In Germany, significant changes took place in the ruling party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the next new leader was an associate of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who is known for his close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
55-year-old Matthias Mirsch became the new general secretary of the Social Democratic Party, which heads the ruling coalition.
He and Schroeder started their careers in Hanover.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, some members of the party tried to exclude Schroeder himself from it because of his friendship with Putin, but they did not succeed.
In April, Mirsch became one of the few Social Democrats who attended Schroeder's anniversary and publicly supported the ex-chancellor. Although he stated that he has a "fundamentally different view of Putin and the attack on Ukraine."
