"Dream job" Health Minister: Lauterbach would have "liked to continue"

The formation of the government is becoming more concrete. Today in Berlin a small CDU party conference is to adopt the coalition agreement . Party leader Friedrich Merz also plans to introduce the CDU ministers. According to the coalition agreement, the CDU will have seven ministers and the Minister of State for Culture and Media in the Chancellery. CSU to lose three departments; party leader Markus Söder plans to present the CSU personnel in Munich today.

The SPD is allowed to appoint seven ministers. SPD members can vote on the coalition agreement until Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. Acceptance requires not only a majority, but also at least 20 percent participation from the approximately 358,000 members. The result is expected to be announced on Wednesday, April 30. The party leadership expects it to be accepted, according to reports. The CSU has already approved the agreement.

There was a surprising turnaround for the health department over the weekend: Contrary to what has been happening for weeks, according to rumors, internal lists and media reports, the former health policy spokesman of the Union parliamentary group, Tino Sorge, is not to succeed Karl Lauterbach (SPD) will take over, but Nina Warken from Baden-Württemberg , parliamentary manager of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group since 2021 and general secretary of the CDU Baden-Württemberg since 2023. Concern had recently been high .

The CDU's personnel are expected to be finalized today at 2 p.m. It's been clear since the coalition agreement was announced that the SPD will not continue to lead the health department. Karl Lauterbach regrets this. "It's no secret that I would have liked to continue," Lauterbach told "Spiegel." "I have dedicated my life to preventing serious illnesses for people or making them more treatable," Lauterbach said. For him, it was "the dream job." He emphasized: "I'll work until my very last day."

The outgoing minister, meanwhile, hopes that the reforms he initiated will not fizzle out. "My hope is that my successor will address the fundamental problems in the healthcare system." He certainly expects the hospital reform to continue. "The reform will not be watered down," Lauterbach said in a recent interview with Deutschlandfunk. The Union negotiators were "super fair in this regard." He also intends to implement the electronic patient record (EPA) himself; it is scheduled to enter its "ramp-up phase" this week .

When asked what he planned to do after the change of government on May 6, Lauterbach said: "First, I'll think about it." Lauterbach is also a member of the new Bundestag. In the federal election on February 23, he won his constituency of Leverkusen/Cologne IV for the sixth time in a row .