Boris Pistorius, the interior minister of Germany’s Lower Saxony state, was announced as Germany’s new defense minister on January 17 following the resignation of Christine Lambrecht the previous day.
Media reports say that by appointing Pistorius, Chancellor Olaf Scholz seeks to end a government crisis sparked by last week’s news of Lambrecht’s intention to resign, which followed a series of gaffes and failures.
Politico notes that this left the EU’s biggest economy without clear military leadership for several days amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and just days ahead of a crucial meeting of Western defense officials in the Ramstein military base in Germany this Friday, where tanks are on the table.
The 62-year-old Pistorius, who is from Scholz’s same center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), will be officially sworn in on January 19, the chancellor’s spokesperson said.
“I am very pleased to have won Boris Pistorius, an outstanding politician from our country, for the post of defense minister,” Chancellor Scholz said in a statement, adding that Pistorius is an extremely experienced politician who has administrative experience, has been involved in security policy for years — and with his competence, assertiveness and big heart, is just the right person to lead the Bundeswehr through this epochal change.
Pistorius reportedly gained a reputation as a specialist for internal security during his role as Lower Saxony’s interior minister since 2013. In 2019, he was an opponent of Scholz in the election for a new SPD chairmanship, which both lost. Having served in Germany’s Bundeswehr prior to his law studies, Pistorius also has some military background.
According to Politico, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is expected in Berlin on Thursday — Pistorius’ first official day in office — to discuss increased military support for Ukraine.
