German Chancellor Friedrich Merz does not rule out changes in the cabinet after the resignation of Jens Spahn (CDU), the chairman of the CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag.
“This could be an opportunity to review the composition of the German federal government“, Merz said in a “summer interview“ for ZDF. The interview will be broadcast in full on Sunday evening. However, the German Chancellor immediately emphasized several times that this is only a preliminary issue. Merz was asked if he was considering more extensive cabinet reshuffles.
When the conversation turned to Thorsten Frei (CDU), head of the German Chancellery and "leading candidate for party leadership", Merz replied that he did not know who had appointed Frei as the leading candidate and that this was the first he had heard of it. As the DPA news agency reported, citing sources close to Merz, following Spahn's resignation, the German Chancellor is seeking to appoint his successor as party leader before his vacation, scheduled for the end of July.
At the same time, Merz clearly distanced himself from Spahn. The German Chancellor explained that he had not expected such widespread discontent. "But this was probably related to both his personality and the way he presented the information", Merz said. "I respected his wishes and let him decide how to communicate them," the German prime minister concluded. Asked if he planned to bring a woman into the top leadership, Merz replied that in Germany "a woman holds the position of president of the Bundestag and three women are in the inner circle of the leadership as deputy chairmen of the party." He claims that under his presidency the number of women in the party has increased. "I am doing everything I can to improve this figure," the German chancellor concluded.
On Saturday, Spahn, considered an associate of Merz, announced his resignation as party leader amid the surrogacy scandal. According to sources close to the party chairman, Merz has called on Spahn to resign. Until a new successor is chosen, CDU/CSU leader Alexander Hoffmann will temporarily take over the leadership of the CDU/CSU faction. Fry is the most frequently mentioned possible successor.