state elections, he was the State Minister of Economics and Small Business, Technology, and Transport. Member of State Parliament (1993–2002) Clement was a member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1 October 1993 to 6 November 2002. Between 1994 and 2001, he was also was on the SPD State Executive in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), and was the deputy leader of the executive from 1996. He became a member of the SPD federal executive board in 1995, and served until his exit from the party in 2008. Minister President (1998–2002) Clement was elected as Johannes Rau's successor as the Minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia on 27 May 1998. With state debts in excess of 130,000 million marks (DEM), he announced drastic cuts and austerity measures including reduction in the size of his own cabinet. In one of his first moves on 17 June 1998, he announced the merger of the Justice and Interior ministries into one entity. There were doubts if this decision was compatible with the German Constitution, as it was seen by some as a violation of the division of powers. On 9 February 1999, the Constitutional Court of North Rhine-Westphalia ruled that the amalgamation violated the rights of the state parliament. In addition with pressure from coalition partner Bündnis '90/Die Grünen (the Green party), the merger was canceled. He took on the responsibilities of justice minister for a brief period between 10 to 22 March 1999, before handing the position over to Jochen Dieckmann, who served as the Justice Minister for NRW through the end of the legislature term on 27 June 2000. During this period, Clement also served as the deputy chairman of the SPD from December 1999. In the 2000 state elections under his leadership, the SPD received 42.8% of the votes, a drop of 3.2% from the previous election. However, the party was able to form a coalition government with the Green Party. In this coalition, there were debates between Clement and the Green Party's Bärbel Höhn, who opposed the continuation of coal mining subsidies and the support for large industrial projects like the Garzweiler surface mine, that were supported by Clement. After Clement started his term of office as state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia on 27 May 1998, four ministers resigned or left their position early Minister for the Economy Bodo Hombach (moved to Bonn as Minister of the Chancellery), Justice Minister