Björn Böhning: Influential Berliner in the Federal Government – ​​Klingbeil’s confidant

Once everything was over, there was beer. Chancellor Friedrich Merz had a ten-liter keg delivered from the Sauerland region to the Chancellery on Tuesday evening. A turbulent day with two rounds of voting, the appointment of ministers by the Federal President, and the first meeting of the new cabinet that evening certainly needed a team-building session to cap it off.

It is not known whether Björn Böhning, the newly appointed State Secretary in Lars Klingbeil's Federal Ministry of Finance , also participated in the socializing evening alongside the many ministers, state ministers, and state secretaries. Either way, the 46-year-old, as the quasi-head of the Vice-Chancellor's Office, is the most important Berliner in the new government.

Gone are the days when federal politics in general, and the federal government in particular, were teeming with Berliners. This became particularly clear in March 2018, the start of Angela Merkel's fourth and final term in office – it was once again a grand coalition of the CDU and SPD. Monika Grütters of the CDU remained what she had been before: Minister of State for Culture. Franziska Giffey (SPD) also catapulted herself from Neukölln City Hall directly to the top of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs .

Böhning was already State Secretary in 2018

Berlin was also well represented in the second tier, among state secretaries. For example, Finance Senator Ulrich Nußbaum (independent, SPD), quite surprisingly for many in Berlin, moved to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, alongside Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU), a friend from his student days.

Number two among the new state secretaries from Berlin at the time was Björn Böhning. He vacated his office as head of the Senate Chancellery and State Secretary for Media in the Red City Hall under fellow party member Michael Müller for one as State Secretary for "Digital Work" in the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs under Hubertus Heil (also SPD).

Müller is history , and since Monday, Heil is too—at least temporarily. Böhning is still there, or rather, he's back.

Even as State Secretary for Digital Affairs, the man once considered the hope of the Berlin SPD had already fallen silent – ​​but that didn't last long. In 2004, the Lübeck native and political science student at the Free University of Berlin became federal chairman of the Young Socialists (Jusos). Three years later, he joined Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit as head of the policy and planning department. Even then, the Berliner Zeitung described the party's left-winger as a "professional visionary," a rather poisonous compliment.

But Böhning remained in the Red City Hall, rising to head of the Senate Chancellery in 2011 and surviving the transition from Wowereit to Müller. But his star, it seemed, was already shining rather dimly.

Björn Böhning: Allegations of corruption damaged him in Berlin

This was especially true when the public prosecutor's office opened an investigation against him on suspicion of granting unfair advantages. It involved a contract with the consulting firm McKinsey, from which a former SPD state secretary, Lutz Diwell, benefited. Müller stuck with Böhning, but his reputation was damaged, even though the investigation was eventually dropped.

Things fell quiet around Böhning, and so there was little excitement when he moved to the federal government in 2018. At least there was still hope in Berlin politics that the elected capital resident still had and still has the city on the Spree in his heart. In fact, Böhning still lives in Berlin today.

In any case, the jobs at the Red City Hall and the Ministry of Labor were ideal for networking, as became clear in 2022. That's when Böhning left politics and became a lobbyist. He joined the Production Alliance, an association of German producers in film, television, and audiovisual media. There, he rose to the position of managing director and spokesperson for the board.

Böhning and Lars Klingbeil were “best buddies,” says a companion

Böhning's ability as a networker has been confirmed, especially now that Lars Klingbeil has appointed him as his State Secretary. Although Klingbeil is now part of the conservative Seeheimer Circle, Böhning has been friends with him since their time in the Young Socialists (Juso).

"They were 'best buddies,'" says someone who was able to observe the two young men from northern Germany up close. This may be fitting that Klingbeil was elected general secretary of the party at a party conference in December 2017 and , the following day, appointed Böhning's wife, Nancy Böhning, as federal executive director .

Klingbeil and Böhning are apparently still close friends. Otherwise, the new minister would hardly have appointed his former Juso buddy as a kind of Vice Chancellor's Office Minister. This is a position in which he will have to pull many strings. Among other things, he will become the coordinator of the so-called A-side, the SPD-led ministries.

Nicola Böcker-Giannini and Martin Hikel, the two SPD state chairmen, are full of anticipation. The party has assembled a strong team for the government. In response to an inquiry from the Berliner Zeitung, the two said: "With Björn Böhning, who will coordinate the SPD's government work, the most important SPD state secretary in the new federal government comes from the Berlin SPD."