# Wegner senate

The Wegner senate is the current state government of Berlin, sworn in on 27 April 2023 after Kai Wegner was elected as Governing Mayor of Berlin by the members of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin. It is the 29th Senate of Berlin.
It was formed after the 2023 Berlin repeat state election by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD). Excluding the Governing Mayor, the senate comprises ten ministers, called Senators. Five are members of the SPD, four are members of the CDU, and one is an independent politician (nominated by the CDU).

## Formation

The previous Senate was a coalition government of the SPD, Left, and Greens led by Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey of the SPD.
The election took place on 12 February 2023, and resulted in a clear victory for the opposition CDU, moved from third to first place with 28% of the vote on a swing of ten percentage points. The SPD declined to 18.5% and finished just 53 votes ahead of the Greens. The Left recorded a small decline and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) a small improvement.
Overall, the outgoing coalition retained a reduced majority. After talks with several parties, on 1 March the SPD vote 25 to 12 to seek negotiations with the CDU for a grand coalition. Negotiations began on 13 March and concluded on 3 April, with the two parties presenting a 135-page agreement. It was subsequently submitted for approval by the SPD membership. The results of the vote were announced on 23 April, with 54.3% voting in favour on a turnout of 64%.
The Abgeordnetenhaus elected Wegner as Governing Mayor on 27 April. He failed to win the first two ballots and was elected on the third, winning won 86 votes out of 159 cast, with 70 against, and three abstentions.
Governing Mayor election Kai Wegner (CDU) :
| Ballot → | Ballot → | 27 April 2023 | 27 April 2023 | 27 April 2023 |
| Required majority → | Required majority → | 80 out of 159 | 80 out of 159 | Simple majority |
| | For | 71 / 159 N | 79 / 159 N | 86 / 159 Y |
| | Against | 86 / 159 | 79 / 159 | 70 / 159 |
| | Abstentions | 1 / 159 | 1 / 159 | 3 / 159 |
| | Invalid | 1 / 159 | 0 / 159 | 0 / 159 |

## Policy

In May 2023, the Wegner government created the role of Queer Berlin Liaison Officer.

## Composition

| Portfolio | Senator | Party | Took office | Left office | State secretaries |
| Governing Mayor of Berlin Senate Chancellery | Kai Wegner born (1972-09-15) 15 September 1972 (age 52) | CDU | 27 April 2023 | Incumbent | Florian Graf (Head of the Senate Chancellery) |
| Deputy MayorSenator for Economy, Energy and Enterprise | Franziska Giffey born (1978-05-03) 3 May 1978 (age 46) | SPD | 27 April 2023 | Incumbent | Severin Fischer Michael Biel |
| Deputy MayorSenator for Finance | Stefan Evers born (1979-10-10) 10 October 1979 (age 45) | CDU | 27 April 2023 | Incumbent | Tanja Mildenberger (Finance) Wolfgang Schyrocki (Personnel) |
| Senator for Culture and Social Cohesion | Joe Chialo born (1970-07-18) 18 July 1970 (age 54) | CDU | 27 April 2023 | Incumbent | Sarah Wedl-Wilson (Culture) Oliver Friederici (Civic Engagement and Democracy) |
| Senator for Urban Development, Construction and Housing | Christian Gaebler born (1964-12-08) 8 December 1964 (age 60) | SPD | 27 April 2023 | Incumbent | Alexander Slotty Stephan Machulik Petra Kahlfeldt (Construction Director) |
| Senator for Interior and Sport | Iris Spranger born (1961-09-19) 19 September 1961 (age 63) | SPD | 27 April 2023 | Incumbent | Christian Hochgrebe (Interior) Nicola Böcker-Giannini (Sport) |
| Senator for Education, Youth and Family | Katharina Günther-Wünsch born (1983-04-03) 3 April 1983 (age 41) | CDU | 27 April 2023 | Incumbent | Falko Liecke (Youth) Torsten Kühne (School Construction) Christina Henke (Interior School Affairs) |
| Senator for Science, Health and Care | Ina Czyborra born (1966-06-23) 23 June 1966 (age 58) | SPD | 27 April 2023 | Incumbent | Ellen Haußdörfer (Health) Henry Marx (Science) |
| Senator for Labour, Social Affairs, Equality, Integration, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination | Cansel Kiziltepe born (1975-10-08) 8 October 1975 (age 49) | SPD | 27 April 2023 | Incumbent | Aziz Bozkurt (Social Affairs) Max Landero (Integration and Anti-Discrimination) Micha Klapp (Labour and Equality) |
| Senator for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and Environment | Manja Schreiner born (1978-04-29) 29 April 1978 (age 46) | CDU | 27 April 2023 | Incumbent | Britta Behrendt (Environment) Claudia Stutz (Transport) |
| Senator for Justice and Consumer Protection | Felor Badenberg born (1975-05-21) 21 May 1975 (age 49) | Ind. (CDU nomination) | 27 April 2023 | Incumbent | Dirk Feuerberg (Justice) Esther Uleer (Consumer Protection) |