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Hardly anyone expected this: Boris Pistorius will become the new defense minister.
Lower Saxony's Interior Minister takes over the department from Christine Lambrecht, who announced her resignation on Monday.
Christoph Hickmann, DER SPIEGEL office in the capital:
“That comes as a surprise. This is a solution that hardly anyone in Berlin had on their radar until shortly before it was announced or became known. (...) Boris Pistorius has already tried a few times to make the leap to the federal level. He was responsible for domestic policy in Martin Schulz's shadow cabinet when he was a candidate for chancellor. He tried to become SPD chairman. Nothing came of it. Now he's taking the step, the leap from Hanover to Berlin after all."
The 62-year-old Pistorius is a member of the SPD party executive, he is considered an experienced political manager and popular in his state.
With Pistorius, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has opted for one man in office, thereby deviating from his own requirement to fill his cabinet equally.
A sign of how urgent the decision was.
Christoph Hickmann, DER SPIEGEL office in the capital:
“It is not yet known whether female candidates have turned down, whether there simply weren't any available. In any case, the appointment of Boris Pistorius shows that the main concern now is to stabilize the troops and no longer to uphold a principle such as parity, although it is actually no longer possible.«
Christina Lambrecht's resignation came as no surprise after a series of missteps.
In view of the war in Ukraine, a turning point in foreign policy and the urgent need to modernize the Bundeswehr, the office is more important than it has been since the Second World War.
However, Pistorius does not have any relevant experience in international security policy either.
Christoph Hickmann, DER SPIEGEL office in the capital:
»Because the Bundeswehr is not the Federal Police, there is also a lot for him to do internationally. The question is how he will shine or succeed on the floor. You will observe very closely how the NATO alliance acts with the allies, how his English is. That's the international component that comes along. That is still the big unknown. Boris Pistorius will have to show that he has what it takes on this field.”
Boris Pistorius has one advantage over his predecessor: he has done his military service.
"It's a small detail in your CV, but it's a very important one, because the troops immediately take people who have had at least some contact with them a bit more seriously than people who have had nothing to do with the Bundeswehr before. And these are such little things: language use. You may still know one or the other abbreviation. All these things will help him. And his type is also someone who will definitely go down well there. He cultivates a clear, robust language. It could be pretty much what the band is craving right now - at least in atmosphere, at least in type. And in view of the uncertainty that is currently haunting the troupe, that might not be the worst of beginnings.«
