Faber becomes Chairman of the Defense Committee

FDP politician Marcus Faber (40) is to become the new chairman of the Defense Committee, succeeding the controversial Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann. The member of the Bundestag won the second round of voting on Tuesday in a battle within his parliamentary group against Alexander Müller, as Deutsche Presse-Agentur learned from the meeting.

The members of the Defense Committee are responsible for parliamentary oversight of the Ministry of Defense and the Bundeswehr. They are also involved in the adoption of the defense budget and the procurement of equipment and material. The FDP parliamentary group has the right of nomination for the chairmanship, which is followed by a formal election by the committee members.

Faber, who has his home in Stendal in Saxony-Anhalt, was already the defense policy spokesperson for his parliamentary group, but had resigned from this position in 2022 after controversial comments about an appearance by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the Defense Committee. It was expected that Müller (state association of Hesse) would remain the defense policy spokesperson for the FDP parliamentary group and his party's chairman on the committee.

Strack-Zimmermann is stepping down as chair of the committee because she is switching to European policy. She is the lead candidate of the FDP and the liberal Alde party family for the European elections. In the Bundestag, she campaigned vehemently for more extensive arms deliveries to Ukraine and did not shy away from controversy.

"I think people either appreciate me or find me really creepy. I take note of that with respect. It's okay. I didn't go into politics to avoid appearing. So you work and of course you want to be noticed," she told the German Press Agency in Berlin on Tuesday. "If you look at the gallery of ancestors, I am certainly the loudest of all those who have been allowed to carry out this task, if I disregard Franz Josef Strauß." However, the fact that Vladimir Putin had Ukraine attacked 70 days after her election to office was also part of the overall picture. This "turned the spotlight a little brighter" on the defense committee.