Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK
The former diplomat has no intention of idling away her time in the Bundestag. She has other plans
Before stepping down, the still serving Chancellor Olaf Scholz found a new prestigious role for his ally — Annalena Baerbock, 44, the country’s first female foreign minister. He put forward her candidacy for President of the UN General Assembly. Berlin must fill the vacancy because it is Germany’s turn under the established rotation. To be honest, the job is not that great: the term lasts only one year, and the responsibilities are mostly organizational, leading plenary sessions. But Scholz believes it could serve as a springboard for Baerbock’s international career.
After all, why should the bright and ambitious Annalena waste her time as a mere MP? By the way, she has already turned down an offer to lead the Green Party’s parliamentary group.
However, there is an unpleasant backstory to this nomination. Back in 2024, the Chancellor had publicly promised this position to the highly respected veteran diplomat Helga Schmid. Among other things, she was one of the architects of the nuclear deal with Iran that was reached in 2015 between Tehran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
In Berlin, Baerbock’s sudden nomination immediately caused a stir. Among the critics is Christoph Heusgen, former head of the Munich Security Conference. «It is outrageous to replace the best and most experienced German diplomat on the international stage with a politician who has lost her position», he said.
But Annalena is taking it all in stride. She explained that her promotion is «similar to the appointments of many of her predecessors who were also former foreign ministers or prime ministers».
Late last year, Baerbock announced her divorce from her husband after 17 years of marriage. Her husband had sacrificed his career to support her, staying home to raise their two daughters, now nine and thirteen. According to the press, it was Daniel who insisted on ending the marriage. Neither he nor Annalena would say why. However, German tabloids reported that Baerbock had allegedly taken up with a black gigolo she met during a business trip to Africa. Whether that’s true or not, we’ll leave aside. There are other arguments: who needs a wife who is never home?
During her more than three years as head of the Foreign Ministry, she made a total of 160 visits to about 77 countries. She made nine trips to Ukraine alone.
Baerbock has repeatedly stated that she pursues what she calls a «feminist» foreign policy. This has included increasing the number of women in the Foreign Ministry. Today, a third of German embassies around the world are headed by women.
The former athlete, who became the country’s top diplomat by the will of circumstances, has made some serious missteps. Two years ago, for example, she visited Brazil hoping to propose democracy cooperation to the «land of wild monkeys», as she rather tactlessly put it. But neither President Lula nor Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira found time to meet with her. Instead, Baerbock delivered her impassioned speech on liberal values — complete with a flip-flop — at a think tank in São Paulo.
She also caused an embarrassing scene during a three-day trip to China. At first she received a warm welcome, but then «the Green politician» went too far. She accused China’s leaders of violating the rights of the Uighurs and threatened «dramatic consequences» if Beijing used force over Taiwan.
At the closing press conference, the generally polite then foreign minister, Qin Gang, was forced to say, «The last thing China needs is lessons from Western teachers».
During a meeting of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Baerbock, while urging the Western allies to stand united, said in English: «We are at war with Russia, not with each other».
And the list of her gaffes goes on.
Critics say Baerbock is under-educated, but that’s not true. She studied political science and public law in Hamburg, earned a master’s degree in international law at the London School of Economics, and then began doctoral studies at the Free University of Berlin, which she abandoned in 2013 after being elected to the Bundestag. Maybe she wasn’t a bad student?
Her political career was meteoric. She joined the Greens at the age of 25, and by 2021 she was their candidate for Chancellor. She led her colleagues to a respectable performance in the traffic light coalition. Even a plagiarism scandal could not stop her success. It turned out that the book hastily published under Baerbock’s name before the election was actually written by a «ghostwriter». It contained numerous unattributed quotes from blogs and articles, even from Wikipedia. Annalena apologized — and then moved on.
She also made some mistakes while at the Foreign Ministry. Many disliked the fact that she traveled everywhere with a makeup artist, costing the taxpayers a tidy sum. There was a scandal in her department about consular officers issuing fake passports. And she took a government plane instead of a train to another Euro 2024 game involving the German national soccer team. This, despite the fact that it was the Greens who initiated the law banning VIPs from flying short distances (under 200 kilometers) and at night.
It’s worth remembering that Baerbock was a multiple medalist at the German trampoline championships in her youth. She knows how to soar high, perform a flip and land on her feet — and by and large, she stands her ground firmly.