Health Minister: Will Laumann succeed Lauterbach?

The chairman of the CDU's workers' wing, Dennis Radtke, is suggesting Karl-Josef Laumann, Minister of Labor, Health, and Social Affairs in North Rhine-Westphalia, as a possible Federal Minister of Health. Laumann would be "a perfectly suited candidate for the position," Radtke told the Tagesspiegel newspaper. He served successfully as Minister of Health in North Rhine-Westphalia for many years and organized an exemplary hospital reform. According to the coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and the SPD, the health ministry of the new government will go to the CDU .

Radtke said of Laumann, his longtime predecessor at the head of the Christian Democratic Employees' Association (CDA): "He is down-to-earth, approachable, and knows where people's needs lie." Laumann participated in the coalition negotiations in the health working group. Before moving to Düsseldorf in 2017, the 67-year-old also served as State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health and the government's patient representative.

With the coalition agreement it became clear that there would be no extension for the acting Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach is no longer coming. "It's no secret, I would have liked to continue working as minister," the SPD politician said. "But I am confident that my successor will successfully handle these tasks and wish him much luck and success."

Tino Sorge, currently the health policy spokesperson for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, is also being considered as a possible successor to Lauterbach. In an interview with PZ last week, Sorge spoke about, among other things, a rapid strengthening of pharmacies and stricter regulations for mail-order businesses.