Steffen Bilger Becomes New Federal Transport Minister – The CDU's Personnel Reshuffle Leaves a Trail of Wreckage

Schnieder himself had announced on Sunday evening via the platform X that he had asked Federal Chancellor Merz and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to dismiss him. "Mit diesem Schritt ziehe ich die Konsequenzen aus den Entwicklungen der vergangenen Tage und will zugleich den unwürdigen Zustand beenden, der die notwendige sachliche Arbeit unmöglich macht," the CDU politician from Rhineland-Palatinate wrote. According to dpa information, Schnieder had been on vacation in Iceland when he learned via SMS from lawmakers that the Chancellor wanted to dismiss him.

The Federal Chancellor had already announced a cabinet reshuffle on Friday of last week, without naming Schnieder and without presenting a successor. According to dpa information, an initial attempt at dismissal even failed because Merz had not been able to present a successor. Financial expert Fritz Güntzler, who was for a time considered the favored candidate, had also withdrawn his acceptance overnight, it was said.

Bilger as the Designated Successor

Merz has so far given no specific reasons for Schnieder's dismissal. According to information from political Berlin, the Chancellor is said to have accused the minister of doing too little to combat the chronic chaos at Deutsche Bahn and its numerous delays. At the same time, Merz reportedly criticized that too few projects had been launched that could have been financed from the debt-financed special fund for infrastructure totaling 500 billion euros.

Bilger is regarded in political circles as a proven transport expert. He was a member of the Bundestag Transport Committee from 2009 to 2018 and subsequently Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Transport Ministry under the then-Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU), during whose tenure the "desaströse Debakel um die Pkw-Maut" occurred. He later became Parliamentary Managing Director of the CDU/CSU Bundestag parliamentary group. He is also credited with inventing the Pfaffensteig Tunnel, a successor project to Stuttgart 21 that is currently under construction. Merz praised him on Monday as a "sehr erfahrenen und gut vernetzten Kollegen" with whom he had worked together trustfully in the Bundestag for "vielen Jahren, wenn nicht Jahrzehnten."

"Ich denke, Steffen Bilger wird das sehr, sehr gut machen," Merz said at the press conference in Berlin. Bilger himself knows "alle Themen" from his earlier time as Parliamentary State Secretary. He must "Chancen nutzen, die das Investitionsprogramm aus dem Sondervermögen" biete, Merz said. At the same time, the Chancellor asked for understanding for the pace of the reforms: investments needed to flow quickly, but he added that Bilger would "keine Wunder bewirken können."

Criticism from Within the Ranks

The personnel decision is meeting with fierce criticism in parts of the CDU. The Bremen CDU state chairman Heiko Strohmann criticized Merz's handling of personnel decisions at the Federal Executive Board with the remark, "Sie leiten hier eine Partei und keine Firma." According to dpa information, there was also massive criticism of Merz in the top party bodies. The parliamentary group leader of the CDU state parliamentary group in Rhineland-Palatinate, Christoph Gensch, canceled a meeting with the Chancellor planned for September. In a letter to Merz, it said, "Ein persönlicher Austausch […] setzt aus unserer Sicht ein Mindestmaß an gegenseitigem Vertrauen und Wertschätzung voraus, was durch die aktuelle Situation so leider nicht gegeben ist." The manner in which Schnieder had been treated had caused "erhebliches Unverständnis" in the parliamentary group and was difficult to comprehend.

The Rhineland-Palatinate Minister-President and brother of the dismissed minister, Gordon Schnieder, had already shared a post by former Chancellery Chief of Staff Peter Altmaier on social media. Altmaier had stated on X that the treatment of Patrick Schnieder left him "fassungslos und wütend." Altmaier wrote, the treatment of him left him "betroffen & wütend und weder seiner Person noch seiner Leistung gerecht." He called Schnieder "einen erfahrenen Fachmann, harten Arbeiter und großartigen Menschen und Freund." CDU veteran Wolfgang Bosbach told the Handelsblatt that Schnieder "habe das nicht verdient."

CDU state parliament member Dennis Junk told SWR, "Die Basis von uns ist völlig schockiert und fassungslos. Ich bin sehr, sehr enttäuscht." The mood in the party was "am Boden." He still did not know what Schnieder was specifically accused of. The former Health State Secretary Sorge, who also has to vacate his post, publicly accused Merz of "schlechten Stil."

Explosiveness for the Eastern German State Associations

Moritz Petry, Managing Director of the Rhineland-Palatinate Association of Towns and Municipalities (CDU), publicly called on the Chancellor to come to Rhineland-Palatinate and explain his position. Political scientist Martin Florack told Deutschlandfunk, "Hier besteht auch Potenzial für die Fraktion, sich am Kanzler schadlos zu halten." ZDF capital studio correspondent Diana Zimmermann assessed that the "Personalkarussell der CDU" was coming to a standstill, but there was great discontent over Merz's handling of the personnel matters.

In addition to Schnieder, the Saxon CDU politician Christiane Schenderlein was also replaced as Minister of State for Sports and Volunteer Service. At the time of her replacement, she was the only eastern German cabinet member in the Merz government. Saxony's Minister-President Michael Kretschmer called her the "erfolgreichste Kabinettsmitglied in der Regierung Merz" and said, "Insofern habe ich diesen Wechsel überhaupt nicht verstanden." Schenderlein had set in motion the Sports Promotion Act and founded the sports agency, bringing it to central Germany. She is to become Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Health Ministry.

In eastern Germany, party colleagues were said to be annoyed at the image the CDU was presenting just weeks before the state elections, according to party circles. Saxony-Anhalt's Minister-President Sven Schulze (CDU) told Deutschlandfunk that the past few days had "nicht unbedingt gut verlaufen," and it was "fast unmöglich" to talk about state politics at campaign stands. The AfD leads the CDU in polls in both Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Further Personnel Changes in the Cabinet

The 44-year-old Hamburg Bundestag member Franziska Hoppermann, who had previously been CDU treasurer, was unanimously elected as the new CDU General Secretary on Monday. She succeeds Carsten Linnemann, who is to become Federal Health Minister. "Mit ihr gewinnt die CDU eine selbstbewusste, eine wertebewusste, eine moderne Generalsekretärin," Merz said. Hoppermann declared, "Politik ist für mich in allererster Form aber auch ein Dienst – ein Dienst am Land und an den Menschen."

At the same time, the chair of the Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsunion, Gitta Connemann, is moving as Parliamentary State Secretary from the Economics to the Digital Ministry, where she is to focus on bureaucracy reduction. Johannes Steiniger, a Bundestag member from Rhineland-Palatinate and General Secretary of the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU, is to follow Connemann at the Economics Ministry – a step that, according to party assessment, could somewhat ease the tensions between the Rhineland-Palatinate Union and the Chancellor. Nina Warken is to succeed Thorsten Frei in the Chancellery; Frei himself is to become the new Union parliamentary group leader.

Addressing the outgoing Transport Minister Schnieder, Merz said on Wednesday that he regretted the situation that had arisen "persönlich – sehr." He would "mal davon aus[gehen], dass sich die Wogen bis zum September wieder etwas geglättet haben und dass ich selbstverständlich dann auch die Landtagsfraktion aus Rheinland-Pfalz sehe." Schnieder himself had previously announced that he considered further unexpected closures due to dilapidated bridges in Germany to be possible. The personnel reshuffle may therefore be formally