Germany’s foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, has announced a major reform of his ministry to become effective in summer of 2026. As the NSC is built, the MFA refocuses.
Wadephul has emphasised three foreign policy goals: protecting Germany’s security, freedom, and prosperity. 1/
Goals 1 and 3 will be supported by strong departments for security policy and for EU policy and geoeconomics.
The department for stabilisation created 20y ago will be dissolved, as will the department for foreign cultural and educational policy. Staff numbers at the Berlin HQ will go down 2/
While the DG for International Order will stay and absorb teams working on stabilisation, prevention etc.
But funds for crisis regions and large humanitarian budgets for external cultural and educational policy will be administered directly by the regional desks. 3/
Nov 26, 2025 09:45German foreign policy-making will rely more heavily on strengthened intergovernmental diplomacy.
This includes partnerships with countries that “hold different opinions and whose positions may sometimes seem strange to us,” says Wadephul. 4/
This sober pragmatism is driven by security and economic resilience concerns. It will be interesting to see how Germany develops its “soft power” in a more conflictual world while Germany’s image as Europe’s economic powerhouse is showing serious cracks.
