Rhineland-Palatinate retains MPK chairmanship - Saxony-Anhalt is skipped

The 16 heads of state have agreed that Rhineland-Palatinate will take over the chairmanship of the Minister-Presidential Conference for another year. This means that Saxony-Anhalt is skipped in the annually changing order. The chairmanship of the Conference of Prime Ministers (MPK) will remain in Rhineland-Palatinate for another year. This was unanimously decided by the heads of government of the states, as the Rhineland-Palatinate State Chancellery announced.

Actually, the chairmanship was to be taken over by Saxony-Anhalt on 1 October. However, this will not happen. After the election victory of the AfD at the beginning of September, Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Sven Schulze (CDU) had stated in a letter to the Rhineland-Palatinate head of government and current chairman of the MPK, Gordon Schnieder (also CDU), that he wanted to renounce the rotating chairmanship of the state committee.

Schulze wrote that "impeccable technical and substantive preparation and implementation" of the MPC chairmanship was not guaranteed in view of the election outcome and the uncertain formation of a government. Schleswig-Holstein takes over in October 2027 Schnieder said that after Schulze's letter, they had closely coordinated with the federal states on the further course of action. Rhineland-Palatinate has the necessary structures through the current chairmanship and is therefore prepared to continue the chairmanship for another year. The further order of the presidency countries remains unaffected.

As originally planned, this means that Schleswig-Holstein will take over the chairmanship in October 2027. There, the state parliament will be re-elected in April next year. Coordination programme of the federal states The Conference of Ministers-Presidents is an informal coordination body of the federal states among themselves and vis-à-vis the federal government. Since October 2025, the chair has been with Rhineland-Palatinate.

The change of government from former Prime Minister Alexander Schweitzer (SPD) to the current incumbent Schnieder of the CDU also took place in Mainz. The chairman of the MPK has great influence on topic setting, preparation, negotiation and public communication of the topics. He coordinates and moderates the meetings of the country leaders. The chairman of the MPK does not have the right to overrule, nor can he overrule other countries.

Above all, the decisions have a political effect and only have a legally binding effect if the countries implement them in their own rules. Especially in the coronavirus pandemic, the MPC was often in the public spotlight. Together with the Chancellery, the state leaders made important decisions at the time. With information from Mathias Zahn, SWR.