Merz Cabinet: Warken becomes Minister, Sorge and Kippels become State Secretaries

The designated new Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz has informed the CDU presidium who he wants to bring from his party into the cabinet: Thorsten Frei will become Head of the Federal Chancellery, Karin Prien will become Federal Minister for Education, Family, seniors , Women and Youth, Katherina Reiche Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Patrick Schnieder Federal Minister for Transport, Johann David Wadephul Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nina Warken Federal Minister for Health and Karsten Wildberger Federal Minister for Digitalization and state modernization.

There was a personnel surprise at the weekend . Contrary to what had been going on for weeks, the successor to Karl Lauterbach (SPD) was not the former health policy spokesman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Tino Sorge, but Nina Warken from Baden-Württemberg, parliamentary manager of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group since 2021 and general secretary of the CDU Baden-Württemberg. Concern had recently been high. Warken was still involved in the coalition negotiations in the working group on interior, legal affairs, and migration.

The names have been designated for now, as the CDU and SPD still have to approve the coalition agreement. CDU delegates are meeting today for a small party conference in Berlin. Approval by the delegates is considered certain. SPD members can vote on the agreement until tomorrow evening . The CSU has already approved it.

In addition to the department heads, further names were announced today. Tino Sorge and health politician Georg Kippels will become Parliamentary State Secretaries in the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG). The CDU confirmed this to the PZ. The cabinet is scheduled to be officially sworn in on May 6.