2024-07-27 19:39:10
An affair with a 16-year-old girl brought his political rise to an abrupt halt in 2011. Now Christian von Boetticher wants to return to politics.
Christian von Boetticher is planning his return to politics. The 53-year-old wants to enter the Bundestag for the CDU next year, reports the “Bild” newspaper. According to the report, he wants to run in the Pinneberg constituency.
Von Boetticher rose quickly in the CDU in Schleswig-Holstein, becoming Minister of Agriculture in 2005, later Minister of Social Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister. He then went on to become parliamentary group and party leader of the CDU in Schleswig-Holstein before being nominated as the top candidate for the state elections in 2011.
A few months later, however, he had to resign after an affair with a 16-year-old became public.
He explained his return to politics 13 years later to Bild with the current situation in the country. He perceives “that we are on the brink of the abyss here”. As president of the food industry, he sees every day “how companies here are investing elsewhere, simply stopping work in the supply chain. And that alone is causing concern”.
He no longer sees his past as a burden, he explained to “Bild”: “I am now happily married with two children. In that respect, I think the media has also put an end to this.” In 2020, he married his wife Sarah, now 23, with whom he has two-year-old twins.
He also informed party leader Friedrich Merz and general secretary Carsten Linnemann about his political decision. He is in “very close contact with the latter. We have been good friends for many years. He is also one of the people who actually encouraged me to run for office.” The latter told him: “We need people who have economic expertise and who can tell us exactly where things are that we need to address.”
Linnemann told Bild that the federal party was pleased that there were now several people in the Pinneberg constituency who wanted to represent the CDU in the Bundestag. However, he could not give explicit support to von Boetticher’s candidacy: “Of course, the political leadership does not interfere in the selection of candidates – that is and remains the sole task of the local district party. We do not take sides unilaterally for individual candidates.”