Skip to content
Friday, 6 November 2026Malta edition Enquire Malta-24 Briefing @CDNewsDispatch
Malta's world news feed Local perspective with global outlook
CDE.NEWS The Dispatch
Enquire
LATEST
Wave of bomb threats afflict European flights for third time this week CBD edibles can’t be labelled organic, says EU court Small EVs and Enhanced Child Safety Central to New Draft EU Automotive Rules As high oil prices curb demand, fresh signs of glut appear Meloni urges ‘disorganized’ EU to speak with one voice on Ukraine
Germany

CDU leader Kramp-Karrenbauer appointed German defence minister

cde.news desk · 1 min read
Xinf
epa07721939 Outgoing German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen (R) and incoming Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (L) pose with their certificates during the handing over of the certificate of discharge to von der Leyen and appointment to Kramp-Karrenbauer, at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany, 17 July 2019. Mueller as First Vice President of the German Federal Council handed the certificates of discharge and appointment - signed by the German President Steinmeier - to the Ministry of Defense to outgoing von der Leyen and incoming Kramp-Karrenbauer. EPA-EFE/HAYOUNG JEON

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, leader of the German Christian Democrats, has been named as the country’s new defence minister, just as the previous holder of the post Ursula von der Leyen was elected to be the European Commission’s first female president.

The move is hugely risky for Kramp-Karrenbauer, universally known as AKK, who succeeded Angela Merkel as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in December and is in pole position to replace her as chancellor at the end of her fourth and final term.

The defence ministry has often turned out to be a poisoned chalice for politicians. In Berlin it is often described as the “ejector seat”: Germany has had 18 defence ministers since the second world war, and only one of them, Helmut Schmidt, went on to become chancellor.

 

Via Financial Times

Filed under Germany
Topics Annegret Kramp-KarrenbauerCDUGermany

More from Germany

More →
Germany

New wave of bomb threats hits passenger flights across Europe

 Germany

Mysterious death of prominent German politician in Berlin hotel room

 Germany

Shops looted as German cost-of-living protests turn violent