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Status: 01/17/2023 11:13 a.m
Male, Lower Saxony, domestic politician: Boris Pistorius was not one of the favorites in the speculation about the vacant post in the Ministry of Defense. The 62-year-old is considered pragmatic.
His name had rarely been traded in the past few days. In this respect, the Pistorius personality is a successful surprise for the public from Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Lower Saxony’s Minister of the Interior becomes the new Federal Minister of Defense and thus the successor to the hapless Christine Lambrecht.
The 62-year-old is a member of the SPD party executive and is considered an experienced political manager. In the past few years, Pistorius has gained a reputation as a knowledgeable specialist politician among the interior ministers of the federal and state governments. Even though he always stayed in Lower Saxony, he was also involved in the internal political positioning of the federal SPD in election campaigns and coalition negotiations. Together with Petra Köpping, Pistorius entered the race for the SPD leadership in 2019.
Quick-witted, but not disrespectful
At the conferences of interior ministers, Pistorius, who is considered pragmatic, always visibly enjoyed arguing with conservatives like former interior minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) on the open stage – quick-witted, with pointed remarks, but never disrespectful.
The decision for Pistorius as the new defense minister may also have something to do with his age. At the age of 62, a politician can finally move into the executive office in the Bendlerblock, which is generally regarded as an ejection seat and therefore also as a potential career killer.
Federal political ambitions
Pistorius was repeatedly said to have ambitions for a political office at the federal level. For example, there was speculation that he could become federal interior minister if Nancy Faeser stood as the top candidate for the SPD in the state elections in Hesse in the fall. Now he is moving into the cabinet, but to a different ministerial post. The SPD in Hesse wants to announce at the beginning of February at the latest whether Faeser’s post will also have to be filled soon.
Pistorius completed an apprenticeship as a wholesale and foreign trade merchant. He did his military service from 1980 to 1981, after which he studied law in Osnabrück and Münster. Pistorius has been Minister of the Interior in Lower Saxony since 2013, and his third term began a few months ago. Before that he was mayor of Osnabrück from 2006 to 2013. He is widowed and has two daughters.