Berlin.
He was Germany’s most popular politician and youngest member of parliament. Now the former health minister wants to regain power.
He was once Germany’s most popular politician, and with full mask camps he made sure that citizens felt safe for a short time during the first pandemic in centuries. Then came the case and it is currently running reinvention phase. We are talking about Jens Spahn – who was Federal Minister of Health in the cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel at the age of only 37.
Without a tie and jacket, he sits very relaxed in the office during a Bundestag session week at the end of April 2023. In the late afternoon he wants to make his way back to the constituency, where he has been invited to a party. Although there are no gaps in his appointment calendar, it is no longer as tight as it was two years ago. During his tenure, Spahn was considered Turbo-Minister.
He had the employees of his ministry for the health and care sector write one law after the other: the nursing staff strengthening law, an appointment service law with which patients can come to the doctor’s office more quickly, the measles protection law, the law for riots with anti-vaccination cared for by kindergarten parents and more. From spring 2020, the work of the CDU politician only revolved around the corona virus and the Infection Protection Act.
Donation dinner, villa purchase and the lame vaccination campaign make Spahn unpopular
Months go by with the procurement of masks, the purchase of ventilators – a life in the rush of quick decisions. In July 2020 the first involuntary caesura: Spahn and his husband Daniel Funke bought a villa in the posh Berlin district of Dahlem. The stately amount of the purchase price and the question of how the couple could finance the required 4.125 million euros was publicly discussed.
In October, the CDU politician got into trouble again criticism: an ominous fundraiser took place in the “Bridgehead Salon” in Leipzig. Allegedly, all participants transferred 9999 euros to Spahn’s CDU district association Borken – one euro below the limit from which the parties must disclose the names of the donors. The day after, the ministry informed that Spahn had tested positive for Corona. A health minister who preaches caution and at the same time interprets the contact restriction rules laxly for himself was not well received. At the turn of the year 2021, Spahn announced that the federal government wanted to offer everyone a vaccination by summer. The vaccination campaign got off to a slow start, although the minister had eagerly ordered.
Fits to: Failed as a pandemic manager: Jens Spahn’s descent
Spahn’s high-pressure phase finally ended on December 8, 2021, when his successor Karl Lauterbach (SPD) was sworn in. “It took me a while to get out of there Crisis Mode have found. During the pandemic, I had to make difficult decisions under tension and time pressure for two years.” After that, he and his husband left Berlin and went for a lot of walks, says the 42-year-old. It was striking how radically the CDU politician withdrew from the public for almost three months. No talk show, no newspaper interview.
This decay “was necessary,” he says. After the electoral defeat for the Union, many in the party are not on good terms with him. Although the Munsterlander had defended his direct mandate, but in campaign Spahn had supported the hapless chancellor candidate Armin Laschet. For the presidency of the CDU, it is enough to have the backing of party leader Friedrich Merz, but Spahn’s election result is weak.
Because of the topics of energy and economy, Spahn is in demand again
He is now the deputy parliamentary group member and appears on television as the “energy expert” of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. “I was in the mood for something new,” says Spahn. With that he has one lucky hand proven, because this combination has made him a sought-after conversation partner since the beginning of the Ukraine war. While many of his faction colleagues haven’t quite gotten over the loss of attention and service sedans with drivers, he’s found his role. “Different rules apply in the opposition, that might be good for us for once,” he comments, admitting: “Sure, it’s harder for us to get information and the relevance has decreased. But we always manage to score points.”
He no longer comments on health issues, it is not appropriate to comment on the successor in office. After the next federal election, he would probably like to sit in the cabinet again. He is 42, which is considered young in the political arena. He has not given up his ambitions for the chancellorship, but there are now even more men in the ranking ahead of him than in the last attempt: Hendrik Wüst, Markus Söder and of course Merz, with whom he says he gets along very well. In any case, Spahn is again strongly present in the media and is considered one of the best-known faces of the Union.
Also read:This is how Friedrich Merz wants to win the next federal election
What the Munsterlander has always lacked has always been his fellow combatants. Spahn is considered a particularly ambitious tactician. When asked about his allies and supporters in the party, he has to think briefly before answering: “I’m still closely connected to the Junge Union and MIT. I’ve been there for a long time and actually have good contacts in all state associations.” That certainly helped him to stay on the field after the election defeat, says Spahn and admits: “I definitely had to fight for it.” His parents gave him a lot of resilience . This robustness help in politics – through night meetings in the cabinet and possibly for the long way to the executive chair.
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