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Merkel sacks minister on state election failure

16 May 2012 21:55 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. German chancellor Angela Merkel announced the appointment of Peter Altmaier as the new federal environment minister at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday, to replace Norbert Roettgen, who was blamed for a key state election loss on Sunday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Assuming the responsibility for CDU debacle in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany, Norbert Roettgen also resigned from the post of chairman of the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia.

"It is obvious that the implementation of energy policy still requires great effort," Merkel said, giving thanks to Norbert Roettgen for his jobs in pushing forward the German energy transition policy, and emphasized that the energy transition remains an important project for the country in a long run.

As one of the confidants of Merkel, Peter Altmaier has served as leader of the German CDU/CSU parliamentary fractions in the Bundestag, as he is now given the responsibility to further pursue the nuclear phase-out policy and push forward the stagnant development of eco-energy.

Altmaier said in a statement that millions of people work full-time or in volunteer in Germany for environmental protection, pledging "I will take their concerns seriously and represented."

Horst Seehofer, leader of CSU, the Bavarian ally of Merkelâ€™s ruling CDU, has played a key role to pressure on the replacement.

Speaking at ZDF TV show on Monday evening, Seehofer made an impassioned statement about the consequences of poor election results for the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia, and lashed Roettgen for his inability to cope with the situation.