BERLIN: The German president, Johannes Rau, has appointed Kerstin
Kiessler, formerly with the ministry of internal affairs, as his new
spokesperson.
The change is one of several senior appointments made in the wake of the
German parliament’s move from Bonn to Berlin. It is also almost exactly
a year since the left-wing Social Democratic Party (SPD) won its
parliamentary majority.
Kiessler has been replaced as spokesman of the ministry of internal
affairs by Rainer Lingenthal, a former television reporter for local
Berlin station Sender Freies Berlin.
Meanwhile, Frank Reuter has been promoted to head of PR at the ministry
of internal affairs. He replaces Hans-Gerd Pracht. Michael Wisser has
replaced Karla Sichelschmidt as head of PR of the Bundesrat, the upper
house, which is also known as the Council of Federal States.
The Green party, the SPD’s coalition partner, has appointed
Hans-Herrmann Langguth, former editor-in-chief of the Freies Wort
newspaper, as its press spokesman. He replaces Harald Handel. Peter
Struck, leader of the SPD in the Bundestag, the lower house, has hired
Norbert Bicher as his new spokesperson replacing Sten Martenson.
The German government has announced that it is searching for a PR
agency to help promote the euro to the public. The drive will be part of
an integrated communications campaign, including PR, public affairs and
advertising.
