First Bovenschulte senate

The first Bovenschulte senate was the state government of Bremen from 2019 to 2023, sworn in on 15 August 2019 after Andreas Bovenschulte was elected as Mayor by the members of the Bürgerschaft of Bremen. It was the 25th Senate of Bremen.

Senate of Andreas Bovenschulte Senate Bovenschulte
25th Senate of Bremen
15 August 2019 – 5 July 2023
Andreas Bovenschulte in December 2019
Date formed	15 August 2019
Date dissolved	5 July 2023
People and organisations
Mayor	Andreas Bovenschulte
Deputy Mayor	Maike Schaefer
No. of ministers	8
Member parties	Social Democratic Party Alliance 90/The Greens The Left
Status in legislature	Coalition government 49 / 84
Opposition parties	Christian Democratic Union Alternative for Germany Free Democratic Party Citizens in Rage
History
Election	2019 Bremen state election
Legislature term	20th Bürgerschaft of Bremen
Predecessor	Sieling senate
Successor	Second Bovenschulte senate

It was formed after the 2019 Bremen state election by the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE), and The Left (LINKE), and was the first government in a former West German state to include the Left party. Excluding the Mayor, the senate comprised eight ministers, called Senators. Three were members of the SPD, three were members of the Greens, and two were members of The Left.

Formation

See also: 2019 Bremen state election

The previous Senate was a coalition government of the SPD and Greens led by Mayor Carsten Sieling of the SPD.

The election took place on 26 May 2019, and resulted in substantial losses for the SPD and an improvement for the Greens. The opposition CDU narrowly surpassed the SPD to become the largest party for the first time in the state's history. The Left recorded a small swing, while the AfD and FDP remained steady on 6% each. BiW retained their single seat in Bremerhaven.

After the election, CDU leader Carsten Meyer-Heder said, that he hoped to become Mayor in a coalition with the Greens and FDP, while the SPD and Left called for a coalition between the Greens and their two parties. The Greens stated that they were open to both possibilities.^[1]

After holding consultations with various parties, the Greens announced on 5 June that they would seek a coalition with the SPD and Left.^[2] Negotiations between the three parties began on 12 June. They finalised their coalition agreement on 1 July.^[3]

On the same day, Carsten Sieling announced that, due to the losses suffered by the SPD in the election, he would not stand for re-election as Mayor.^[4] On 6 July, the SPD state congress nominated Andreas Bovenschulte, who had been elected as parliamentary group leader the previous week, as Sieling's successor with 140 votes out of 146.^[5] The SPD, Greens, and Left officially signed the coalition agreement on 13 August.^[6]

Bovenschulte was elected Mayor by the Bürgerschaft on 15 August, winning 47 votes out of 82 cast.^[7]

Composition

Portfolio	Senator		Party		Took office	Left office	State secretaries
President of the Senate and Mayor Senator for Religious Affairs Senator for Culture		Andreas Bovenschulte born (1965-08-11) 11 August 1965 (age 59)		SPD	15 August 2019	4 July 2023	Thomas Emke (Head of the Senate Chancellery) Olaf Joachim (Federal, Media, Development Cooperation, and Int'l Affairs, Representative to the Federal Government) Carmen Emigholz (Culture)
Mayor Senator for Climate Protection, Environment, Mobility, Urban Development and Housing Construction		Maike Schaefer born (1971-06-02) 2 June 1971 (age 53)		GRÜNE	15 August 2019	4 July 2023	Ronny Meyer (Climate Protection, Environment and Mobility) Gabriele Nießen (Urban Development, Housing Construction and Central Affairs)
Senator for Health, Women and Consumer Protection Senate Commissioner for the Fulfilment of Women's Equality		Claudia Bernhard born (1961-02-09) 9 February 1961 (age 63)		LINKE	15 August 2019	4 July 2023	Silke Stroth
Senator for Finance Senate Commissioner for Data Protection		Dietmar Strehl born (1956-05-24) 24 May 1956 (age 68)		GRÜNE	15 August 2019	4 July 2023	Silke Krebs Martin Hagen
Senator for Interior		Ulrich Mäurer born (1951-07-14) 14 July 1951 (age 73)		SPD	15 August 2019	4 July 2023	Olaf Bull
Senator for Justice and Constitution Senator for Science and Harbours		Claudia Schilling born (1968-06-13) 13 June 1968 (age 56)		SPD	15 August 2019	4 July 2023	Björn Tschöpe (Justice and Constitution) Tim Cordßen-Ryglewski (Science and Harbours)
Senator for Children and Education		Claudia Bogedan born (1975-04-07) 7 April 1975 (age 49)		SPD	15 August 2019	7 July 2021	Arnhild Moning
		Sascha Karolin Aulepp born (1970-09-24) 24 September 1970 (age 54)		SPD	7 July 2021	4 July 2023	Regine Komoss
Senator for Social Affairs, Youth, Integration and Sport		Anja Stahmann born (1967-06-30) 30 June 1967 (age 57)		GRÜNE	15 August 2019	4 July 2023	Jan Fries
Senator for Economics, Labour and Europe		Kristina Vogt born (1965-06-03) 3 June 1965 (age 59)		LINKE	15 August 2019	4 July 2023	Kai Stührenberg (Labour and Europe) Sven Wiebe (Economics)

References

1. "27 May 2019". Die Zeit (in German). 27 May 2019.
2. Schirrmeister, Benno (5 June 2019). "Green choose red". Die Tageszeitung (in German).
3. "Red-green-red coalition in Bremen is set". Die Zeit (in German). 1 July 2019.
4. "Personal statement by the President of the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen". Press Office of the Senate of Bremen (in German). 1 July 2019.
5. "Mayor candidate for Bremen: SPD nominates Bovenschulte". ZDF (in German). 6 July 2019.
6. "Coalition agreement signed in Bremen". Der Spiegel (in German). 13 August 2019.
7. "Andreas Bovenschulte is the new head of government in Bremen". Die Zeit (in German). 15 August 2019.

External links

• "The composition of the Senate". State Portal of Bremen (in German). Retrieved 11 March 2022.