BERLIN, Oct 24 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Free Democrats (FDP) sealed a coalition agreement on Saturday, allowing a new centre-right government to take power next week.
Here are brief profiles of the ministers that will make up Merkel's new cabinet, based on what multiple sources from the three parties in the incoming government -- the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) and FDP -- have told Reuters.
CHANCELLOR - ANGELA MERKEL (CDU)
Germany's first woman chancellor starts her second term in office at the age of 55 years. The daughter of a protestant pastor, she grew up in communist East Germany. In her first term as head of a 'grand coalition' with the rival Social Democrats (SPD), she brokered EU and G8 deals on climate change, repaired ties with the United States after the strains of the Iraq war and pushed through two stimulus packages worth 81 billion euros to combat Germany's worst downturn since World War Two.
CHIEF OF STAFF - RONALD POFALLA (CDU)
The 50-year-old outgoing CDU General-Secretary becomes Merkel's chief of staff in the Chancellery. Pofalla is one of Merkel's closest allies. A lawyer by training, he previously specialised in labour market and economy issues within the CDU.
FOREIGN - GUIDO WESTERWELLE (FDP)
The 47-year-old FDP chief is the first openly gay leader of a mainstream political party in Germany. The trained lawyer has no experience in government but his party was the biggest winner in a Sept. 27 federal election.
FINANCE - WOLFGANG SCHAEUBLE (CDU)
The 67-year-old CDU veteran moves on from the interior ministry where he has earned a reputation as a law-and-order hardliner over the past four years. Wheelchair-bound since surviving an assassination attempt in 1990, Merkel was instrumental in forcing him to quit as CDU chief in 2000 over a funding scandal but they have patched up difference since.
ECONOMY - RAINER BRUEDERLE (FDP)
At 64, Bruederle has more than 35 years' political experience with the FDP. A proponent of liberal market economics, he has been the FDP's economics spokesman in the Bundestag for a decade.
INTERIOR - THOMAS DE MAIZIERE (CDU)
The 55-year-old leaves his post as the head of Merkel's office in the chancellery. He is widely viewed as one of her closest allies. Skilled in back-rooom negotiations, he was previously interior minister in the eastern state of Saxony.
DEFENCE - KARL-THEODOR ZU GUTTENBERG (CSU)
At 37, Guttenberg became the then youngest minister in Merkel's cabinet in February. His youthful vigour and media-savvy have propelled him to be Germany's most popular politician. The self-confessed rock fan from Bavaria speaks good English and is seen as a rising star.
LABOUR AND SOCIAL - FRANZ JOSEF JUNG (CDU)
Defence minister for the past four years, the 60-year old Jung has come under criticism for communications gaffes linked to Germany's unpopular military deployment in Afghanistan. Previously head of the CDU parliamentary group in the western state of Hesse, he is a close confidant of influential Hesse state premier Roland Koch.
HEALTH - PHILIPP ROESLER (FDP)
Born in Vietnam, 36-year-old Roesler becomes Germany's first Asian-born cabinet minister. He was adopted and grew up in Hamburg. Trained as a doctor, his role will be key as the government seeks to reform the funding of the health system. He has been the FDP's economy, labour and transport minister in the state of Lower Saxony. He is now the cabinet's youngest member.
TRANSPORT - PETER RAMSAUER (CSU)
Ramsauer, 55, will give up his role as parliamentary leader for Bavaria's CSU. He went to school at Britain's Eton College for a short time and later studied Business Administration. He owns a power supply company in his home state of Bavaria.
EDUCATION AND RESEARCH - ANNETTE SCHAVAN (CDU)
54-year-old Schavan, a strong Merkel backer, keeps her role. Before that she had been culture minister in the southern state of Baden
Wuerttemberg.
JUSTICE - SABINE LEUTHEUSSER-SCHNARRENBERGER (FDP)
The 58-year-old takes back the ministry she occupied between 1994 and 1996 when the FDP was last in government with conservatives Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT - DIRK NIEBEL (FDP)
FDP General-Secretary since 2005, this would be the 46-year-old Niebel's first government post.
AGRICULTURE - ILSE AIGNER (CSU)
Aigner, 44, continues in the post she has held for about a year. It was the first ministerial post for the no-nonsense Bavarian, who trained as an electrical engineer and became a member of parliament in 1998.
ENVIRONMENT - NORBERT ROETTGEN (CDU)
This is a promotion for Roettgen, 44, who has most recently been been a CDU parliamentary floor leader. Seen as close to Merkel, the trained lawyer has been a member of the Bundestag lower house of parliament since 1994.
FAMILY - URSULA VON DER LEYEN (CDU)
Von der Leyen, 51, is a trained doctor with seven children. She stays in her post as family minister, where she introduced measures to try to boost Germany's birth rate. Viewed as an effective minister, she is one of the party's most popular politicians.
EU COMMISSIONER - GUENTHER OETTINGER (CDU)
Oettinger, 56, has been premier of the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg since 2005 and is a surprise choice for Brussels. A trained lawyer with a thick Swabian accent, he has not shied away from criticising Merkel in recent years. He came under fire in 2007 when he gave eulogy for Hans Filbinger, a former premier of his state who issued death sentences as a Nazi judge, as an 'opponent' of the Nazi regime -- comments he later apologised for.
(Compiled by Madeline Chambers) Keywords: GERMANY COALITION/CABINET (madeline.chambers@reuters.com; +49 30 2888 5230; Reuters Messaging: ann.chambers.reuters.net@reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Here are brief profiles of the ministers that will make up Merkel's new cabinet, based on what multiple sources from the three parties in the incoming government -- the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) and FDP -- have told Reuters.
CHANCELLOR - ANGELA MERKEL (CDU)
Germany's first woman chancellor starts her second term in office at the age of 55 years. The daughter of a protestant pastor, she grew up in communist East Germany. In her first term as head of a 'grand coalition' with the rival Social Democrats (SPD), she brokered EU and G8 deals on climate change, repaired ties with the United States after the strains of the Iraq war and pushed through two stimulus packages worth 81 billion euros to combat Germany's worst downturn since World War Two.
CHIEF OF STAFF - RONALD POFALLA (CDU)
The 50-year-old outgoing CDU General-Secretary becomes Merkel's chief of staff in the Chancellery. Pofalla is one of Merkel's closest allies. A lawyer by training, he previously specialised in labour market and economy issues within the CDU.
FOREIGN - GUIDO WESTERWELLE (FDP)
The 47-year-old FDP chief is the first openly gay leader of a mainstream political party in Germany. The trained lawyer has no experience in government but his party was the biggest winner in a Sept. 27 federal election.
FINANCE - WOLFGANG SCHAEUBLE (CDU)
The 67-year-old CDU veteran moves on from the interior ministry where he has earned a reputation as a law-and-order hardliner over the past four years. Wheelchair-bound since surviving an assassination attempt in 1990, Merkel was instrumental in forcing him to quit as CDU chief in 2000 over a funding scandal but they have patched up difference since.
ECONOMY - RAINER BRUEDERLE (FDP)
At 64, Bruederle has more than 35 years' political experience with the FDP. A proponent of liberal market economics, he has been the FDP's economics spokesman in the Bundestag for a decade.
INTERIOR - THOMAS DE MAIZIERE (CDU)
The 55-year-old leaves his post as the head of Merkel's office in the chancellery. He is widely viewed as one of her closest allies. Skilled in back-rooom negotiations, he was previously interior minister in the eastern state of Saxony.
DEFENCE - KARL-THEODOR ZU GUTTENBERG (CSU)
At 37, Guttenberg became the then youngest minister in Merkel's cabinet in February. His youthful vigour and media-savvy have propelled him to be Germany's most popular politician. The self-confessed rock fan from Bavaria speaks good English and is seen as a rising star.
LABOUR AND SOCIAL - FRANZ JOSEF JUNG (CDU)
Defence minister for the past four years, the 60-year old Jung has come under criticism for communications gaffes linked to Germany's unpopular military deployment in Afghanistan. Previously head of the CDU parliamentary group in the western state of Hesse, he is a close confidant of influential Hesse state premier Roland Koch.
HEALTH - PHILIPP ROESLER (FDP)
Born in Vietnam, 36-year-old Roesler becomes Germany's first Asian-born cabinet minister. He was adopted and grew up in Hamburg. Trained as a doctor, his role will be key as the government seeks to reform the funding of the health system. He has been the FDP's economy, labour and transport minister in the state of Lower Saxony. He is now the cabinet's youngest member.
TRANSPORT - PETER RAMSAUER (CSU)
Ramsauer, 55, will give up his role as parliamentary leader for Bavaria's CSU. He went to school at Britain's Eton College for a short time and later studied Business Administration. He owns a power supply company in his home state of Bavaria.
EDUCATION AND RESEARCH - ANNETTE SCHAVAN (CDU)
54-year-old Schavan, a strong Merkel backer, keeps her role. Before that she had been culture minister in the southern state of Baden
Wuerttemberg.
JUSTICE - SABINE LEUTHEUSSER-SCHNARRENBERGER (FDP)
The 58-year-old takes back the ministry she occupied between 1994 and 1996 when the FDP was last in government with conservatives Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT - DIRK NIEBEL (FDP)
FDP General-Secretary since 2005, this would be the 46-year-old Niebel's first government post.
AGRICULTURE - ILSE AIGNER (CSU)
Aigner, 44, continues in the post she has held for about a year. It was the first ministerial post for the no-nonsense Bavarian, who trained as an electrical engineer and became a member of parliament in 1998.
ENVIRONMENT - NORBERT ROETTGEN (CDU)
This is a promotion for Roettgen, 44, who has most recently been been a CDU parliamentary floor leader. Seen as close to Merkel, the trained lawyer has been a member of the Bundestag lower house of parliament since 1994.
FAMILY - URSULA VON DER LEYEN (CDU)
Von der Leyen, 51, is a trained doctor with seven children. She stays in her post as family minister, where she introduced measures to try to boost Germany's birth rate. Viewed as an effective minister, she is one of the party's most popular politicians.
EU COMMISSIONER - GUENTHER OETTINGER (CDU)
Oettinger, 56, has been premier of the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg since 2005 and is a surprise choice for Brussels. A trained lawyer with a thick Swabian accent, he has not shied away from criticising Merkel in recent years. He came under fire in 2007 when he gave eulogy for Hans Filbinger, a former premier of his state who issued death sentences as a Nazi judge, as an 'opponent' of the Nazi regime -- comments he later apologised for.
(Compiled by Madeline Chambers) Keywords: GERMANY COALITION/CABINET (madeline.chambers@reuters.com; +49 30 2888 5230; Reuters Messaging: ann.chambers.reuters.net@reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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