Annalena Baerbock, the First and Youngest Foreign Minister in German History!

Annalena Bierbock, who co-chairs the Green Party with Robert Habeck, is becoming the first female foreign minister in German history.

The forty-year-old environmental activist will take the ministry chair in early December.

According to the Guardian website, a coalition government was formed on Wednesday 24 November 2021, between the Social Democrats and the Liberals, which will lead “in the post-Angela Merkel era.”

Actually, the prospective new foreign minister is the first and the youngest person to hold this bag in the country's history.

 

First in German History

Germany's Greens on Thursday November 25, 2021, nominated co-leader Annalena Baerbock to hold foreign minister’s portfolio in the next government to “replace” Merkel. According to the BBC News, the party confirmed they would also propose Robert Habeck as vice-chancellor and economy minister with responsibility for climate policy.

As the Greens' co-leaders since 2018, Baerbock and Habeck have been credited with completing the party's transformation from its hippy, peace activist roots to a mainstream force.

On the same day, the nominations for other cabinet posts were made  at the start of a consultation process with Greens members to ratify the coalition deal the party had agreed with the Social Democrats (SPD) and Free Democrats (FDP), according to the same source.

In the 2019 European Parliament elections, the Greens party had 20.5 percent of the vote in Germany.

 

From Environment to Economy

Raised on a farm near the northern city of Hanover, The new female minister became early fond of politics when her parents took her to anti-nuclear demonstrations in the 1980s, according to the Guardian.

When she was a teenager, Annalena took part in trampoline competitions to win three bronze medals in German championships. She said that thanks to the sport she became a courageous person. 

Baerbock also studied political science and public law in Hanover before getting a master's degree in public international law from the London School of Economics.

After trying out to have a career in journalism, she joined the Greens in 2005 and rose to become head of the party's Brandenburg branch in 2009.

After 4 years, Annalena joined the Bundestag lower house of parliament as a lawmaker in 2013.

The prospective minister is married to Daniel Holefleisch, who is a political consultant. They now have two daughters and live in Potsdam near Berlin.

The mother of two is described as quick on her feet and hard-line, with specific attention to detail in politics.

 

What to Expect

During the last election campaign, Baerbock promised to revitalize German diplomacy by adopting a more assertive tone toward both Russia and China, in particular.

Being a fierce political figure, Baerbock is strongly opposed to the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline, which would allow doubling the supply of Russian gas to Germany, without passing through Ukraine, according to the BBC News.

Annalena recently accused Moscow of raising energy prices in Europe by halting gas supplies until the pipeline is fully approved, and said Germany could not allow “blackmail.”

On the other hand, the prospective minister also called for “dialogue and solidity” and urged the European Union to “not be naive” in its dealings with the Asian giant, China.

Baerbock said that “the next German government should take another approach to authoritarian regimes”, as she considers this as “key issue” to ensure “our safety and our values,” she added.

A party source told the Handelsblatt daily that “she keeps asking questions until she has really understood an issue, she won't be fobbed off.”

However, critics point out that Baerbock has never held a government role, and was a relatively unknown politician even to many Germans not long ago, in other words, she is not as famous as she seemed to be now.

Baerbock's inexperience was revealed by the campaign trail when she faced inquiry over “a belated bonus declaration, inaccuracies on her CV and allegations of plagiarism in her new book.”

At one point, after fumbling a speech to a lovely audience, she was heard on microphone telling a dirty word while leaving the stage.

Baerbock admitted that she had made mistakes along the way, and later “pulled her book from the market.”