Successor from Saxony for dismissed State Secretary

Following the dismissal of State Secretary Lamia Messari-Becker from the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs, a former colleague from Saxony is to become her successor. According to the German Press Agency, Ines Fröhlich, who served as State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Dresden for five years, has been earmarked for the position. The Hessian Ministry of Economics in Wiesbaden stated: "We are not commenting on this." Hessischer Rundfunk had previously reported on Fröhlich's move to Wiesbaden. Such personnel decisions are usually also made by the cabinet in Hesse. It will next meet again this Monday (7.10.).

The SPD politician Fröhlich was born in 1964 in Karl-Marx-Stadt, now Chemnitz. She became a cook, had a daughter, completed her A-levels and became a business graduate. She worked for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, became State Secretary in the Ministry of Transport in Saxony-Anhalt in 1999 and then worked for a recruitment agency. In 2019, Fröhlich became State Secretary in the Saxon Ministry of Economic Affairs, where she said goodbye a few weeks ago with the words: "I am now looking forward to new professional challenges, which I cannot yet communicate, however."

Criticism of dismissal

In July, Hesse's Economics Minister Kaweh Mansoori (SPD) dismissed the non-party state secretary and building physics professor Messari-Becker after just six months for "misconduct" outside of her duties, according to his own press release, without giving a public reason. According to critics, he thus unfairly damaged her reputation. According to media reports, he accused her of exerting pressure for a better school grade in a parents' meeting at the school of one of her children with the position of state secretary. However, Mansoori could have legally transferred her to temporary retirement without giving reasons, only by citing a breach of trust.

The construction expert Messari-Becker, who was once accepted as a member of the world-famous Club of Rome think tank, rejected the accusations and lodged an objection. Now, at the urging of the opposition, a committee of inquiry is taking a close look at the affair in the Hessian state parliament. It will meet for the second time next Thursday (10.10.). In the meantime, a dispute has flared up behind the scenes as to whether the post of rapporteur could go to a representative of the black-red party as well as the chair. The Hessian opposition factions of the Greens, AfD and FDP have criticized this across the board.