The chair of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer will be the new German Defense Minister, replacing Ursula von der Leyen's departure from the post to start her term as EU Commission President, DW reported. 

Ursula von der Leyen will officially leave the post of Defense Minister on July 17. The decision on the appointment of Kramp-Karrenbauer was made after the meeting in the presidium of the CDU, then it was confirmed by the official representative of the German government Steffen Seibert.

Kramp-Karrenbauer became the successor to Angela Merkel as head of the German Conservatives on December 7, 2018, when she won the party elections.

 Earlier, she was the prime minister of the smallest federal state of Germany - Saarland.