BERLIN (Reuters) – A new coalition government is taking shape in Berlin, with chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz picking close allies and corporate executives for his cabinet to tackle Germany’s economic malaise amid trade tensions and a surging far right.
Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc announced its nominees on Monday but the junior party in the incoming coalition, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), are not expected to name their candidates, including for the finance and defence ministries, until later.
The new coalition is expected to be sworn in on May 6.
Here are the key appointments so far:
ECONOMY MINISTRY, KATHERINA REICHE
Reiche, 51, takes on the key ministry from the Greens’ Robert Habeck at a time of prolonged economic downturn in Europe’s largest economy.
She has been CEO of regional energy infrastructure firm Westenergie – a division of E.ON, Europe’s largest operator of power grids – since early 2020.
She also sits on the supervisory boards of German machine and car parts maker Schaeffler and Swedish energy firm Ingrid Capacity.
Reiche is a member of Merz’s conservative CDU party, having served as a member of Germany’s parliament from 1998 until 2015 and held roles as parliamentary secretary at the environment and transport ministries.
FOREIGN MINISTRY, JOHANN WADEPHUL
Wadephul, 62, will succeed Annalena Baerbock of the Greens as Germany’s top diplomat.
A member of Germany’s parliament since 2009, he is deputy leader of the CDU/CSU conservative faction in parliament responsible for foreign and defence topics.
Wadephul is expected to be particularly loyal to Merz and implement the objectives of his chancellery on the world stage, according to Jana Puglierin of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
“Merz has created the conditions and structures to be a very strong chancellor in foreign policy. He will be responsible for relations with the United States, China and Russia,” she said.
CHANCELLERY CHIEF-OF-STAFF THORSTEN FREI
Frei, Merz’s right-hand man in the chancellery, has often been pictured at the would-be chancellor’s side during the coalition talks.
The 51-year-old has served in the Bundestag since 2013 and taken on leading roles in the CDU’s parliamentary faction, with a focus on interior and justice policy. Between 2004 and 2013, he was the mayor of Donaueschingen, a town of some 22,000 on the edge of the Black Forest.
DIGITAL MINISTRY, KARSTEN WILDBERGER
Wildberger will step down from his role as chief executive of German tech retailer Ceconomy to join Merz’s government.
His position puts him in charge of modernising the German economy in a digital world, a task that has often seen only sluggish progress in a country still known for using fax machines and cash transactions.
The 55-year-old has also previously served on the boards of German utility E.ON and telecoms groups Telstra, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom. From 1998 until 2003, he worked as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group.
TRANSPORT MINISTRY, PATRICK SCHNIEDER
Schnieder, 56, has served as a member of the German parliament since 2009 and previously worked as a lawyer.
Since 2018, he has had a leading role in the conservatives’ Bundestag faction.
HEALTH MINISTRY, NINA WARKEN
Warken, 45, has been a member of the Bundestag for the CDU since 2018 and previously served in parliament between 2013 and 2017. More recently, she sat on the parliamentary monitoring group for the COVID-19 pandemic.
EDUCATION AND FAMILY MINISTRY, KARIN PRIEN
Prien, 59, will move to federal level having served since 2017 as state minister for education, science and culture in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany.
She leads the CDU’s Jewish Forum and is a member of the Freundeskreis Yad Vashem, a group working to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Sarah K Marsh, Writing by Rachel More; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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