Merz finalizes his ministerial list: Confidant promises several surprises

Frankfurter Rundschau Merz finalizes his ministerial list: Confidant promises several surprises Felix Durach • 15 hours • 3 minutes read CDU must fill seven positions Friedrich Merz continues to work on the personnel for his CDU/CSU cabinet. A confidant of the future Chancellor announces surprises. Frankfurt – The Easter break is over, and for CDU leader Friedrich Merz, the final sprint on his long-sought path to the Chancellery has begun. At the beginning of May, the 69-year-old is set to be elected in the German Bundestag as the tenth Chancellor and successor to Olaf Scholz. But even though time is of the essence, Merz is likely still fine-tuning his government team for the next four years. A source who should know has now provided insight into the CDU leader's plans and announced several surprises for the cabinet. Merz's Ministerial Plans Nearing Completion – CDU Member Frei Announces "Surprises" in the Cabinet Thorsten Frei, the first parliamentary manager of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, said at a meeting on Tuesday that he expects Merz to have completed his deliberations on the future CDU ministers "in the coming days." The Süddeutsche Zeitung reports this. The CDU leader is not making decisions on key personnel matters alone, but is also seeking the opinions of party colleagues from the federal and state levels. It is wise to keep the number of those "informed about these considerations as small as possible so that the confidentiality of the discussions can be maintained until the end," the Süddeutsche Zeitung further quotes Frei as saying. The parliamentary manager is also likely to be involved in the planning. Frei was part of the core team during the coalition negotiations and is already being considered as the future head of Merz's Chancellery. However, the 51-year-old also pointed out that the ministerial lists published so far were merely speculation and meaningfully announced that "there will certainly be some surprises in the end." Merz continues to fine-tune the ministerial list for the CDU/CSU coalition: Who will be the new Minister of Economic Affairs? What these surprises will look like, however, remains unclear. Jens Spahn's future position could be particularly exciting. The CDU politician already has government experience from Merkel's last cabinet, where, however, he didn't always make a good impression as Minister of Health. With a short video on Instagram, Spahn recently positioned himself as a possible new Minister of Economic Affairs. However, the 44-year-old is also being touted as a possible successor to Merz at the head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag. On Monday, the Bild newspaper brought another surprising name into play for the ministry: Katherina Reiche. The former State Secretary has been Chairwoman of the Management Board of innogy Westenergie GmbH since 2020 and is considered a top manager in the energy industry. She would therefore bring the necessary expertise. A political comeback by Reiche, who left the Bundestag in 2015, would certainly deserve to be called a surprise. After Linnemann's Resignation: Further Surprises Expected in Merz's Cabinet The fact that Spahn or Reiche could even be considered as Minister of Economic Affairs is also due to developments in recent weeks. In almost all circulating ministerial lists, the Ministry of Economic Affairs had already been assigned to Carsten Linnemann. However, the CDU General Secretary announced a few days ago that he wanted to continue his work and would therefore not be available to Merz as Minister. The announcement was a huge surprise. But if Frei is to be believed, it won't be the last. Merz finalizes his cabinet: The CDU is allowed to fill these ministries In total, Merz's CDU is allowed to appoint six ministers. In addition, there is the head of the Chancellery, who is equivalent to a minister. In negotiations with the SPD and in coordination with the CSU, Merz has secured the following ministries for his party: Schedule for the Chancellor election is set: Who will become Foreign Minister under Merz? The surprise announced by Frei could also relate to the prestigious post of Foreign Minister. The Christian Democrats are likely still looking for a candidate with the necessary appeal. The name Armin Laschet has been repeatedly mentioned, but recently deputy parliamentary group leader Johann Wadephul was also mentioned as a promising candidate. There should be no surprises, however, regarding the key dates for Merz's path to the Chancellery in the coming weeks. A small CDU party conference is scheduled to decide on the coalition agreement on April 28.