Britta Ernst is Olaf Scholz’s First Lady – and a minister herself. But now, of all times, there is criticism. There is also a demand for resignation.
Munich – The new Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has opened a new chapter in his political career. After the end of the 16-year Merkel era, Scholz is once again a Social Democrat in the Chancellery. Previously, he was Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor for Merkel in the grand coalition.
Active participation in German politics is no stranger to the Scholz family – not only because of the Federal Chancellor’s long political career. Scholz’s wife is also a professional politician, in a prominent position. Britta Ernst (SPD) is Brandenburg’s Minister of Education. However, she is currently under pressure.
Scholz’s wife: Britta Ernst criticized for corona management – state parents’ council calls for resignation
Ernst has been in office since September 2017. In her function as Minister of Education from Brandenburg, she even took over the chairmanship of the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK) of the federal states in January. Ernst’s political career has been going on for much longer. From 1997 to 2011 she was a member of the Hamburg state parliament. From 2014 to 2017 she was responsible for education in Schleswig-Holstein.
In Brandenburg, Ernst is currently being targeted by both the State Parents’ Council and the State Audit Office. Her inauguration is controversial, the State Parents’ Council accuses her of failing to organize lessons under pandemic conditions and recently asked her to resign. According to a press release from the Parents’ Council, the school situation is “out of control”. Due to Corona, it is taking an “increasingly worrying course”.
“The members of the National Council of Parents are missing clear guidelines in the educational policy of the country. There is no structured approach to coping with urgent pandemic-related problems, nor is there a definition of tasks to be dealt with in the medium and long term, ”emphasized the Council in a press release on Monday (December 6th). “The sum of actions and inaction over the past two years” led to the demand for resignation.
Scholz’s wife under pressure: State Audit Office in Brandenburg accuses Ernst of unnecessary expenses
An accusation by the State Audit Office in Brandenburg puts Ernst under additional pressure. This time it’s not all about bad management, it’s a waste of money. Ernst also appears in the annual report of the highest Brandenburg financial control authority. She is said to have issued the State Sports Association an inflated funding notice for the “House of Sports” in Potsdam. The country could have apparently made unnecessary expenditure of at least one million euros. Ernst’s ministry approved a total of 8.1 million euros.
According to the President of the State Audit Office, Christoph Weiser, the grant “should have been at least one million euros lower,” like the one Daily mirror reported. The Court of Auditors had warned years ago. It later turned out that the state sports association could obviously have raised more for the financing of the project: the association simply paid for additional costs in the millions itself. (bb)
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