Lorenz Caffier

Lorenz Caffier (2019)

Lorenz Caffier (born December 24, 1954 in Weixdorf ) is a German politician ( CDU ). From 2006 to 2020 he was Interior Minister of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and from 2011 to 2020 Deputy Prime Minister. In 2020 he resigned from office because of a controversial private arms purchase from a right-wing extremist .

Life and work

Caffier was born in Weixdorf near Dresden as the third son of the evangelical pastor and state-affiliated GDR church functionary Wolfgang Caffier and his wife Ingetraut . After attending the Polytechnic High School (POS), Caffier completed vocational training with a high school diploma as a forestry worker and then did 18-month military service in the National People's Army .

In 1976 he began studying at the engineering college in Berlin-Wartenberg , which he finished in 1980 as a " graduate engineer for agricultural and forestry technology" - according to the unification agreement of 1990, equivalent to a diploma at a technical college , abbreviated to "graduate engineer (FH)".

He then worked from 1980 to 1983 as a customer service engineer at Kombinat Progress Agricultural Machinery in Neubrandenburg . He then took over the technical management of LPG (P) Lichtenberg. From 1989 to 1990 he was its chairman. With the dissolution of the LPG, he lost his position a little later and from then on devoted himself to politics.

Lorenz Caffier is married and has four children.

politics

Political party

Caffier joined the GDR CDU in 1979 . He describes his entry as follows: “I am what people called a recorder after reunification .” From 1990 to 2005 he was chairman of the CDU district association Mecklenburg-Strelitz and from 1993 to 2005 state treasurer of the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. From 2005 to 2009 Caffier was Secretary General of the CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . Finally, from November 2009 to April 2017, he was the state chairman of the CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. He succeeded Jürgen Seidel in this office. He was succeeded by Vincent Kokert on April 8, 2017 .

Interior minister

Caffier (right in the picture) at the end of the 209th Conference of Interior Ministers from November 28 to 30, 2018 in Magdeburg with Boris Pistorius , Horst Seehofer and Holger Stahlknecht .

After the state elections in 2006, a grand coalition was formed in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . On November 7, 2006, Caffier was appointed Minister of the Interior and Sport by the then Prime Minister Harald Ringstorff ( SPD ) . After the government reshuffle on October 6, 2008, due to the resignation of Ringstorff as Prime Minister, the Interior Department continued to be his responsibility. From 2006 until he left the state government, he was Chairman of the Defense Committee of the Federal Council .

Caffier served as Interior Minister (from 2006 to 2016 "Minister for Interior and Sport", and from 2016 to 2020 "Minister for Interior and Europe") of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Cabinets Ringstorff III , Sellering I , II and III and in Cabinet Schwesig I .

As Minister of the Interior, Lorenz Caffier was responsible for the security of the 2007 World Economic Summit in Heiligendamm , in connection with which he donated a state medal through Realakt . One focus of his work was the fight against right-wing extremism . A decree by Lorenz Caffier in the tradition of the radical decree was intended to enable right-wing extremists to be appointed to public honorary posts such as B. prevent honorary mayors. While support came from the ranks of the SPD and the Left Party, the project was supported by the City and Local Council, but a different solution was sought (Statement from the City and Local Council LT-Drs.5 / 2161: It is to be criticized that the election committee and not the legal supervisory authority decides on the civil service qualification.); Alliance 90 / The Greens and other associations rejected it. In 2019 he replaced LKA boss Ingolf Mager with Rogan Liebmann.

Lorenz Caffier was also Minister for a comprehensive administrative reform in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, such as district reform , functional reform and municipal financial equalization. His policy was aimed at strengthening internal security through the reorganization of the state police and increased efforts to consolidate municipal budgets.

He was spokesman for the CDU-led interior ministries and interior authorities of the federal states on the party ban proceedings against the NPD .

On November 17, 2020, he announced his resignation as Minister of the Interior and Europe in a personal statement. He justified this with the way the media reported after it became known that he had bought a weapon from a dealer who was a member of the right-wing extremist group Nordkreuz . Because of the suggested proximity of his person to right-wing circles, he no longer had the necessary authority for the office. His successor was Torsten Renz .

Choose

Caffier at the closing event for the 2016 state election of the CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with Angela Merkel in Bad Doberan

From March to October 1990 , Caffier belonged to the first freely elected People's Chamber in the GDR .

From 1990 to 2021 he was a member of the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . From 1990 to 2006 he was parliamentary managing director and spokesman for sports policy for the CDU parliamentary group. During this time he was also a member of the Presidium of the State Sports Association of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . Most recently, he moved into the state parliament in 2016 through the direct mandate of the Mecklenburg Lake District V constituency . From 1994 to 2006, Caffier was a member of the Mecklenburg-Strelitz district council , where he held the position of deputy district council president and parliamentary group leader.

As the top candidate in the state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2011, Caffier won the CDU's lowest election result in the state's history with 23.0% of the votes, and as the top candidate for the state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2016 , another lower final result of 19.0% Voices. Both times he was defeated by the incumbent Prime Minister Erwin Sellering . In the state elections in 2016, the CDU was only the third strongest force under his leadership after the SPD and AfD and also lost numerous direct mandates from candidates of these parties that were still won in 2011. He rejected questions from journalists and supporters of the CDU base after his resignation, criticism of his election campaign and allegations that his primary concern was his “post” as Minister of the Interior.

He did not stand for the state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2021 .

Controversy

Holiday home on Usedom

In 2007, Caffier bought 54 square meters of land directly on the Nepperminer See from the municipality of Benz on Usedom for 2700 euros with a construction ban because of the reed belt there, which is legally protected according to § 30 BNatSchG . The sale was carried out by the CDU mayor of Benz, whose wife bought the neighboring property; two other adjacent properties were also sold. Months before the purchase, soil had been illegally dumped into the lake beyond the property line. Caffier then bought another 113 square meters of former water area from federal property. Holiday homes were built on the land. In August 2019, Caffier failed with an injunction before the Stralsund district court against the SPD district council member Günther Jikeli, whom Caffier wanted to ban from calling the construction of his house unlawful and illegal.

Gun purchase

Since March 2020 there has been a report that Caffier had purchased a gun from Frank T., a member of the banned right-wing extremist group Nordkreuz , and had received shooting training from him. Inquiries from the taz to the responsible ministry of the interior were unsuccessful. T. is the organizer of the "Special Forces Workshop", in which police forces complete shooting training and which was co-organized by the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Criminal Police Office until 2018 . The shooting range belongs to Frank T's company Baltic Shooters and, according to research by the taz, is a central location for the activities of the Nordkreuz group. In November 2020, Caffier stated that he had acquired a handgun for use in hunting in early 2018 - Caffier has been a hunter for 40 years. Furthermore, Caffier stated that at the time of purchase T. was not yet under suspicion and was considered a reliable training partner for the police at home and abroad. “However,” wrote the taz , “the name of the arms dealer was already mentioned in July 2017 in the testimony of a whistleblower to federal authorities about the activities of the right-wing extremist ' prepper ' network Nordkreuz. Information thereon was then issued to the National Office for State Protection MV, but there appears to be still. "End of December 2021, the Local Court Güstrow against Caffier a punishment due to taking advantage of 45 daily rates à 300 euros, 13,500 euros and ordered the confiscation the gun on. The penalty order is not yet legally binding.

Honorary positions

Since 2007, Caffier has been chairman of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania regional association in the German War Graves Commission .

Web links

Commons : Lorenz Caffier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Evidence and Notes

1. ^ Ministry of the Interior and Europe: Resignation of Interior Minister Lorenz Caffier on November 17, 2020. In: Government portal MV: Press release no.209. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania - State Chancellery, November 17, 2020, accessed on November 17, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Lorenz Caffier: Machinist of State Power. ( Memento from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) In: Financial Times Deutschland. June 4, 2007.
3. ↑ Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: No honorary posts for rights
4. ↑ DANIEL SCHULZ / ANDREAS SPEIT: Neo-Nazis are not allowed to hold honorary posts . In: The daily newspaper: taz . March 5, 2007, ISSN  0931-9085 , p. 6 ( taz.de [accessed December 28, 2021]).
5. ^ NDR: News from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Retrieved December 28, 2021 . 
6. ↑ Portal of the Ministry of the Interior ( Memento of October 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
7. ^ Government portal of the state government on Rubicon
8. ↑ www.bpb.de, Federal Agency for Civic Education , October 16, 2013, accessed on November 16, 2020
9. ↑ Current: Personal statement by Interior Minister Lorenz Caffier. State government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , November 17, 2020, accessed on December 16, 2020 . 
10. ↑ Members of previous terms. Mecklenburg Vorpommern State Parliament, accessed on December 27, 2021 . The members of the state parliament. Mecklenburg Vorpommern State Parliament, accessed on December 27, 2021 . 
     
11. ^ Caffier, Lorenz. In: Member of the 7th electoral term. Mecklenburg Vorpommern State Parliament, accessed on December 27, 2021 . 
12. ↑ "No personnel consequences after the election" , report of the NDR from September 5, 2016
13. ^ "Resignation demands on Caffier and Holter" , report of the Ostsee-Zeitung of September 12, 2016
14. ^ "After the election debacle: displeasure at the CDU base" , report of the NDR of September 13, 2016
15. ↑ Interior Minister Caffier is not running for the state parliament in 2021
16. ↑ The district of Vorpommern-Greifswald subsequently legalized the landfill by changing the development plan in an area with a construction ban. Alleged tourism development projects served as justification, but these were never realized. In 2010 sheet piling was put in place and more soil was tipped over into reed beds. The backfill was partly carried out with contaminated material from road construction. Over the years, around 800 square meters of protected reeds disappeared as a result of the embankment. Later on, holiday homes were built on the land, for which the 2007 development plan stipulated two compensatory measures, namely the creation of a pond and the planting of a 75-meter-long hedge . However, none of this was implemented by November 2018. Nevertheless, both the Usedom-Süd office and the Vorpommern-Greifswald district claimed that the compensatory measures had been implemented. The hedge was then planted by September 2019 while the pond was not created, as the intended area, according to the Usedom-Süd office, is not worthy of renaturation. The illegal landfills carried out since 2007 and the non-implemented compensatory measures did not have any legal consequences.
17. ↑ Usedom: So far no compensation for holiday homes , NDR.de from November 15, 2018
18. ↑ www.mv-justiz.de , "Civil proceedings because of the request for an injunction by Interior Minister Caffier against statements in connection with his private holiday home", August 15, 2019, accessed on November 16, 2020
19. ↑ Annette Großbongardt, Horand Knaup: (S +) Lorenz Caffier: Construction of a holiday home on Usedom under questionable circumstances . In: The mirror . September 6, 2019, ISSN  2195-1349 ( spiegel.de [accessed December 28, 2021]).
20. ↑ "Prepper rights in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: The private weapon of Lorenz Caffier" taz.de, accessed on November 13, 2020
21. ↑ Sebastian Leber: Buying weapons in the right-wing extremist environment: Strange reluctance - Caffier's tactics in the Nordkreuz complex , tagesspiegel.de, November 16, 2020, accessed on November 17, 2020.
22. ↑ "MV Interior Minister must clarify the background", faz.net, November 13, 2020
23. ↑ Arms affair around the state interior minister: Lorenz Caffier gives up office . In: The daily newspaper: taz . November 17, 2020, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed November 19, 2020]).
24. ↑ Lorenz Caffier: Order of punishment for 13,500 euros against Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's former interior minister. In: spiegel.de . December 27, 2021, accessed December 27, 2021 .