Can one resign from an office to which one was elected but did not take up office?

The question has arisen since it became known on Thursday that the federal government had banned CSU MP Stephan Mayer, who was Parliamentary State Secretary for the government's promotion of top-class sports until December, from joining the Executive Committee of the German Olympic Sports Confederation on an honorary basis until December 2022.

However, the plenary assembly of the DOSB elected him as vice president in December. Mayer cannot tell whether he is now resigning from the office or whether he will continue to do so. Instead, he lets it be known that he has received neither official notification nor justification for the decision made by the Scholz cabinet on January 5 – the “left-liberal federal government”, he writes. He calls it an outrageous and strange occurrence that media representatives were informed before him.

The Federal Press Office presents the process differently. Mayer was informed immediately by letter.

A reason is usually not given.

It is already contained in the law as follows: If someone deals with matters in which he was active in the federal government after his retirement, the public interest could be adversely affected.

Apparently, this also applies to volunteer work.

The decision should not have surprised the political professional.

Mayer's successor in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, SPD MP Mahmut Özdemir, still warned in December that it was clumsy and insensitive for Mayer to first want to be elected and then have his commitment checked.

No choice between red and black

There were also warnings at the election meeting.

The suspicion that the ban could be party-politically motivated is unfounded.

In addition to the non-party former constitutional judge Michael Gerhardt, who was once nominated by the SPD, and the Greens Krista Sager, the committee that recommended the government the waiting period for Mayer also includes the former CSU chairman Theo Waigel.

The Presidium of the DOSB is likely to increase its efforts to co-opt someone who has their political home in the Union.

President Thomas Weikert, Vice-President Verena Bentele and the incoming CEO Torsten Burmester are not all politicians, but they are members of the SPD.

Should Mayer decide to run for the presidency after the end of his waiting period, the choice should not be between red and black.

The sport did not deserve a party-political dispute on his back after the Hörmann era.

He couldn't stand her.

In retrospect, it is astonishing that the selection committee led by former Federal President Christian Wulff made Mayer one of three presidential candidates in December.

Equally amazing, after Mayer retired, he returned as a running mate and was elected by the convention by 257 votes (out of 417).

In this respect, too, it is evident that the DOSB still wants to become politically capable.