Johann Wadephul | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Wadephul in 2025 | |
| Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
| Assumed office 6 May 2025 | |
| Chancellor | Friedrich Merz |
| Preceded by | Annalena Baerbock |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| Assumed office 27 September 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Otto Bernhardt |
| Constituency | Rendsburg-Eckernförde |
| Member of theLandtag of Schleswig-Holstein | |
| In office 27 February 2000 – 27 September 2009 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1963-02-10)10 February 1963 (age 62) |
| Political party | Christian Democratic Union (since 1982) |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Meldorfer Gelehrtenschule |
| Alma mater | Kiel University (Dr. iur.) |
| Occupation | Lawyer,Politician,Diplomat |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Germany |
| Branch/service |  Bundeswehr |
| Years of service | 1982–1986 |
| Rank | Lieutenant colonel (reserves) |
Johann Walter David Rudolf "Jo"Wadephul (German:[ˈjoːhanˈvaːdəˌfuːl];[1] born 10 February 1963) is a German politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as thefederal minister of foreign affairs in thegovernment ofChancellorFriedrich Merz since 2025.[2]
He has been a member of theBundestag since 2009, where he also served as deputy chair of theCDU/CSU parliamentary group from 2017 until 2025. Previously, he was a member of theLandtag of Schleswig-Holstein from 2000 until 2009, where he also served as chairman of the CDU parliamentary group from 2005.[3]
Wadephul was born inHusum,Schleswig-Holstein, to teachers Werner and Karin (née Schäfer).[4] He attended primary school inNordhastedt before attending theMeldorfer Gelehrtenschulegymnasium, where he graduated in 1982.[5] From 1982 to 1986, he served as a reserve officer in theGerman Air Force at theRendsburg base. In 1986, he retired as afirst lieutenant and later rose to the rank oflieutenant colonel (retired).[6] In 1986, he began studying law at theChristian-Albrechts University of Kiel, completing his studies in 1991 with the First State Examination.
From 1992 to 1993, Wadephul received a scholarship from theKonrad Adenauer Foundation.[7] From 1993 to 1995, he worked as a legal trainee in the Kiel Regional Court. In 1995, he passed his Second State Examination and, in March 1996, earned his doctorate at the University of Kiel under Professor Dieter Reuter with a dissertation onThe Agreements Between Company Partners.[8]
Since 1995, Wadephul has practiced law, initially inLübeck before establishing his own firm inNeumünster in 2001. He qualified as a specialist lawyer inmedical law andsocial law in 2009, and has since worked with law firms in both Neumünster andBerlin.[9]
Wadephul joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its youth organization, theYoung Union, in 1982.
Starting in 1993, he became part of the CDU leadership inSchleswig-Holstein. From 1997 to 2000, Wadephul served as Secretary General of the CDU in the state under party chairman Peter Kurt Würzbach. He then briefly chaired the CDU in Schleswig-Holstein from 2000 to 2002 before being succeeded byPeter Harry Carstensen. During his tenure as chairman, Wadephul publicly endorsedEdmund Stoiber as the CDU’s candidate to challenge incumbent ChancellorGerhard Schröder in the2002 federal elections.[10]
After the2000 state elections, Wadephul was elected to theLandtag of Schleswig-Holstein. Following the CDU’s victory in the2005 elections, he succeeded Carstensen as chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. Wadephul chose not to seek re-election in2009.
Wadephul has been a member of the GermanBundestag since the2009 elections, representing theRendsburg-Eckernförde district. In 2009, he received 40.2% of the vote in his seat.[11]
Wadephul first served on the Committee on Labour and Social Affairs. In the2013 elections, Wadephul received an increased 45.2% of the vote.[12] After the election, he became the chairman of the Committee on the Scrutiny of Elections, Immunity and the Rules of Procedure. In addition, he served as member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and of the parliament'sCouncil of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigning committee chairpersons based on party representation.
On the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Wadephul was his parliamentary group'srapporteur on relations with theMiddle East,Arab states of the Persian Gulf andIran. He also covered issues related toBelarus,Ukraine,Russia and theWestern Balkans. In addition to his committee assignments, he served as Deputy Chairman of the German-Belarusian Parliamentary Friendship Group.
Following the2017 elections, Wadephul was re-elected with 42.7% of the vote in his seat.[13] In the negotiations to form acoalition government under the leadership ofChancellorAngela Merkel, Wadephul was part of the working group on foreign policy, led byUrsula von der Leyen,Gerd Müller andSigmar Gabriel. He has since been serving as deputy chairman of theCDU/CSU parliamentary group under the leadership of successive chairsVolker Kauder (2017–2018),Ralph Brinkhaus (2018–2022) andFriedrich Merz (2022–present); in this capacity, he succeededFranz Josef Jung.
In addition to his work in parliament, Wadephul has been a member of the German delegation to theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) since 2010. As member of the CDU, he is part of the Group of theEuropean People's Party. Since joining the Assembly, he has served on various committees, including Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs and the Sub-Committee on Ethics. Since 2022, he has also been a member of the German delegation to theNATO Parliamentary Assembly, where he is part of the Political Committee.[14]
For the2021 election, Wadephul was elected to lead the CDU campaign in Schleswig-Holstein for the fourth consecutive time.[15] While he lost his district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde to theSPD'sSönke Rix, Wadephul was elected on the party list in Schleswig-Holstein. Wadephul received 29.7% of the vote against Rix's 30.8%.[16]
In the2025 election, Wadephul retook his district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde with 32.8% of the vote.[17]
On 6 May 2025, Wadephul was sworn in as foreign minister byPresidentFrank-Walter Steinmeier alongside the rest of theMerz cabinet.[18]
The following day, he accompanied ChancellorFriedrich Merz on his trip toParis meeting his counter part,French foreign ministerJean-Noël Barrot. Later that day he met withRadosław Sikorski inWarsaw.[19]
In June 2017, Wadephul voted against his parliamentary group's majority and in favor of Germany's introduction ofsame-sex marriage.[23]
In 2019, Wadephul joined 14 members of his parliamentary group who, in an open letter, called for the party to rally around Merkel and party chairwomanAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer against criticism voiced by conservativesFriedrich Merz andRoland Koch.[24]
In April 2020, Wadephul co-signed – alongside around 50 other members of his parliamentary group – a letter toPresident of the European CommissionUrsula von der Leyen which called on the European Union to take in children who were living in migrant camps across Greece.[25][26]
Ahead of the Christian Democrats'leadership election in 2021, Wadephul publicly endorsedNorbert Röttgen to succeedAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as the party's chair.[27]
In a 2023 interview with the German newspaperTagesspiegel, he advocated thatUkraine be allowed to use the weapons supplied by Germany, among others, on Russian territory.[28]
Wadephul supported theexport of German weapons to Israel during theGaza war. He said that "we must work to ensure that excessive and unjustified criticism of Israel is avoided. This is true of many resolutions in UN bodies that are one-sided against Israel and have a clear anti-Israel, if not anti-Semitic, motivation."[29]
In February 2025 Wadephul was called by the Russian comedy duoVovan and Lexus, pretending to be employees of the Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy. In the 20-minute call, he leaked information about military support and thoughts about the possible delivery ofTaurus cruise missiles.[30]
Wadephul is married and has three daughters.[31] The family lives inMolfsee.
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