Report: Johann Wadephul to become Germany's new foreign minister
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.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
7 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Death toll soars in Russian strike on Kyiv
Among the dead were five children, the youngest two years old, and 159 were injured, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. He said that in July alone, Russian forces launched about 3,800 drones, 260 missiles — including 128 ballistic missiles — and 5,100 guided bombs. In June, an overnight attack killed 28 people. Advertisement Zelensky called the overnight attack on Thursday 'a vile blow' and said it demonstrated that additional pressure on Moscow was needed and that Ukraine's Western allies should tighten their sanctions regime against the Kremlin. President Trump has been threatening to do just that. 'No matter how much the Kremlin denies their effectiveness, [the sanctions] are working and must be stronger — to hit everything that allows such strikes to continue,' Zelensky wrote, after receiving a report on the strike from Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. Trump appears ready to slap additional sanctions on Moscow in a bid to pressure Russia to accept a ceasefire. On Thursday, Trump called the airstrikes on Ukraine 'disgusting' and 'a disgrace,' though he questioned whether sanctions would influence Russian President Vladimir Putin. Advertisement 'I don't know that sanctions bother him,' he said. 'I don't know if that has any effect, but we're going to do it.' The Patriot transfer to Ukraine was made possible by an agreement with the US that Germany would be 'the first nation to receive newly produced, latest-generation Patriot systems at an accelerated pace,' which Berlin would pay for, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in a statement. The delivery to Ukraine would also include 'additional system components within the next two to three months,' Pistorius said. Ukrainian officials have not commented on the German transfer. However, Patriot antiaircraft systems are highly valued for their ability to shoot down cruise and ballistic missiles, which Russian forces have been firing at Ukrainian targets in clusters, combined with waves of drones, to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. Ukraine's air force said that Thursday's overnight attack involved more than 300 drones across Ukraine, 21 of which struck targets, and Kyiv bore the brunt. The Ukrainian military also said that eight cruise missiles were fired, five of which penetrated its air defenses. Media reports indicated that all the missiles were directed at Kyiv. One missile partially destroyed an apartment block in a western district of the capital, burying more than a dozen people under rubble. Trump also has been threatening secondary sanctions that would penalize buyers of Russian oil, mainly China and India, potentially starving Russia of funds for its war machine, but so far, he has refrained from imposing them, arguing this could alienate Moscow and reduce hopes of reaching a peace deal. Advertisement Russia, meanwhile, has launched deadly attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, while grinding forward and seizing more territory in eastern Ukraine. Russia has struck playgrounds, maternity hospitals, apartment buildings, civilian buses, and other civilian targets. Russia's Ministry of Defense insists that Russia attacks military targets with 'precision strikes.' Earlier in the week, Trump tightened the deadline to 10 days from 50 days for Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or face new sanctions. Trump said that his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, would fly to Russia to meet with officials after visiting Gaza and Israel. Witkoff has met Putin four times in solo meetings in a bid to broker a peace deal, eschewing State Department experts on Russia, and using an interpreter supplied by the Kremlin on at least one occasion. He initially appeared to credit Putin with a will to end the war in return for keeping the territory Russia has seized and shutting Ukraine out of NATO. Those hopes proved overly optimistic. On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a radio interview that senior US officials were in contact with their Russian counterparts this week but made 'no progress' on securing a ceasefire. Trump has suggested that he is losing patience with Putin after phone conversations in which Putin appeared conciliatory, only to launch new airstrikes, while Ukraine has accepted Trump's call for a ceasefire, Rubio suggested. 'And I think what bothers the president the most is he has these great phone calls where everyone … claims, 'Yeah, we'd like to see this end, if we could find a way forward,' and then he turns on the news and another city has been bombed, including those far from the front lines,' Rubio said. Advertisement 'So, at some point, [Trump has] got to make a decision here about how much to continue to engage in an effort to do ceasefires if one of the two sides is not interested in one,' Rubio said. On Friday, Putin said that any disappointments in the progress of peace talks arose from 'excessive expectations.' 'Negotiations are always in demand and always important, especially if it is a desire for peace. I evaluate them positively overall,' Putin told journalists after meeting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at Valaam island in Karelia, in northwest Russia. Putin said Russia's conditions had not changed. Those conditions have long been tantamount to Ukraine's surrender. Putin said Russia needed 'a lasting and durable peace on good basic foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine and would guarantee security of both countries.'
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
In Ramallah, German top diplomat warns Israel not to annex West Bank
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has issued a stern warning to Israel not to annex the West Bank, during a visit to the Palestinian territory on Friday. Wadephul also strongly condemned the increasing violence by Jewish settlers against the Palestinian population. After a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, the conservative politician emphasized, "We support the right of the Palestinians to have their own state at the end of a political process." Wadephul said that Germany is ready to actively support the reconstruction process after the end of the Gaza war. For this, he said, a renewal of the democratic legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority is necessary. However, the authority must not be financially starved. Wadephul called on the Israeli government to transfer withheld tax revenues, which rightfully belong to the Palestinians, to the authority. The Palestinian extremist organization Hamas should not play a political role in a future Palestinian state, he added. Germany will not recognize annexations The source of concerns about annexation are statements by Israeli politicians and a recently passed resolution by the parliament. In it, the right-wing religious government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is urged to extend the "sovereignty" of the state of Israel to all Jewish settlements in the West Bank. "We clearly reject any annexation fantasies, whether for Gaza or the West Bank, which are also brought forward by parts of the Israeli government," Wadephul said. "They would not be recognized by Germany." Condemnation of Israeli settler violence in West Bank Wadephul sharply condemned violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, as he visited the village of Taybeh earlier in the day. "Such acts are crimes, they are terror and they finally need to be prosecuted," Wadephul said, adding his visit to the West Bank community was "a sign of solidarity with all people suffering under settler violence." Taybeh has been repeatedly attacked by Israeli settlers over the past few months, amid a surge in violence directed at Palestinian communities in the occupied territories since the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. "As an occupying power and a constitutional state, Israel must enforce security and order and prosecute offences," said Wadephul. "It must protect the Palestinian population from these offenders," he urged, adding that Berlin is in favour of imposing further sanctions on violent settlers at EU level. The situation in the West Bank has significantly worsened since the start of the Gaza war. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 960 Palestinians have been killed there in Israeli military operations, armed clashes and attacks by extremists. Germany pledges another €5 million in Gaza aid Germany is set to provide another €5 million ($5.7 million) in aid for the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, Wadephul said at the start of the second day of his visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories on Friday. Wadephul said the money would go to the UN's World Food Programme to be used primarily for "bakeries and soup kitchens to provide the people of Gaza with bread and hot meals in the medium term." Berlin also plans to fund a field hospital run by the Order of Malta to provide urgently needed basic health care in Gaza City, the minister added. Foreign minister calls for close cooperation with UN Wadephul called on the Israeli government to quickly resume close cooperation with the United Nations and its organizations on the ground to improve the distribution of humanitarian aid in the embattled Gaza Strip. UN staff had "clearly shown that they are able to provide sufficient supplies to all people in Gaza if they are allowed to do so and if they can work in safety," he said. According to the German Foreign Office, German humanitarian aid for the Palestinian Territories has totalled more than €330 million since the start of the fighting in Gaza in October 2023. More than 95% of the money is used for the population in the Gaza Strip, it said. Most recently, aid was increased by up to nearly €31 million in May. German military planes begin air drop over Gaza German military aircraft have begun dropping aid over the Gaza Strip, the Defence Ministry said on Friday, as Berlin joins international efforts to relieve the dire humanitarian situation there. The transport aircraft dropped 34 pallets containing almost 14 metric tons of food and medical supplies, the ministry said. The air drops come amid outrage over the deteriorating conditions in Gaza, which the United Nations has warned is on the brink of famine. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump says he will fire lead official on economic data as stocks shudder
US President Donald Trump said he would fire the head of the agency charged with publishing some of America's most closely watched economic data, after a weaker-than-expected jobs report stoked further alarm about his tariff policies. His decision to move forward with plans to sharply raise tariffs on goods from countries around the world had already sent financial markets in the US shuddering. In the US, the three major indexes dropped, with the S&P falling 1.9% by mid-afternoon. That followed earlier sell-offs in Europe and Asia, as investors dumped shares of firms such as South Korean steel manufacturers and German truck-maker Daimler. Trump's plans leave most goods coming into the US facing new taxes of 10% to 50%, depending on their origin, and will lift tariff rates in the US to the highest levels in nearly a century. Trump says the measures will rebalance global trade and boost US manufacturing. But analysts say they will raise prices for businesses and consumers in the US and weigh on the US and global economies, as sales, hiring and investment slow. This week has revived fears about economic damage, as companies update investors on their costs and new data points to slowdown in the US. Employers in the US added just 73,000 jobs in July, according the monthly Labor Department report published on Friday. It also dramatically revised estimates of job growth in May and June, with far fewer gains than previously thought. "The economic data since the Liberation Day announcements did not reflect that sharp deterioration in economic activity, or at least not in obvious ways. This was the week that changed," analysts at Wells Fargo wrote on Friday. The revisions appeared to spur Trump to fire the commissioner of labor statistics, Erika McEntarfer, in a post on social media. "We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY," he wrote on social media, referring to the large revisions to the May and June jobs numbers. Trump also lashed out at Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, whom he has angrily criticised in recent months. Shares in the US opened lower in the morning, with losses accelerating over the course of the afternoon. France's CAC 40 closed down 2.9%, while German's DAX fell 2.6%. In the UK, the FTSE fell 0.7%. Earlier the leading index in South Korea fell 3.8%, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dropped 1% and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.6%. When Trump first put forward his plans in April, shares in the US tumbled more than 10% in a week, the concerns spreading to the dollar and bond markets. The stock market recovered after he suspended some of the most drastic measures, leaving in place a less punishing, more expected 10% levy. In recent weeks, indexes in the US have been trading around all-time highs. "The reality is Trump got emboldened by the fact that markets came right back," Michael Gayed, portfolio manager for The Free Markets ETF told the BBC's Opening Bell. "Now he's going to try his luck again." The latest measures are less extreme than what Trump first put forward in April, when goods from key players in southeast Asia, such as Vietnam, were facing tariff rates of more than 40% and a tit-for-tat exchange with China drove US tariffs on its exports surge to at least 145%. But the tariffs still make for a radical change for the US, for decades a champion of free trade. The plans include a minimum 10% tax on most goods entering the US, with major trade partners, including the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam face tariffs in the range of 15% to 20%. Goods from China are set to facing new 30% levies, while exports from some other countries, including Switzerland and Laos face even higher duties. The changes, which are set to go into effect on 7 August, will lift the average tariff rate to roughly 18%, up from less than 2.5% as recently as January. Investors had been taking the impact of tariffs in stride, sending shares in the US and elsewhere to new highs in recent weeks. Mr Gayed said markets had become less sensitive to Trump's rapidly changing trade policies, but he saw risks ahead. "The more he just whips around policy, the more the markets will not care, but as the old saying goes, nothing matters 'til it matters and then it's the only thing that matters," he said.
