“We do not have any fax machines and we have no plans to buy any”*

Katharina Schindel

Halle Foundation/AGI Intern

Katharina Schindel is a summer 2025 Halle Foundation Intern at the American-German Institute. She is a rising second year graduate student in the European Studies program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, pursuing a concentration in international business and transatlantic diplomacy. Originally from Munich, Germany, Katharina earned her BA in political science and sociology from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), where she focused on EU-U.S. relations, and holds a certificate in U.S. politics from American University’s Washington Semester Program.

Prior to her graduate studies at Georgetown, Katharina worked as a project assistant for the Public Affairs Consultancy APCO Worldwide in Munich, where she provided geopolitical risk analysis for international clients in the tech and security space and supported high-profile political events, such as the Munich Security Conference. In addition, Katharina has further experience in transatlantic policy engagement, having previously served as a fellow at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Washington, DC.

Her research interests include the security sphere of the transatlantic relationship (specifically as it pertains to Germany and the United States) and shared issues on the emerging tech frontier for both sides of the Atlantic.

Germany’s New Digital Ministry

Germany has established its first-ever ministry dedicated solely to all matters digital. Spearheaded by political newcomer Karsten Wildberger, the Ministry for Digital and State Modernization aims to centralize digital policy leadership, accelerate administrative modernization, and lay the groundwork for European digital competitiveness after years of what has been criticized as fragmented responsibilities and lagging implementation in the country’s digital governance.

Sworn in just weeks after resigning as CEO of Ceconomy AG (an electronics giant and owner of MediaMarkt and Saturn),  Wildberger brings a distinctly outsider profile to one of Germany’s most complex reform projects. His official title as Minister for Digital and State Modernization reflects the ambition of the new ministry’s portfolio: to finally digitize Germany’s notoriously analog bureaucracy and reimagine the federal state for the twenty-first century. “I’m not someone socialized in politics,” Wildberger acknowledged in a recent interview, “but I’m a political person. I always start by asking: what’s the end goal? And then I work backwards.”

A Ministry Built from Scratch

Network and digital policy, issues relating to digital administration, and the expansion of network infrastructures traditionally fell within the remit of various federal and state government departments. From 2013 onward, Germany’s digital policy was housed within larger portfolios: first, as part of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, and later, starting in 2021, under the renamed Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. In both cases, digital affairs remained subordinate to more traditional infrastructure concerns, often competing for attention and resources. The fragmented nature of digital governance meant that core responsibilities, ranging from broadband expansion to digital ID development, were scattered across multiple ministries, including the Interior Ministry and the Chancellery. The creation of the Ministry for Digital and State Modernization in 2025 marks the first time digital policy has been elevated to its own full cabinet ministry, signaling a more serious political commitment to Germany’s digital transformation.

The new ministry, abbreviated BMDS (Bundesministerium für Digitales und Staatsmodernisierung), essentially materialized as soon as the organizational decree of Merz’s government was announced. This left some 500 staffers reassigned to the new entity, often without new contracts or office space. The sudden restructuring appears to have been a very dynamic process: according to reports by Tagesschau, many staffers do not possess a dedicated working space (as of July 2025), as some have been drawn from ministries in Berlin and Bonn (a move which has elicited criticism from the German Taxpayers’ Association), and many still report to their old ministries on paper. Karsten Wildberger, however, carries the agile reorganization like a badge of honor: “Start-up mentality” is the phrase repeated by the new BMDS head and his team in multiple interviews and public remarks.

In line with that start-up spirit, while formal bureaucratic structures are still being built, the new BMDS staff is expected to not simply continue where they left off. In regard to the organizational style of his ministry, Wildberger has described his goal to break down old structures and dissolve “silos.” The ministry is planned to work in “missions” with six-month deadlines, flat hierarchies, and a strong emphasis on prototyping digital services.

One Office, Many Mandates

The newly minted BMDS inherited a significant list of responsibilities from other ministries. While most ministries received brief task lists (covering less than half a page for most) through the government’s organizational decree, Wildberger’s mandate spanned over two pages. In a sweeping reorganization, five ministries (Interior, Transport, Economy, Finance, and Justice) and even the Chancellery were required to cede relevant departments to the BMDS.

As per the decree, the BMDS now consolidates a wide array of competencies, creating a centralized hub for Germany’s digital transformation. From the Chancellery, the ministry inherits strategic foresight, behavioral science expertise, and oversight of digital policy fundamentals, reflecting a broader vision of data-driven, citizen-centered governance. The most substantial transfer of responsibilities, however, comes from the Ministry of the Interior. The new ministry absorbs control over digital administration (excluding ID and passport systems), digital society functions, general federal IT procurement, and the management of the federal government’s IT infrastructure. This also includes oversight of federal networks, limited cybersecurity responsibilities within the federal administration, and legal authority over digital administration (though core security and intelligence-related IT remain under the Interior Ministry’s remit).

In addition, the BMDS assumes digital and data policy, as well as digital infrastructure competencies, from the Ministry of Transport, therefore placing core elements of Germany’s connectivity agenda under its roof. From the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, it takes over digital economy regulation, national and EU-level better regulation and bureaucracy reduction efforts, data usage rights, digital sovereignty initiatives. This also includes the organization of the Federal Government’s Digital Summit, which has been organized by the Ministry for Economy and Energy since 2006 and annually brings together stakeholders from politics, business, science, and civil society to discuss questions concerning digital policy.  The Ministry of Finance cedes oversight of ITZBund (Germany’s central IT service provider), excluding its tax administration functions, as well as responsibility for the newly-established sovereign cloud platform of the German administration.  Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice transfers responsibility for the national regulatory oversight body (Normenkontrollrat), the bureaucracy reduction secretariat, and Germany’s domestic implementation of the EU AI Act.

Finally, and perhaps most notably, the new ministry holds a significant cross-cutting role: a formal right of approval over major IT expenditures across the federal administration, with exceptions only for defense, security, intelligence, and tax authorities. This marks an unprecedented lever of fiscal control in federal IT governance and can be seen as a strong signal that the government expects the BMDS to steer Germany’s digital future.

Mission: Digitalization

The ministry’s priorities are as ambitious as its structure is experimental. First on the list is streamlining Germany’s fragmented digital landscape: of the 575 public services that should be available online under Germany’s “Online Access Act,” only around 245 are functional today, according to Karsten Wildberger. Wildberger’s approach to create progress here emphasizes learning from best practices at the municipal level and scaling them via centralized platforms in what he calls a kind of federal “app store.”

A top priority is also the accelerated rollout of digital infrastructure. Legislation has already been introduced to boost internet speeds across Germany, which can be seen as an early signal that the new Digital Ministry intends to act swiftly. Moving forward, expanding fiber-optic and mobile networks will be treated as a matter of “paramount public interest.” Whereas previously, telecom providers faced many permit-related challenges, the new approach reportedly aims to streamline this process by allowing authorities to fast-track infrastructure projects—even when they might conflict with environmental regulations.

In a sweeping reorganization, five ministries and even the Chancellery were required to cede relevant departments to the BMDS.

The Digitalministerium also plans to drastically reduce bureaucratic hurdles by introducing a digital ID “Wallet,” set to launch by early 2027. The app would integrate a person’s ID, driver’s license, insurance credentials, and more into a single mobile interface.

Another priority is what officials are calling the “Deutschland-Stack,” a common federal IT infrastructure designed to eliminate the current reality in which sixteen federal states and hundreds of municipalities often build the same digital service over and over again. The vision is to digitize once and deploy many times.

Artificial intelligence is perhaps the most politically charged component of Wildberger’s agenda. His parliamentary state secretary, Thomas Jarzombek, has laid out a vision of Germany as a competitive AI nation: not by replicating OpenAI, but by focusing on specific applications, edge innovations, and “smaller, smarter models.” The ministry plans to install 100,000 new AI-optimized processors (GPUs) in Germany, with access extended to both startups and large firms. The goal is to give European AI developers the infrastructure they need to compete with U.S. and Chinese platforms. At the same time, Wildberger has walked a fine line on regulation, calling data protection a “cornerstone of digital society” while insisting that it must not become an “innovation blocker” in public forums.

A Digital Bridge Builder

Wildberger’s first weeks in office were marked by a deliberate attempt to court both sides of Germany’s divided digital ecosystem: business leaders eager for regulatory flexibility and civil society actors demanding data sovereignty and open-source governance. He addressed both the Handelsblatt TECH conference in Heilbronn and the re:publica digital society summit in Berlin, where he spoke the language of “agility” to CEOs, while committing to open-source and user rights in front of net activists. The reception was cautiously optimistic, but critics have noted that whether this rhetorical bridge-building can translate into actual policy consensus remains to be seen.

As part of his early outreach, Minister Wildberger has emphasized the importance of transatlantic digital cooperation. During his inaugural visit to Washington in July 2025, he met with U.S. government officials, tech industry leaders, and lawmakers, including Michael Kratsios (Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy), Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Google’s VP and Global Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy. According to official BMDS communication, at the center of the talks were shared ambitions around artificial intelligence, digital trade, and the reduction of regulatory barriers. Wildberger made clear that Germany intends to play a more proactive role in shaping global digital norms, stating in a speech at the Atlantic Council that “the partnership between Germany and the United States is more important than ever.” He called for open markets, interoperable standards, and a united front on AI innovation, warning that Europe must not and will not become a bystander. Germany, he said, would commit to more investment in computing capacity and regulatory breathing room to ensure that it remains competitive in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.

Challenges Ahead

Despite a fast start and big ambitions, the Digitalministerium faces a long road. It still has no dedicated budget and remains operationally dependent on other ministries for payroll, equipment, and facilities. Wildberger must also overcome the entrenched cultures of Germany’s notoriously siloed bureaucracy, win over skeptical state-level digital ministers, and deliver concrete results before his experimental model risks running out of political capital.

The stakes are high. As Wildberger put it in his re:publica speech: “Digitization isn’t a state, it’s a mindset.” Whether Germany’s newest ministry can deliver more than metaphors remains to be seen. For now, it moves forward with high expectations, political urgency, and, in true German fashion, a soon-to-be finalized organizational chart.

* Quote from a spokesperson of the digital ministry made to Welt am Sonntag in May 2025.