Overview
- Steinmeier, speaking in an ARD interview on Friday, June 19, 2026, said he wants a successor from the political profession who has party contacts and talking channels into parties.
- He cited his 2017 role at Schloss Bellevue, when he summoned party leaders to avert new elections, as the reason a politically networked president can help manage fragile government formations.
- Steinmeier cannot run again after two terms and the next president will be chosen by the Federal Assembly on January 30, 2027, an assembly made up of Bundestag members and state delegates.
- The governing black-red coalition has said it will decide its formal nomination in the autumn of 2026 and public debate continues over whether the next holder should be party-affiliated or an independent figure.
- Speculation about potential candidates has included Angela Merkel, whose office dismissed the idea as 'abwegig', and Steinmeier also used the interview to voice frustration over the handling of the 2015 Iran agreement.