Germany: The new government is set to take office this Wednesday.

 

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By DW's Analysis Team

The new government is set to take office this Wednesday.

And there will be a lot of firsts: The Cabinet will be younger and more female than any of its predecessors. There will be a government minister whose parents immigrated from Turkey. The interior ministry will be headed by a woman, who has vowed to make the fight against right-wing extremism her top priority. And there will be a female foreign minister.

Here is the Cabinet lineup.

The majority of ministers have no prior experience in government. That also applies to incoming German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. "From my teenage years on, I was touched by worldwide injustice," she writes on her English-language homepage.

Now, she has set out her idea of a "value-based foreign policy," urging a tougher stance against Russia and China. China's embassy in Berlin responded swiftly saying the world needs "bridge builders instead of wall builders."

Read how international media have commented on the incoming German government. 

Arguably the most prominent figure is the incoming health minister: Karl Lauterbach, an epidemiologist who has researched and taught at Harvard, has been vocal on TV talk shows throughout the COVID pandemic, urging a tougher stance and more restrictions — and almost always his predictions came true.

For those of you who read German, check out his Twitter profile with 700,000 followers. 

But Lauterbach is also a controversial figure: COVID deniers and anti-vaxxers regularly send him death threats. And within his own party, he has been regarded as a lone wolf, an eccentric, and a know-it-all.

DW's Sabine Kinkartz takes a look at the man who will have to prove that he can not only analyze the pandemic situation intelligently in front of running cameras but also get a grip on it. 

As chancellor, Olaf Scholz will have his work cut out for him to make sure his varied team of Cabinet ministers holds back on uncoordinated statements and demands.

Here's a reminder of what the three parties came up with in two months of disciplined negotiations following September's election. 

Centrifugal forces may already be in motion: Christian Lindner, head of the neoliberal and business-focused Free Democrats, was tapped for the powerful finance minister post. He will likely be at loggerheads all around, especially with the environmentalist Green Party, which is demanding investment to combat climate change. While Olaf Scholz is a Social Democrat moderate, his own party's left wing will push hard for social policies that also come with a hefty price tag.

Michaela Küfner TV interview

Video

A new beginning for Germany?

What will change and what won't with Germany's new government? Watch the analysis from DW's chief political correspondent, who attended the signing of the coalition contract on Tuesday in Berlin.