Overview
- Agriculture Minister Hanka Mittelstädt formally requested that Minister‑President Dietmar Woidke relieve Staatssekretär Gregor Beyer of his duties, a step she said was taken in agreement with Beyer.
- The ministry will examine another role for Beyer in state service, and department head Frank Reichel is temporarily covering his responsibilities while Beyer is on leave.
- Tensions escalated after Beyer publicly floated a 15% wolf cull and later spoke of removing a third of the population, citing up to 1,600 animals versus the Landesumweltamt’s count of about 550.
- Mittelstädt will personally lead the upcoming Wolfs‑Plenum and intends to base decisions on official data, with any binding quotas deferred until stakeholder consultations are completed.
- Political leaders, including the BSW’s Niels‑Olaf Lüders, urged a swift replacement; potential successor names such as Arne Feuring appear in single‑source reports and are unconfirmed.