Maas, who was justice minister, will replace Sigmar Gabriel as foreign minister, Nahles said.The SPD on Sunday said two-thirds of its members had voted in favour of a repeat of the 'grand coalition' with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives that has governed Germany since 2013. The 45-year-old has been a member of the Bundestag lower house for almost 20 years and organised two national election campaigns for the SPD as its general secretary.The post puts him at the helm of the ministry with the biggest budget - some 135 billion euros. The SPD won labour reforms in the coalition talks such as enabling workers to switch to shortened hours for limited periods.Katarina Barley, 49, who took over as family minister last year, will head the justice ministry. Born to a British father and German mother, she studied law and once worked at the Federal Constitutional Court.Franziska Giffey, 39, from the former Communist East, will become family minister. Until now she has been mayor of the Berlin district of Neukoelln, home to many immigrants and high unemployment.Svenja Schulze, a 49-year-old who worked as research and science minister in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia until the SPD lost the regional election there in 2017, was chosen as environment minister.

Source: Egypt Today March 09, 2018 18:22 UTC