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BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday unveiled the first stage of his Cabinet reshuffle aimed at making his coalition more effective and boosting its approval ratings.
The move follows the resignation of Jens Spahn, the parliamentary group leader of Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and the proposed appointment of chancellery chief Thorsten Frei as Spahn’s successor.
Health Minister Nina Warken is set to replace Frei as new chancellery chief, making her the first woman to hold the powerful post.
“She is assertive, and she is also well-versed in security policy issues, which are, after all, coordinated here in this house,” Merz said about Warken. “She will therefore be one of the most important — if not the most important— pillars of support for me in the day-to-day work of the government, as well as my primary point of contact,” the chancellor told reporters on Friday.
