It could have been so easy for the Interior Minister and CDU state chairman Holger Stahlknecht. He must fill a vacant undersecretary of state in his ministry - a wonderful opportunity to pacify the rebellious right wing within the party for years. Make a sign for the police.
But Stahlknecht, as it is now heard in Saxony-Anhalt many times, messed it up terrific.
Ironically, his old acquaintance, the controversial police Commander Rainer Wendt, he wanted to get to Magdeburg. For years, the chairman of the German police union has been making shrill headlines.
In the Saxon election campaign, he advised CDU chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer indirectly, but please "to make clear statements or shut up." Wendt presented himself as one of the most efficient defenders of the hunted constitutional protection president Hans-Georg Maaßen.
Also critical: For ten years as a full-time trade unionist until his retirement in 2017, he still had a part-time job as a police officer. The Ministry of the Interior in North Rhine-Westphalia classified the case as unlawful.
Jumping over twelve grades
Should Stahlknecht not have seen how much his decision provoked? On Friday afternoon, the Ministry of the Interior sent out only a brief press release - the violent reactions were not long in coming. The coalition partners SPD and Greens announced on the weekend, to face the personnel.
Jumping over twelve grades would have been necessary in order to bring the policeman Wendt to the head of the administration. This promotion in turn requires approval in the Cabinet. SPD and Greens transposed.
Annette Riedl / DPA
Rainer Wendt: "The command came from the Chancellery"
And even in their own ranks the decision made for irritations. According to the SPIEGEL, Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff was informed only on Friday when Wendt had already agreed. Stahlknecht therefore submitted the offer to Wendt on Thursday. On Wednesday, the three had met at the National Congress of the German police union in the Maritim Hotel in Magdeburg.
Sunday evening then: the brakes.
Stahlknecht says Wendt has withdrawn his commitment.
Wendt says that Stahlknecht has withdrawn his offer. Word agains word.
Wendt even claims that the Chancellor's Office got involved. Angela Merkel's government spokesman Steffen Seibert denied this on Monday.
In your own party, the back and forth of the Interior Minister provides a lot of excitement. Stahlknecht had not informed the faction, had now made itself to the "staffage", as a member of the SPIEGEL says.
"As a country, we are again in focus for a cause that we could have given ourselves," complained CDU member of parliament Harry Lienau told SPIEGEL.
"Completely incomprehensible"
Even more clearly expressed the CDU parliamentarian Detlef Gürth to Stahlknecht and Haseloff: "For me, this is completely incomprehensible, it's like bungee jumping." Climbing on the crane, make thick cheeks to pose, then secretly climb down again. Gürth told SPIEGEL: "Now there are two people without eggs.
The parliamentarian Frank Scheurell feels reminded of historic times of power erosion in view of the rolling course of his party chairman Stahlknecht. "I remember the times of 1989 in the GDR, because I see parallels," he told the SPIEGEL.
For Stahlknecht it could have been the biggest mistake of his career, some believe. For not only the liberal part of his party, he brought against himself, who already speculated that Stahlknecht had purposefully explode the coalition for their own ambitions. But also parts of the right wing, because none of them was taken into account and instead someone was taken from outside.
Even the state chairman of the German police union in Saxony-Anhalt is irritated. Should Wendt now be his superior in the police? "That might have been a difficult situation," said Olaf Sendel the SPIEGEL. Hans-Georg Maaßen demanded via Twitter the resignation of Stahlknecht.
Another disappointment is that Stahlknecht did not manage to retain Secretary of State Tamara Zieschang in his ministry. It is considered technically strong and is recognized across campuses. Stahlknecht has now let her go to Berlin to the Ministry of Transport.
The CDU chief Stahlknecht is considered for many years as the most promising successor to the Prime Minister of Haseloff. How does he continue after this bitter defeat? Next week, MEPs want to confront him in the group meeting.