Without question, Altmaier’s appointment to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet as Environment Minister in May — after nearly two decades toiling in the trenches of the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament — represents his first opportunity to break out of the Berlin bubble and become a household name.
But given his early successes in the job, not to mention that the entire world will be monitoring the progress of Germany’s Energiewende (energy transition to a greater emphasis on renewables), there is every reason to believe he will soon be a well-known figure.
Although
