In all likelihood there will be no independent digital ministry in the new federal government.

This was reported by the Handelsblatt on Thursday, citing circles familiar with the coalition negotiations.

The FDP, which is the only one of the three traffic light parties to expressly include such a department in its election manifesto, is “on the retreat” with its demand, according to a negotiator.

During the talks in the specialist working group, the liberals sometimes gave the impression that they only had to say digital department and that all the balls were rolling towards them, said another insider, according to Handelsblatt.

In the meantime, however, the FDP also seems to have realized that the establishment of a new ministry with the merging of various digital responsibilities would take too long and would slow down rather than accelerate the pace of digitization.

The representation was confirmed in FDP circles.

Accordingly, a “major technical restructuring”, which would have to go hand in hand with the creation of a new ministry, as well as the “personal bloodletting” in many other departments are seen as an obstacle.