Change in the Ministry of Finance
Lindner replaces four department heads
01/17/2023, 05:40 am
The introductory phase is over: After a little more than a year as finance minister, Christian Lindner is exchanging staff. Four management positions are getting a new face.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has replaced four of his department heads. He wanted to “focus the setup of the BMF more on our political projects and give the organization a long-term strategic perspective,” the FDP leader explained his decision in a letter to the employees, which is available to the German Press Agency.
After the change of government a little over a year ago, Lindner took over many of his predecessor Olaf Scholz’s employees in the Ministry of Finance – unlike other ministers who took their confidants with them to the new place of work. Lindner had explained that he wanted to get to know and understand the structures and processes in the ministry for a year.
Now he is sending several previous department heads – with “thanks and appreciation” – into temporary retirement. This includes, for example, Rolf Möhlenbrock, head of the important tax department, and Tanja Mildenberger, head of the customs department, which is also responsible for combating money laundering. The money laundering department in particular made negative headlines recently because thousands of suspicious activity reports had not been processed. The tax department cut a rather poor figure with the annual tax law: although the valuation criteria for inheriting real estate have been increased, the tax exemptions have not been adjusted.
The head of the central department for many years, Martina Stahl-Hoepner, was also placed on temporary retirement. The use of department head VI expires at the end of January. As a successor, Lindner recruited, among other things, two new department heads from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.