Söder throws in the ZDF control committee
Created: 2023-01-10 21:23
By: Andreas Schmid
Markus Söder visiting Markus Lanz © Markus Hertrich/ZDF
From now on, Markus Söder will no longer be on the ZDF Council.
The CSU politician resigned from office due to "extensive obligations".
Munich/Mainz – The ZDF board of directors should monitor the work of the ZDF director and pay attention to the profitability of the “second German television”.
There are also a few politicians on the twelve-person board;
until recently also Markus Söder.
The Bavarian Prime Minister has now resigned from the council.
Söder no longer in the ZDF committee: CSU boss has “extensive obligations”
At the request of the German Press Agency, the office of the control body announced that the CSU politician had resigned from his position as a member of the board of directors in December with immediate effect.
A spokesman for the Bavarian State Chancellery explained the reason: "The membership in the ZDF board of directors was resigned in December after four years, since extensive obligations in Bavaria unfortunately do not allow further activity."
It remained unclear what extensive obligations Söder had.
It is probably about the upcoming state elections in October 2023. The CSU boss has already started the election campaign by clearly distancing himself from the Greens and calling for a continuation of the coalition with the Free Voters as a goal.
In an interview with the
Münchner Merkur
, Söder said: "We want to continue governing together with the free voters.
There will be no black and green in Bavaria.
We don't need any traffic light hiccups, we need a reliable civil government for the Free State."
ZDF Board of Directors: Three heads of government will remain
A successor for Söder's place is not yet known.
The Prime Ministers' Conference decides on personal details for state representatives for the ZDF Council.
Three heads of state are currently still represented on the supervisory body: the Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD, Chair), Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) and Saxony-Anhalt Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU).
The council has twelve members.
Eight are elected by the second supervisory body, the Television Council.
These eight members may neither be part of a government nor a member of the Bundestag or state parliaments.
There are also four representatives from the federal states.
There are also some politicians on ARD committees: Ilse Aigner (CSU) is chairwoman of the BR administrative board, the former Hessian MP Armin Clauss (SPD) heads the HR administrative board.
(as with dpa material)