Government - Janosch Littig: "I'm a stranger to my party from time to time"
The break of Rhineland-Palatinate Minister Katharina Binz's maternity leave is coming to an end after approximately four months at the beginning of July. "It feels longer to me," says her state secretary Janosch Littig in an interview with the German Press Agency in Mainz. The 40-year-old has been handling the duties of the same-aged minister for Integration, Consumer Protection, Families and Women since mid-March.
Littig and Binz, both Green politicians from Mainz, have known each other for over ten years. His schedules would have "certainly doubled" during the stand-in phase, says Littig, citing the preparation of the state budget 2025/26 and the Minister Presidents Conference (MPK) with the focus on refugees as particularly labor-intensive examples.
He delegated representation appointments to department heads; cultural matters - for which Binz is also responsible - were taken over by his colleague, state secretary Jürgen Hardeck (non-partisan). "I have sometimes envied him for these appointments, but they are also mostly evenings and weekends," says the father of two. He is particularly looking forward to spending three weeks of summer vacation with his children (7 and 11) after Binz's return.
Green politics has been a kind of cradle for the native Trier resident. His father Reiner Marz was a member of the state parliament (2001 to 2006). However, Littig did not join the party until during his studies - Political Science, Law, and Sociology - in Mainz.
One reason he joined the same party as his father, he says, is the need for state regulation in environmental and nature conservation issues. Other reasons are the advocacy for civil rights and the protection of minorities. Too much interference in private life bothers him, he adds, and he mentions his hobbies motorcycle riding and hunting as examples.
"I sometimes feel estranged from my party," says Littig, particularly in reference to the traffic light coalition. "Their style is simply off-putting." He has never been attracted to the "shark tank Berlin" either. "This is the land I love," he says, looking at the hyphenated federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, especially because of "this variety" between the regions Palatinate, Rheinhessen, Hunsrück, and Westerwald.
When the Greens regained entry to the state parliament in 2011 with 15.6% of the votes, Littig was the very first employee of the fraction, he recalls. Before that, he had worked in the federal election campaign for the later minister Ulrike Höfken and in the extra-parliamentary opposition for the party.
During the first Red-Green government of Malu Dreyer (SPD), he was deputy government spokesperson for two and a half years. "You get a lot and are insanely free," he remembers. When Binz became minister after the 2021 state election, he took over the leadership of her office. In April 2023, he succeeded David Profit (also Green) as her successor.
Littig never wanted to be a deputy like his father. "Talking in the parliament is not my thing, and that's something completely different from speaking in a large hall," he says. A parliamentary speech was also spared from him during Binz's stand-in period. The work and political debate in the parliamentary committees, however, pleased him greatly. "I am a generalist, I find everything fun."
You lead the official duties and decide when you will contact me, "Binz" said to him at the beginning of her maternity leave. Deputy Government Chief she remained even during the leave period. There were weeks when he only sent her a voice message and informed her that everything was going well, reported Littig. In other weeks, however, they had close contact, as before the MPK.
It is clear for Littig after four months of ministerial representation that this was not her dream job. "I am exactly where I am supposed to be," assures the State Secretary, and he is also proud of this position. But a career cannot be planned. For him, it was clear: "I will go where the party calls me."
Littig, during his stand-in period as minister, delegated representation appointments to department heads and cultural matters to his colleague Jürgen Hardeck. Janosch Littig, a Green politician from Mainz, joined the Greens during his studies due to his advocacy for state regulation in environmental and nature conservation issues. After the Greens regained entry to the state parliament in 2011, Littig became the first employee of the Green fraction. Janosch Littig is the state secretary for Integration, Consumer Protection, Families, and Women in Rhineland-Palatinate, a role he took over temporarily for Minister Katharina Binz during her maternity leave.
