Every year in the summer, the Federal Foreign Office has a standardized transfer date. Between May and September, diplomats will take up their new positions at diplomatic missions abroad or at the Werderscher Markt headquarters. This year, there are at least eight positions in the Ambassadors Circle with the salary grade B9 of political importance and prestigious: Washington, London, Beijing, Delhi, Tel Aviv, Warsaw, Madrid and Mexico City.
The competition for the coveted jobs in the green house of Secretary of State Annalena Barbock was among: the ousted Secretary of State, a former government spokesperson, and several senior diplomats. And someone who started his career with the attache trains in the office but turned to politics for a long time. And when offices in the Traffic Light Coalition were given anything: Bundestag Alexander Graf Lampsdorff of the FDP.
Party leader Christian Lindner showed no interest in complaining to the Liberals’ Foreign Ministry nor to the Ministry of Economic Cooperation. But he did not want to reject the desire of the eminent foreign politician Lampsdorff to become Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary – in Washington, which is still perhaps the most important foreign mission.
It is not uncommon for politicians or senior officials who have left the service to become ambassadors. Annette Chavan of the Christian Democratic Union, for example, became the representative of the Federal Republic to the Holy See, also B9, in addition to the job at the United Nations Mission in Geneva, which Foreign Minister Heiko Maas inherited to his director of office Katharina Stach. However, appointments must pass through the Cabinet, and the decision is made unanimously.
The circle of individuals has been suspended since January
Barbock did not want to give the coalition partner a central position as ambassador, but according to reports, Lampsdorf did not want to be shunned by alternatives either. That is why the carousel has been broken since January, so some who already had a ticket did not know until the end where the flight would lead. Recently, the staff package was with Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD). But now a solution has been found that satisfies many concerned – with the exception of Lambsdorff.
In the United States, according to information, the Southgerman newspaper The political decision is to extend the tenure of respected cross-party ambassador Emily Haber, who has already reached the minimum age but has not retired from the diplomatic service. For Green Andreas Michaelis, who was returned to Berlin as Foreign Minister, the Social Democratic affiliated Miguel Berger, who was replaced by Barbock, will go to Great Britain. Stephen Seibert, Angela Merkel’s media envoy for more than eleven years, will represent the federal government in Israel. Chancellor Olaf Schultz had promised his predecessor this use.
In Spain, Maria Goss, head of the Central Department of the German Foreign Ministry, will replace Ambassador Wolfgang Dold, who will move to Mexico. Thomas Bagger, recently head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Federal President’s Office, will take up the post in Poland. Philip Ackermann, formerly Head of Political Section 3, responsible for relations with 110 countries in the Near East, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, is to be sent to India. In China, Patricia Flor will succeed Jan Hecker, who died a few days after taking office in September and was Merkel’s security advisor before his transfer. Fleur is currently the EU ambassador to Japan. On the other hand, Lambsdorff was not taken on this tour.