The second Weil cabinet was the state government of Lower Saxony between 2017 and 2022, sworn in on 22 November 2017 after Stephan Weil was elected as Minister-President of Lower Saxony by the members of the Landtag of Lower Saxony. It was the 29th Cabinet of Lower Saxony.

Second Cabinet of Stephan Weil
Weil II

29th Cabinet of Lower Saxony
22 November 2017 – 7 November 2022
Stephan Weil in February 2018
Date formed22 November 2017
Date dissolved7 November 2022
People and organisations
Minister-PresidentStephan Weil
Deputy Minister-PresidentBernd Althusmann
No. of ministers10
Member partiesSocial Democratic Party
Christian Democratic Union
Status in legislatureGrand coalition government
105 / 137
Opposition partiesAlliance 90/The Greens
Free Democratic Party
Alternative for Germany
History
Election2017 Lower Saxony state election
Legislature term18th Landtag of Lower Saxony
PredecessorFirst Weil cabinet
SuccessorThird Weil cabinet

It was formed after the 2017 Lower Saxony state election by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Excluding the Minister-President, the cabinet comprised ten ministers. Five were members of the SPD and five were members of the CDU.

The second Weil cabinet was succeeded by the third Weil cabinet on 8 November 2022.

Formation

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The previous cabinet was a coalition government of the SPD and The Greens led by Minister-President Stephan Weil of the SPD.

The election took place on 15 October 2017, and resulted in a modest improvement for the SPD and losses for the Greens. The opposition CDU fell to second place behind the SPD. The FDP also took small losses, while the AfD debuted at 6%.

Overall, the incumbent coalition lost its majority as the decline in Greens support outweighed SPD gains. The FDP ruled out a coalition with the SPD and Greens while the Greens ruled out a coalition with the CDU and FDP, leaving a grand coalition of the SPD and CDU as the only practical option. The two parties agreed to begin discussions on 26 October.[1] On 16 November, they announced that they had come to an agreement, which was approved by the SPD party congress two days later[2] and the CDU congress on the 20th.[3] It was formally signed the next day.

Weil was elected as Minister-President by the Landtag on 22 November 2017, winning 104 votes out of 137 cast.[4]

Composition

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Portfolio Minister Party Took office Left office State secretaries
Minister-President   Stephan Weil
born (1958-12-15)15 December 1958
SPD 22 November 2017 7 November 2022
  • Jörg Mielke (Head of the State Chancellery)
  • Anke Pörksen (Speaker for the State Government)
Deputy Minister-President
Minister for Economics, Labour, Transport and Digitalisation
  Bernd Althusmann
born (1966-12-03)3 December 1966
CDU 22 November 2017 7 November 2022
  • Berend Lindner (Economics, Labour and Transport)
  • Stefan Muhle (Digitalisation)
Minister for Interior and Sport   Boris Pistorius
born (1960-03-14)14 March 1960
SPD 22 November 2017 7 November 2022
  • Stephan Manke
Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection   Barbara Otte-Kinast
born (1964-09-18)18 September 1964
CDU 22 November 2017 7 November 2022
  • Ludwig Theuvsen
Minister for Finance   Reinhold Hilbers
born (1964-07-25)25 July 1964
CDU 22 November 2017 7 November 2022
  • Doris Nordmann
Minister for Justice Barbara Havliza
born (1958-03-13)13 March 1958
CDU 22 November 2017 7 November 2022
  • Frank-Thomas Hett
Minister for Education   Grant Hendrik Tonne
born (1976-06-22)22 June 1976
SPD 22 November 2017 7 November 2022
  • Gaby Willamowius
Minister for Science and Culture   Björn Thümler
born (1970-11-22)22 November 1970
CDU 22 November 2017 7 November 2022
  • Sabine Johannsen
Minister for Environment, Energy, Construction and Climate Protection   Olaf Lies
born (1967-05-08)8 May 1967
SPD 22 November 2017 7 November 2022
  • Frank Doods
Minister of Social Affairs, Health, and Equality   Carola Reimann
born (1967-08-25)25 August 1967
SPD 22 November 2017 1 March 2021
  • Heiger Scholz
  Daniela Behrens [de]
born (1968-05-12)12 May 1968
SPD 5 March 2021 7 November 2022
  • Heiger Scholz
Minister for Federal and European Affairs and Regional Development   Birgit Honé
born (1960-11-08)8 November 1960
SPD 22 November 2017 7 November 2022
  • Matthias Wunderling-Weilbier
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  • "The Lower Saxon State Government". Niedersachsen.de (in German). Retrieved 13 March 2022.

References

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