On Monday, it was confirmed that professor of epidemiology Karl Lauterbach would be the next German health minister. This is how Olaf Schultz’s government takes its final shape. Meanwhile, the Green Party also accepted the coalition agreement.
Future Chancellor Olaf Schulz announced that eight men and eight women would each hold a ministerial position in the new German government. The government is usually sworn in on Wednesday.
After coalition partners FDP and Die Grünen had already announced the members of their government, the SPD also announced the ministers that the party would provide. Karl Lauterbach, a professor of epidemiology and a longtime health specialist in the party, became Minister of Health.
Wolfgang Schmidt became head of the chancellor’s office, Christine Lambrecht became defense minister, Nancy Weser from the Interior. The portfolio of work and social affairs belongs to Hubertus Heil, and construction goes to Klara Geywitz. Svenja Schulz will be responsible for the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development.
Schultz had announced earlier that he was seeking to achieve a balance in his government. “Women have half the power. Half of society is made up of women, so they should be half their representation in government,” Schulz said at a presentation to SPD ministers in Berlin.
Agree to the alliance agreement
The Greens hold the positions of foreign affairs (Annalina Barbock), economic affairs and climate protection (Robert Habeck), family affairs (Anne Spiegel), the environment (Steffi Lemke), and agriculture (Cim Ozdemir). The FDP provides the Minister of Finance (Christian Lindner), Transport (Volker Wessing), Justice (Marco Buschmann) and Education (Bettina Stark-Watzinger).
The Green Party formally approved the coalition agreement on Monday. All party members were allowed to express their opinions on the contents of the coalition agreement. A total of 71,150 valid votes were cast, about 86 percent of whom agreed with the agreed text. This paves the way for the start of a coalition government. The latter two parties had already ratified the coalition agreement at last weekend’s conference.
