Change is part of a diplomat’s job description. As a rule, Ministry of Foreign Affairs employees have to change locations every four years – so they are expected to be flexible. But starting this week, this flexibility will no longer be required only in foreign missions, but also in the ministry itself. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) initiated a comprehensive reform of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that had not been seen for a long time.
In doing this, he implemented the developments he had announced in his inaugural speech in May: moving away from the feminist foreign policy proclaimed by his predecessor Annalena Baerbock (Green Party) and thus also wanting to strengthen women’s rights – towards “a foreign policy that prioritizes security, interests and the economy”.
Its structure is considered fragmented and confusing
Politically, these reforms marked a turning point: for the first time in more than 60 years, the conservatives appointed a foreign minister. Together with Chancellor Merz (CDU), Johann Wadephul wants to run German foreign policy “from a single source”. The current reorganization of the DPR must create an organizational foundation for this.
On Tuesday morning, the Foreign Minister said in Berlin that to protect German interests, in addition to the involvement of the entire federal government, a global partnership was also needed and, related to this, new diplomatic missions around the world. “This requires a modern and sustainable German foreign service – with an appropriate structure,” he said in Berlin. In recent decades, this structure has been viewed by many inside and outside the company as confusing and fragmented; now responsibilities must be collected and decision-making processes must become clearer. “Because we don’t just want to react to the future, we want to actively shape it,” Wadephul said.
These reforms were intended to lay the foundations for a “more interest-oriented foreign policy.”
Concretely, this means that the relevant specialist departments, as well as the areas of cyber foreign policy and cyber security and arms control, will be united in the new security policy department. In addition, there will be four country or regional departments in the future: Europe, Americas, Asia/Pacific and Near East and Middle East/Africa. The EU’s politics and geoeconomics department is intended to link core competencies in Europe, foreign trade, energy and climate policy.
In letters from two state secretaries Géza Andreas von Geyr and Bernhard Kotsch, which South German Newspaper available, it is said that the aim of the reorganization is for the organization to best reflect current and future foreign policy challenges. This would help return focus to priorities and lay the foundations for a “more interest-oriented foreign policy.” The future organization of this office will reflect foreign policy principles more clearly than ever before: “Preserving our security, liberty, and prosperity,” the two secretaries of state wrote.
What looks concrete on paper, turns out to be only developed in practice. These structural adjustments will be implemented in the summer of 2026, the date of regular and uniform transfers at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and will be prepared starting at the turn of 2025/2026. It is still unclear what exactly will happen to these employees.
So far, both understanding and skepticism have been heard from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the reform. Finally, the federal government agreed in its coalition agreement that eight percent savings should be made in all federal ministries. A staff letter from the State Department stated that a “large number” of positions there would also be eliminated – “mostly at headquarters.” A total of around 570 jobs could be eliminated by the end of the 2029 legislative period. However, the overseas mission network must remain. In the spirit of the modern foreign service, selected foreign missions even had to increase their personnel.
