Designated Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) has made important personnel decisions ahead of assuming the leadership of the Foreign Office on Tuesday. As reported by the FAZ (Friday edition), this includes not only two new State Secretaries in the ministry, but also positions for spokespeople and confidants in the house.
According to confirmation from the Foreign Office to the FAZ, one new State Secretary will be Géza Andreas von Geyr, who is currently a diplomat at NATO, had previously worked in the Union parliamentary group and served as a political director under CDU defense ministers for several years from 2014.
The second new State Secretary, Bernhard Kotsch, is currently a diplomat at the Holy See. He worked as a deputy head of the Chancellor Merkel’s office for several years and was responsible for coordinating the federal intelligence services in the Chancellery from 2018. This means that the previous State Secretaries, Thomas Bagger and Susanne Baumann, will leave the central positions. They will soon take on “high-ranking assignments abroad” as stated by the Foreign Office.
Henning Speck, a diplomat who has become a security policy advisor to the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and a trusted confidant of Wadephul, will, according to information from the FAZ, lead the management staff and coordinate the work in the ministry’s office. Wadephul will also bring Oliver Linz with him from the defense ministry, who will become the new planning staff chief, as stated by the Foreign Office.
The circle of spokespersons will also be reshuffled: Kathrin Deschauer, the current deputy spokesperson, will take over from Sebastian Fischer, who has been speaking for the Foreign Office since 2023. Christian Wagner, the other deputy spokesperson, will stay until the summer and then will switch to his regular position as the Canadian Consul General in Montreal, according to information from the Foreign Office.