A veteran but low-profile politician is to be appointed as Germany’s new defence minister, the government has announced, filling the role at a crucial time when the country is under acute pressure to increase its commitment to Ukraine, especially by allowing it the use of tanks.
Boris Pistorius, 62, who has been the interior minister of the northern state of Lower Saxony for the past decade, will face his first major task on Friday when western allies meet at the US military’s Ramstein base in south-west Germany to discuss providing Kyiv with more weapons and equipment.
Germany has been extremely cautious so far about approving the sending of heavy Leopard tanks to Ukraine, owing to concerns that the decision could lead to an escalation of the war. Other countries in possession of the German-designed tanks need the permission of Berlin before they are able to be dispatched to another country.
Pistorius is a member of the chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic party, but his appointment by Scholz came as a surprise, not least because he has a low profile in Germany and is little known internationally. He has a reputation as a sharp-tongued, no-nonsense policymaker.
Scholz was forced to replace Christine Lambrecht, who had made a series of blunders during her short tenure as minister in his coalition government, including admitting she did not understand the makeup of the German military and failing to make progress with obtaining new equipment and resources via a €100bn reform fund.
Announcing her resignation on Monday, Lambrecht said she had been unable to concentrate properly on the job because of a “months’ long media focus on my person”.
Scholz had come under pressure in particular from within his own party to appoint a woman, to fulfil his pre-election pledge to have male-female parity in his cabinet. The German Armed Forces Association and the Reservist Association urged Scholz to choose the candidate with the “best leadership competence”.
Importantly for Scholz, Pistorius has spoken out in favour of helping Ukraine defend itself, and expressed his scepticism earlier on in the conflict about the efficacy of sanctions against Russia.
Pistorius follows on from three female defence ministers who served Germany over the past decade. Previous to that the post had only ever been held by a man.
Robert Habeck, the economics minister and deputy chancellor, said the new defence minister’s first and crucial decision would be regarding the issue of tanks for Ukraine.
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, before the announcement, he said: “When that person, the minister of defence, is declared, this will be the first question they will concretely have to decide on.”
He said the “urgent question” of how Ukraine should be supported to defend itself was an important short-term decision that the minister would have to tackle.
During talks in Davos with Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, Habeck reportedly pledged further German support and help for Ukraine, including the transfer of more weapons. Klitschko wrote on his Telegram account that “positive decisions” had been made at the meeting, and there was “good news coming soon”.
It had long been speculated that Pistorius had wider political ambitions. He had campaigned to become the leader of the Social Democrats and is believed to have been under discussion as a potential interior minister in the central government when Scholz was forming his new administration in late 2022.
Colleagues described him on Tuesday as having a reputation among Germany’s other state interior ministers as a knowledgable expert on domestic security. His biography indicates time spent doing his military service in the early 1980s, but otherwise he is not believed to have any military experience or expertise. National military service in Germany was scrapped in 2011. Since the invasion of Ukraine, there has been a debate about whether to reinstate it.
Pistorius will be expected to show expediency over acquiring new equipment and to sort out chronic issues such as a shortage of ammunition and faults in existing equipment. He will also have to oversee the withdrawal of German troops from Mali, which is due to take place next year and which it is feared may leave a dangerous power vacuum in the region.
