On Friday, Stephan Weil was not only happy to present Daniela Behrens as his new interior minister and Andreas Philippi as his new health minister.

The Prime Minister of Lower Saxony and SPD leader also felt visibly satisfied that his small cabinet reshuffle was only made public shortly before midnight.

Reinhard Bingener

Political correspondent for Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Bremen based in Hanover.

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After Boris Pistorius left for the Berlin Ministry of Defense, more than a dozen possible successors to the long-serving interior minister were named in Hanover, and even the travel activities of local politicians were closely followed.

But Prime Minister Weil acted so discreetly that only speculation was possible.

Politically and professionally, Weil justified the move of his previous Minister of Health, Daniela Behrens, to the Ministry of the Interior with the successful fight against the pandemic.

After the resignation of her predecessor Carola Reimann in March 2021, Behrens immediately eliminated "weak points" and mastered what was then the country's most difficult political task to his complete satisfaction.

In her office, the 54-year-old social democrat has demonstrated the resilience to crises and resilience that qualifies a politician for the interior department.

The empathetic and open communication style of the trained journalist was also well received by the members of the social and health professions.

It remains to be seen whether the country's uniformed security forces appreciate him equally or whether they miss Boris Pistorius' robust personality.

When it came to the future Minister of Social Affairs, Andreas Philippi, Weil emphasized his expertise: The 57-year-old pastor's son is a specialist in surgery and emergency medicine and, even after moving into the Bundestag in 2021, operated for five days a month in a medical care center in the Harz Mountains.

Philippi therefore overlooks the trend towards outpatient medicine.

As a long-standing clinic doctor and district chairman of the Red Cross, he also knows the problems of hospitals and the perspective of welfare organizations.

Also an SPD-internal dimension

The two personal details also have an internal SPD dimension.

It took three days from the announcement of Pistorius' promotion on Tuesday to the presentation of his successor on Friday.

This initially suggests that Weil actually only found out about the impending departure of his interior minister on Monday, as claimed.

But even then, an almost four-day search seems remarkably long, especially since Behrens explained that she didn't need any time to think about it after Weil's request.

In addition, Behrens is not a lawyer, which is sometimes cited as a requirement for the interior department.

All of this indicates that it was not an easy decision with a clear favourite.

Apparently, Weil had a more extensive and complicated search behind him.

Is this a sign that the SPD in Lower Saxony, too, is gradually thinning out its staffing levels, which have been extremely plentiful for a long time?

The shooting star"

Alongside Boris Pistorius, Daniela Behrens is the clear winner of the week.

First, she gets the vacant seat of her predecessor, which she missed despite being number 2 on the list in October's state elections.

And secondly, she takes over one of the “big” departments.

After Weil's statement last spring that Behrens was the "shooting star" of Lower Saxony politics, one might think that she could also be considered as his successor.

The prime minister will not stand again in 2027.

He will probably resign the SPD state presidency sooner.

So far, however, Economics Minister Olaf Lies, who is extremely present in public, has been the favorite for Weil's successor.

Weil and Lies were once open rivals, and their current relationship is the subject of ongoing conjecture in Hanover.