The Hessian Union politician Lucia Puttrich will retire from politics towards the end of next year.

The 61-year-old announced on Tuesday that she would no longer be running for parliament in the state elections in autumn.

She is a Member of Parliament and Minister for Federal and European Affairs.

In the election campaign, she still wants to "put all my strength into it".

Ewald Hetrodt

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung in Wiesbaden.

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Of course, her career has had "its ups and occasionally its downs," she noted.

She left an impression with her electoral successes.

In 1995, no local politician from the CDU wanted to compete against the social democratic favorite in the election of the mayor in the Vogelsberg town of Nidda.

Puttrich dared and won.

She was re-elected twice.

And in 2009 she immediately took over the direct mandate in the Wetterau from Nina Hauer, the long-standing member of the Bundestag and sub-district chair of the SPD.

Puttrich's base was the parental home.

The father belonged to the state parliament and was president of the Chamber of Crafts.

The daughter worked in his company after studying business administration at the Gießen University of Applied Sciences.

Puttrich later moved into the management of her husband's family business.

She has two adult daughters with him.

The amateur pilot only spent a year in the Bundestag.

When Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) took office in 2010, he appointed Puttrich Minister for the Environment, Energy, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.

After the Fukushima disaster, she was responsible for the temporary shutdown of the nuclear power plant in Biblis, which was required by the federal government.

From the Ministry of the Environment to European affairs

According to the highest court, the ordinance it issued was illegal because the operator RWE had not been heard beforehand.

The decision of the Federal Administrative Court served the company as one of several occasions for a claim for damages in the millions.

Puttrich pointed out that the mistakes made by the Federal Environment Ministry were much more serious.

Finally, the federal government reached an agreement with the energy company.

Although the Union politician got along relatively well with some of the Greens, she had to give up the Ministry of the Environment when the CDU entered into a coalition with the Eco-Party at the end of 2013.

Since that time, Puttrich has been responsible for federal and European affairs.

The department is attached to the State Chancellery, i.e. not an independent "house".

And the boss is hardly to be seen on the Hessian scene.

Because it is on the move where the federal state is only involved as a cog in the system, namely in Berlin and Brussels.

This is not a key position in the Hessian cabinet, but an exciting interface between the state, the federal government and Europe.