Former interior minister Thomas de Maiziere will be new German defence minister and thus replace Karl-Thedor zu Guttenberg, the young baron who on Tuesday resigned, having been accused of cheating in his doctorate.

As German media reported on Wednesday, the agreement on reshuffle was reached between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Horst Seehofer, the Leader of the Christian Social Union party (CSU), a member of which is zu Guttenberg, and which is a sister party to Merkel's governing Christian Democrats (CDU).

Prussian de Maiziere, whose organizational abilities were commended by Merkel herself, is known as experienced strategist and politician, whose career begun in 1983, when he worked for then mayor of Berlin Richard von Weizsacker.

In 2005, de Maiziere was appointed Merkel's chief of staff in her first term, and was moved to the position of interior minister after Merkel was re-elected in September 2009.

Replacing de Maiziere as interior minister will be Hans-Peter Friedrich, 53, parliamentary head of the CSU.