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Eastern Germans underrepresented in government ministries

Matt Ford
June 12, 2023

Despite one fifth of Germans hailing from the east of the country, only a small number of high-ranking officials come from the region, a report has revealed. The German Left Party has called for a quota.

https://p.dw.com/p/4SSpH
Sign outside the ministry of defense in Berlin
There are no eastern Germans in leadership positions in several federal ministries in Germany, including the defense department. Image: Daniel Kalker/picture alliance

Three decades on from German reunification, eastern Germans are significantly underrepresented in the country's federal government ministries, according to a response to an information request submitted by the socialist Left Party, and reported by the media group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).

The new figures reveal that only two of the federal government's 35 parliamentary state secretaries, who are second only to federal ministers, hail from the regions which once made up the former German Democratic Republic (GDR).

The data also showed only 11 of 135 civil service department heads are from eastern Germany.

In contrast, residents of eastern Germany make up 20% of the total current population.

Calls for eastern German 'quota'

"Only two parliamentary state secretaries from the east: that is an insult to eastern Germans in general," the opposition Left Party's Sören Pellmann told RND, calling for an "eastern quota" in government ministries.

Pellmann accused the government of ignoring the German constitution, which stipulates an equal distribution of positions across all federal states, and labelled chancellor Olaf Scholz's current coalition "an explicitly western German government."

"Article 36 [of the German constitution] stipulates a fair distribution of positions across all federal states," said the Leipzig lawmaker. "The government is disregarding the constitution."

Government claims progress

Earlier this year, the government's commissioner on East German affairs, Carsten Schneider, announced a commitment to increase the number of "people of eastern German heritage" in civil service leadership positions.

According to recent figures from the Interior Ministry, current government ministers have been responsible for employing one eastern German parliamentary state secretary and nine of the eleven eastern German department heads.

The new figures reveal that the proportion of eastern German department heads is highest in the construction ministry (two of four, or 50%) and the families ministry (17%), dropping to 14.3% in the health ministry and 11.1% in work and education.

But the ministries of the interior, defense, travel, environment and development don't have a single eastern German department head between them.

"Commissioner Schneider promised a lot but has thus far delivered little," said Pellmann.

AFP material contributed to this report

Edited by: Louis Oelofse

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