Johann Wadephul is set to become Germany’s new foreign minister, German media reported on Sunday.
The Table Media portal said that the 62-year-old Wadephul, from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is to be the country’s top foreign policy official, replacing Annalena Baerbock.
Incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition government – made up of his CDU, the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU) and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) – is set to take office in early May, with leading ministerial positions expected to be announced on Monday.
The CDU is due to hold a small party conference in Berlin on Monday to approve the coalition agreement, which also still needs the approval of SPD members in an online ballot that ends on Tuesday.
Wadephul, a policy specialist from Germany’s northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein, is set to become the CDU’s first foreign minister in almost 60 years.
He is expected to take the position ahead of Armin Laschet, the CDU’s candidate for chancellor in the party’s unsuccessful 2021 election campaign.
The Table Media report also revealed that Karin Prien is to be named the new education minister.
A spokesman for the CDU would not confirm the nominations to dpa on Sunday.
In total, the CDU is to hold seven of the 17 Cabinet-level ministerial posts in the new government.
The SPD is also set to hold seven, with three going to the CSU.
The three parties reached a coalition agreement earlier this month, weeks after February’s parliamentary elections.
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