European affairs.

Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Protection is the previous District Administrator of Kleve, Silke Gorißen.

"She is a proven administrative manager, she comes from rural areas, she knows rural areas," says Wüst, pointing out how important good cooperation between town and country is in NRW.

For the state CDU, on the other hand, the rural regions are also of great importance, which is where they have their strongholds.

However, there has been some resentment at the green base in recent days because environment and agriculture are no longer united under the umbrella of one ministry.

Of course, the Greens have nothing to complain about.

You now have several super ministries.

Your previous state chairwoman, Mona Neubaur, is responsible for business, industry, climate protection and energy.

Oliver Krischer is not only Minister for the Environment and Nature Conservation, but also Minister for Transport.

Benjamin Limbach, the Greens, is the first Minister of Justice in North Rhine-Westphalia.

As Minister for Children, Youth, Family, Equal Opportunities, Flight and Integration, Josefine Paul will retain the field of immigration law that was separated from the Ministry of the Interior by her predecessor Joachim Stamp (FDP) in 2017.

In fact, she is also the deportation minister – which should still cause discussions among the Greens.