Monday 15th November 2021
Re-elected in the first ballot
Schwesig confirmed as Prime Minister in MV
Manuela Schwesig remains Prime Minister in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In the first ballot, the SPD politician receives the majority required for a second term.
She is considered determined and stubborn, now her second term as head of state in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is running: Around seven weeks after the state elections in the north-east German state, the parliament in Schwerin confirmed Manuela Schwesig in office. With a clear 39.6 percent victory in the state elections, the Prime Minister, who was already Federal Minister and SPD Deputy Chief, actually even recommended herself for higher tasks.
Actually – because the 47-year-old is not moving away from Schwerin for the time being, not even back at the top of the Federal SPD. Even as Prime Minister she has enough opportunities to influence federal politics, she says. She is “a strong voice for the SPD, and I will definitely stay that way – for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Germany I am involved”.
After four years at the head of a coalition of the SPD and CDU, Schwesig would like to govern with the left for the next five years. The negotiations were “on an equal footing”, announced both sides after the end of the respective talks. Projects for a “departure in 2030” have been agreed.
The left came out badly plucked from the election and is happy to be able to participate in government. She has already announced that she is not interested in a dispute with the SPD, which should strengthen Schwesig’s position compared to the previous coalition.
In 2017 Schwesig took over government affairs in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania from the sick Prime Minister Erwin Sellering. Since then, the 47-year-old has expanded her power by bundling more and more responsibilities in her state chancellery. Unlike her predecessors, the mother of two was also clearly involved in federal politics and ensured that the relatively poor state in the north-east was widely noticed.
Schwesig has evidently scored points in recent years with topics such as the expansion of free daycare centers, the compatibility of work and family and equal opportunities for women. She also used the sympathy that many East Germans had for Russia and vehemently demanded the completion of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline. To this end, she had an environmental foundation set up with taxpayers’ money, which was supposed to protect the companies involved in the construction of the pipeline from US sanctions.
Schwesig also received a lot of encouragement when she made her own cancer public in 2019 and still remained in office – also to encourage other women in such a situation. In 2020, she was relieved to announce that she was healthy again.
Schwesig grew up in Brandenburg. After completing her studies, she worked as a civil servant in tax offices and in the Ministry of Finance in Schwerin. She joined the SPD in 2003 at the age of 29 and was involved in local politics. As a city councilor in Schwerin, she gained sympathy because she could openly approach other people, chat with them and listen to them.
She soon had a picture-perfect career: in 2008, the then Prime Minister Sellering brought Schwesig to his state cabinet as Minister of Social Affairs and Health. At 34, she was Germany’s youngest minister. Her cabinet colleague, Interior Minister Lorenz Caffier (CDU), ridiculed her as a “coastal barbie”. As a committed head of department, however, she soon gained a political reputation across national borders.
In 2009 she followed the call of her party and became deputy SPD federal chairwoman. Then in 2013 she moved to Berlin as Federal Family Minister in the grand coalition. Schwesig took care of the expansion of child care, the Elterngeld Plus and the controversial quota of women on supervisory boards.
After only four years in office as Prime Minister, the SPD politician described herself as the “mother of the country”. She feels confirmed by the election result in September, which she likes to refer to as the “citizens’ vote”.