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Interior Minister Nancy Faeser: "My full energy is dedicated to this office"
Photo: Andreas Gora/EPA
The »homeland« department in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, which was created at the insistence of the CSU, is given a new direction under host Nancy Faeser.
The SPD politician reported to the German Press Agency that she had “rebuilt and strengthened” the department set up under her predecessor Horst Seehofer (CSU): “I turned the homeland department into a department to strengthen our democracy, to prevent everyone form of extremism and for social cohesion.«
Faeser's change from the opposition bench in the Hessian state parliament to the head of the Federal Ministry of the Interior came as a surprise: many observers at the time had guessed that today's Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) was the first woman to hold this office.
For Faeser, too, the call to Berlin came at very short notice in December.
"I didn't have much time to think about it," said the former leader of the opposition from Hesse.
"Olaf Scholz called me on Sundays and I was in front of the camera on Mondays."
The 51-year-old has not yet responded to speculation that she could leave the cabinet prematurely in order to become the top candidate for the Hessian SPD in 2023.
She emphasizes: »I am the Federal Minister of the Interior and Homeland with heart and soul.
My full power applies to this office.«
When she took office in December, Faeser named fighting right-wing extremism as a priority.
"But I've also experienced other forms of extremism," said the minister.
In the actions against the construction of the Autobahn in the Dannenröder Forest in Hesse, for example, she "turned very sharply against violent left-wing extremism".
Wires had been stretched across the forest, at the height of the police officers' heads.
She is also very concerned with Islamist terrorism.
Just a few days ago, the attack on a meeting place for the queer community in Oslo showed how present this is in Europe.
kae/dpa
