On Wednesday, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier presented the letters of appointment and dismissal to the ministers named by the Chancellor. Steinmeier noted that the ministers’ oath-taking ceremony will take place before the German Bundestag during the first session following the summer recess, he announced in a brief address.
Several ministers were dismissed: Thorsten Frei, who was the Minister in the Chancellery; Patrick Schnieder, the Minister of Transport; and Nina Warken, the Minister of Health (all members of the CDU).
The reassignments include Warken, who will now serve as the Minister in the Chancellery, Steffen Bilger, who assumes the role of Minister of Transport, and Carsten Linnemann, who becomes the new Health Minister (all CDU members).
This internal shuffle was triggered by the resignation of Jens Spahn as the CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader. According to Merz’s suggestion, Thorsten Frei is expected to take over this role. Due to these changes, the parliamentary group will hold an extraordinary session that afternoon.
