By Gunnar Schupelius
Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) has fired State Secretary for Security Torsten Akmann (SPD). A spokesman for the authority said he was on temporary retirement.
The decision was apparently preceded by a personal rift between Spranger and Akmann. As State Secretary, Akmann received a gross salary of EUR 10,800 per month. In early retirement, he is entitled to three months’ full salary as a transitional allowance – and then an early retirement salary of EUR 7,750 gross per month.
Iris Spranger (SPD), Senator for the Interior, Sport and Digitization Photo: dpa
Akmann’s expulsion came unexpectedly, because it is still unclear which coalition will continue to govern. Will it stay with red-green-red or will there be a coalition between the CDU and the Greens or the SPD? The negotiations are ongoing. It is completely unusual for an incumbent senator, who could no longer be represented in the next government, to dismiss a state secretary shortly beforehand.
In addition, Akmann enjoys a good reputation as a professional top official for security issues, which is why his dismissal requires an explanation. He studied administrative law and has been a member of the SPD for 30 years. He made a career in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and was appointed State Secretary in 2016 by Senator Geisel.
There he was regarded as the head of the authorities, who knew his way around and ruled everywhere. He brought Barbara Slowik from the Federal Ministry of the Interior as the new chief of police and dismissed the respected head of the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Bernd Pollenda, to replace him in 2018 with the head of department in the Kiel Ministry of the Interior, Michael Fischer.
Akmann’s early retirement follows an inglorious and wasteful Berlin tradition. With 25 state secretaries, the Senate does more than any other state government. Even more state secretaries, namely 31 (!) are in early retirement, whose early retirement pensions add up to 752,564 euros per year.