After the resignation of Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (both SPD) will succeed her. The German Press Agency learned this from government circles on Tuesday. Previously, several other media had reported about it.

Lambrecht announced her resignation on Monday after a year in office. Scholz wants to officially announce the successor this Tuesday. The Interior Minister of Lower Saxony 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 in coalition negotiations.

At the conferences of interior ministers, Pistorius, who is considered to be 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. Perhaps Pistorius' age also makes him the ideal candidate for the post of defense minister. 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 a potential career killer.

Pistorius was repeatedly said to have ambitions for a political office at the federal level. For example, there were rumors that he could become federal interior minister if Nancy Faeser ran as the top candidate for the SPD in the state elections in Hesse.

Pistorius completed an apprenticeship as a wholesale and foreign trade merchant. From 1980 to 1981 he completed his military service, 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. Pistorius is widowed and has two daughters.