Germany's CDU/CSU set to nominate Ilse Aigner as first female candidate for president

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats are set to officially announce Bavarian parliamentary speaker Ilse Aigner as their presidential candidate on Monday, following a scheduled executive committee meeting of the CDU on Saturday evening.

Merz declined to confirm media reports before the meeting, saying only that his party had agreed with its Bavarian ally, the Christian Social Union, to present the nomination on Monday. Reports indicate Aigner would stand as a joint candidate of all three coalition parties — the CDU, CSU and the centre-left Social Democrats.

Aigner, 61, is the current speaker of the Bavarian state parliament. If elected, she would become Germany's first female head of state and the first CSU member to hold the position. She has drawn verbal backing from SPD and Green lawmakers alongside the conservative bloc.

The new German president is to be chosen on January 30 by the Federal Convention, a special assembly comprising all 630 members of the Bundestag and an equal number of electors representing the 16 state parliaments.

Aigner is expected to succeed outgoing President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Merz said earlier in the week that he wanted to see a woman elected to the post.

Separately, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said he expected a replacement for the collapsed French-German FCAS fighter jet project to be decided by the end of March 2027. Pistorius said two options were under consideration: joining the British-Italian-Japanese Global Combat Air Program, with ongoing discussions about whether German involvement could cause unacceptable delays; or Airbus developing its own project with European partners for the start of the 2040s.