A lawyer becomes Minister of Health: This is Nina Warken

Berlin. This comes as a surprise: Lawyer Nina Warken (45) from Baden-Württemberg will be the new Federal Minister of Health, succeeding Karl Lauterbach (SPD).

She is supported by Tino Sorge and Georg Kippels, both members of the CDU, as parliamentary state secretaries. Immediately after the coalition agreement was announced , Sorge was considered a candidate for the top position in the Federal Ministry of Health .

Party leader Friedrich Merz, who is expected to be elected Chancellor on May 6, announced the personnel details after a CDU executive committee meeting on Monday morning.

The SPD will announce the names for its ministerial posts only after the members' vote has ended - the vote ends Tuesday night at 11:59 p.m.

“Power woman with heart, attitude and mind”

Warken is a relatively new face in health and care policy—most recently, she has primarily made a name for herself as a domestic policy expert, serving, among other roles, as chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the NSA investigative committee. She also served on the parliamentary advisory committee on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Warken has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2013. In the last federal election, she received around 43 percent of the votes for her constituency of Odenwald-Tauber, the most of all members of parliament from Baden-Württemberg – certainly one of the reasons for her current rise to minister in a federal cabinet.

Warken, originally from Bad Mergentheim, has been Secretary General of the CDU Baden-Württemberg since 2023. She is also a member of the Federal Executive Board of the German Women's Union. From 2015 to 2023, she was President of the Baden-Württemberg State Association of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW). In CDU circles, Warken is considered a clever and hardworking "party soldier."

Baden-Württemberg's CDU party leader Manuel Hagel said of her on Monday: "Nina Warken is a real powerhouse with heart, attitude, and intelligence." As parliamentary manager of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag and as general secretary of the CDU Baden-Württemberg, she has proven herself to be a "blazing-smart generalist."

Lauterbach wishes “success and happiness”

She can quickly grasp new topics – "because she's interested in the topics and the people," Hagel said. Outgoing Health Minister Lauterbach wrote on Monday via "X": "I will do everything in my power to give her a good start. I wish the team success and good luck, especially my designated successor, Nina Warken."

Coalition agreement: Primary care system sought

In their coalition agreement, the CDU/CSU and SPD announced, among other things, the introduction of a mandatory primary care physician system. The CDU/CSU, CSU, and SPD intend to initially address key points for financial and structural reforms in statutory health insurance and social long-term care insurance in committees – in the case of long-term care, with the involvement of the states and municipalities.

Representatives of health and nursing insurance funds strongly criticize this and fear that long-overdue reforms will be delayed. (hom/bwa)