German Elections & Politics

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Disgraceful that my party has taken out the best man in the cabinet. Sigmar Gabriel is an excellent and very talented politican and was doing a great job at the Foreign Ministry. Very smart guy (met him three times). RIP FF.

Nahles knived him. If it weren't for her, he probably would have kept the job.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

The SPD ministers are apparently:

Foreign: Heiko Maas
Finances: Olaf Scholz
Environment: Svenja Schulze
Justice: Matthias Miersch
Labour: Katharina Barley
Family: Franziska Giffey

Take with a grain of salt though, my source is not 100% certain.

Hubertus Heil is to become Labor Minister.

And Barley Justice.

That makes more sense imo. Heil is vital for Stephan Weil's political support in Lower Saxony which Miersch isn't. And Heil needed Sigmar out of the way because both are from the SPD district of Brunswick.

Still can't understand why Maas became foreign minister though.

Maybe the SPD wants to establish him as the new chancellery candidate.

Maas is unlikely. I think it'll be either Scholz or Nahles, depending who is polling better in the fall of 2020 or who the base votes for.

Fun fact: If Scholz is to become the next chancellor candidate, all SPD nominees since 1994 have a surname starting with "S". Scharping, Schröder, Steinmeier, Steinbrück, Schulz and Scholz. LOL. In addition, there are Kurt Schumacher and Helmut Schmidt.

Schmidt Schumacher Scharping Schröder Steinmeier Steinbrück Schulz Scholzdemokratische Partei Deutschlands

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

This is what happens when atlas nerds get too much power.