Economy Minister Reiche is a controversial figure. Her plans for new gas-fired power plants, rolling back plans for more renewables in the building sector and scrapping solar subsidies have been met with criticism.
Economy Minister Katherina Reiche has ruffled feathers in GermanyImage: Johannes Neudecker/dpa/picture alliance
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Fifty-two-year-old Katherina Reiche was already seen by many in Germany as combative before she was unexpectedly appointed as Chancellor Friedrich Merz's economic affairs minister in 2025. Environmentalists and climate activists have long regarded the politician from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as pro-business and pro-industry, and as an opponent of Germany's ambitious shift toward renewable energy.
After serving in the Bundestag from 1998 to 2015, the politician from Luckenwalde, Brandenburg — 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Berlin — moved into the energy industry. Some critics referred to her as a lobbyist.
Among other roles, Reiche served as chair of the executive board of Westenergie, the largest subsidiary of the energy giant E.ON. With around 10,000 employees, Westenergie supplies approximately 6.6 million people with a significant amount of fossil fuel energy.
Germany's new government is in place. Cabinet ministers include loyal allies of CDU Chancellor Friedrich Merz and SPD leader Lars Klingbeil. However, some of the appointments are surprising.
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Chancellor: Friedrich Merz
After taking two rounds to get elected in the Bundestag, 69-year-old lawyer Merz faces enormous challenges in domestic and foreign policy. Germany's economy is in the doldrums, while the right-wing extremist AfD continues to make gains. The CDU leader wants to boost the economy and limit migration. He has his work cut out for him: never has a new chancellor been as unpopular as Friedrich Merz.
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Finance Minister: Lars Klingbeil (SPD)
The SPD leader has not only taken over the finance portfolio, but is also deputy chancellor. This makes the 47-year-old a central figure in the SPD despite the disastrous result in February's election. Klingbeil studied political science, sociology and history. He has been a member of the Bundestag since 2005. He has no government experience to date.
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Defense Minister: Boris Pistorius (SPD)
Boris Pistorius is the only SPD minister to retain his post. He regularly tops the rankings of the most popular politicians. The 65-year-old has been in office since January 2023 and has also earned a high reputation in the Bundeswehr. Pistorius wants to make the troops "war ready" — and is set to receive the money needed to do so.
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Foreign Minister: Johann Wadephul (CDU)
Johann Wadephul, 62, has been a Bundestag lawmaker since 2009 and has focused on foreign policy. The doctor of law and former soldier is well-connected internationally and is seen to be diplomatic and pragmatic. He has a lot in common with Merz, with whom he will likely work in unison on foreign policy.
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Interior Minister: Alexander Dobrindt (CSU)
Alexander Dobrindt already served as transport minister under Chancellor Angela Merkel. As the new interior minister, the 54-year-old sociologist will push for a tougher stance on migration: more rejections at borders, suspension of family reunification and deportations to Syria and Afghanistan. Dobrindt rejects dual citizenship as well as equal rights for same-sex couples.
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Labor and Social Affairs Minister: Bärbel Bas (SPD)
Bärbel Bas gained nationwide prominence when she became president of the Bundestag in 2021. She hails from a working-class background and her path to top political office was not necessarily predetermined. But the 57-year-old from Duisburg persevered and worked her way up. She is in charge of the ministry with the largest budget.
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Economy Minister: Katherina Reiche (CDU)
Katherina Reiche is returning to politics. The 51-year-old chemist, who grew up in East Germany, became a Bundestag lawmaker at the age of 25 and rose to become Parliamentary State Secretary. In 2015, she switched to the business world, becoming the CEO of Westenergie AG. In 2020, she was appointed chairwoman of the National Hydrogen Council, which advises the German government.
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Digitalization and Modernization Minister: Karsten Wildberger
Karsten Wildberger is the big surprise in Merz's lineup. The expert on digital transformation, who heads a brand new ministry, holds a doctorate in physics and has pursued a career in international management that took him to Boston Consulting, T-Mobile and E.ON, among others. Most recently, the 56-year-old was CEO of MediaMarktSaturn, Europe's largest chain of consumer electronics stores.
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Development Minister: Reem Alabali-Radovan (SPD)
The political scientist was born in Moscow to Iraqi parents. The 35-year-old grew up in East Germany, and was previously the Federal Government Commissioner for Integration and Anti-Racism in the Chancellery. Alabali-Radovan has been a member of the Bundestag since 2021; before that, she was integration commissioner for the state government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
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Justice Minister: Stefanie Hubig (SPD)
The 56-year-old Social Democrat has been education minister in Rhineland-Palatinate since 2016. She is anything but a stranger to the Federal Justice Ministry: the doctor of law from Frankfurt am Main has held several positions there and was state secretary from 2014 to 2016. Before her political career, Hubig worked as a public prosecutor and judge.
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Environment Minister: Carsten Schneider (SPD)
The 49-year-old hails from Erfurt. He is a trained banker and has been a member of the Bundestag since 1998. He quickly made a name for himself as a financial expert and budget politician for his parliamentary group. Most recently, he was commissioner for Eastern Germany in the Chancellery. Schneider belongs to the conservative part of the center-left SPD, just like Lars Klingbeil.
Research, Technology and Space Minister: Dorothee Bär (CSU)
Dorothee Bär has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2002 and is one of the deputy chairs of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. The 47-year-old has been one of the deputy party leaders of the CSU since 2017. From 2018 to 2021, she was Chancellor Angela Merkel's government commissioner for digitalization. In the 2021 election campaign, she was responsible for digital and technology policy.
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Construction Minister: Verena Hubertz (SPD)
The 37-year-old from Trier came to politics from the world of business. After studying economics, she initially founded and managed a startup company. She entered the Bundestag in 2021. She is considered unpretentious, full of drive and results-oriented, qualities that she needs in her new office. The housing shortage is one of the biggest problems in Germany.
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Health Minister: Nina Warken (CDU)
Nina Warken is also an unexpected pick. The 45-year-old joined the CDU when she was studying law, and has been a member of the Bundestag since 2013. She has mainly worked on domestic policy issues and will now have to quickly familiarize herself with health policy.
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Education and Family Affairs Minister: Karin Prien (CDU)
Karin Prien is considered to be one of the most high-profile education specialists in the CDU. The 59-year-old lawyer has been education minister in Schleswig-Holstein since 2017. She is known for her strong opinions and does not shy away from debate. She was born and grew up in the Netherlands, where her grandparents lived after fleeing the Nazis.
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Agriculture Minister: Alois Rainer (CSU)
Sixty-year-old Alois Rainer trained as a butcher and helps run the family business, which comprises a restaurant, in the Bavarian Forest. He has been in the Bundestag since 2013 and is responsible for budget and transport issues. He will replace Cem Özdemir, a self-professed vegan and member of the Green Party. For CSU party chief Markus Söder, Rainer symbolizes a turnabout in agricultural policy.
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Transport Minister: Patrick Schnieder (CDU)
As transport minister, Patrick Schnieder will have a lot of money to spend. A large part of the new €500 billion ($568 bn) fund for infrastructure is to be spent on the renovation of dilapidated transport routes. The 56-year-old lawyer comes from western Germany, has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009, and was most recently parliamentary secretary of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.
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Chancellor's Office: Thorsten Frei (CDU)
The 52-year-old lawyer Thorsten Frei is seen as Merz's closest confidant. He has been a member of the Bundestag since 2013. He has a reputation for always being friendly, is considered to be eloquent and knowledgeable on a broad range of topics. As head of the chancellery, his job is to anticipate trouble and pitfalls for Merz at an early stage, and clear them out of the way.
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Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media: Wolfram Weimer
The publisher, historian and journalist Wolfram Weimer is a staunch conservative. The 60-year-old has written books with titles that translate as "The Conservative Manifesto" and "Longing for God." He worked for the conservative dailies FAZ and Die Welt and was editor-in-chief of Cicero and Focus before founding a publishing house. His job will include federal media policy and remembrance culture.
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Rolling back Habeck's policies
Shortly after taking office, Reiche made it clear that she intended to reverse the efforts of her predecessor, Robert Habeck of the environmentalist Green Party, to advance the energy transition in the heating systems of German homes. Approximately 72% of German homes are heated with natural gas or oil. Alongside transportation, the building sector is considered the one in which the country has made the least progress in implementing its climate policy. Both sectors have been missing targets for years.
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Habeck wanted to change that and drafted a law stipulating that new heating systems would have to be powered mainly by renewable energy. There were fierce protests against this, particularly in the eastern part of the country; Habeck was accused of forcing people to install expensive heat pumps.
When she came to office, Reiche quickly scrapped this provision and stated: "The Heating Act has cost us trust and divided society. We are setting a new course."
At the same time, the minister announced her plan to build new gas-fired power plants.
Claudia Kemfert, a researcher at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), rejects the accusations made by Reiche's critics who say that she has long been a lobbyist for the gas industry.
"What matters is not so much her past as her current policies," Kemfert told DW. "The problem arises when fossil fuel interests are once again given priority over renewables, [energy] storage and efficiency. Germany needs future-oriented technologies instead of new dependencies on fossil fuels."
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Reiche ruffles feathers
Reiche received support from the country's major industry associations from the start because she announced that she would prioritize affordability in energy policy. But now even the powerful Federation of German Industries (BDI) is more critical.
Disagreement quickly arose within the federal government over how to address the high energy costs facing German citizens following the start of the war with Iran.
Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil of the junior partner in government, the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), advocated for a tax on windfall profits of energy companies.
Reiche swiftly rejected the idea and publicly declared that the SPD was constantly making proposals that were "expensive, ineffective and constitutionally questionable."
Chancellor Friedrich Merz then urged her to show more restraint toward the smaller coalition partner.
As a rule, however, the chancellor tends to protect Reiche: When she recently cut subsidies for private solar installations, Merz defended her on public broadcaster ARD.
"We pay a high subsidy from the federal budget for electricity that isn't needed. Katherina Reiche has made proposals on how we can limit this, how we can curb it, how we can reduce it," the chancellor said after Reiche had decided to no longer pay compensation if solar power cannot be fed into the grid, for example during grid overloads.
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Reiche woos China
In late May, Reiche embarked on her first visit to China. For two days, she was seeking Chinese investment to help Germany catch up in the technology sector. Thirty-five business representatives were invited to accompany her, from companies and startups in the renewable energy and the e-mobility sector.
Reiche's strategy in China seemed to focus on showing respect and recognition, praising the strength of her host country. Whether that will pay off remains to be seen.
