Christine Lambrecht had made a series of mistakes that made her continuity impossible due to her unpopularity among the troops and public opinion
The German Defense Minister, Christine Lambrecht, presented her resignation to Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday, after adding a series of small scandals that made her tenure in office untenable. The resignation comes just over a year after her appointment and at a sensitive time as the Bundeswehr, the federal army, faces radical reform and modernization and the country is participating in Western efforts to support Ukraine in the war against Russia. Her resignation was expected since last Friday, when the first rumors about this possible step were leaked, and it has not surprised anyone in Berlin. “After months of media focus on my person, it is practically impossible to report and discuss the soldiers and make the pertinent political decisions on security in the interest of the citizens of Germany,” says the letter with his resignation delivered to the chief executive German.
The Social Democratic politician, one of the most loyal cabinet members to the federal chancellor, had become an untenable position after adding a series of errors that had led to requests for her resignation not only from the opposition, but from the same tripartite party that rules in Berlin. Lambrecht had even lost the support of his own ministry officials and was openly criticized by senior German Army officers. It is still unknown who will assume his succession. Among the names being considered are the federal ministers of the Chancellery, Wolfgang Schmidt, and Labour, Hubertus Heil, the federal government commissioner for the Army, Eva Högl, the parliamentary state secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Siemtje Möller and the chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Lars Klingbeil.
With his son in the military helicopter
After just over a year in office, Lambrecht accumulated one blunder after another that had made her extremely unpopular with the troops and with public opinion. Instead of visiting German soldiers on missions abroad in December 2021, a must for any top officer in the armed forces, he simply traveled to Lithuania to get up close and personal with the German military stationed there and left winter holidays to ski to the Austrian town of Ischgl, where he spent Christmas and New Years. Criticism against him was heard again when shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began and at kyiv’s urgent request for the supply of weapons for the country’s defense, he announced the shipment of 5,000 military helmets as a “clear sign” that Berlin supports the attacked nation. A contribution described as ridiculous at the time.
The ex-minister’s discredit was accentuated when last spring she visited a military unit in northern Germany by helicopter accompanied by her son, to then go with him on vacation to the island of Sylt under military escort. Images published on Instagram of her by her daughter from the air trip and the confirmation that it was not the first time that her son accompanied him on an official trip only accentuated the criticism. The visit shortly after her to the German troops in Mali in high-heeled shoes did not help improve her image. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a New Year’s message on her private Instagram account, recorded outside with midnight fireworks in the background, in which she discussed the Russian bombing of Ukraine. Even her own Social Democratic co-religionists then considered that initiative shameful and tactless.
#German #Minister #Defense #resigns #due #continuous #scandals #office