Status: 01/16/2023 11:21 am
Defense Minister Lambrecht has asked Chancellor Scholz to be allowed to resign. Her statement said she had decided to make her position available. The SPD politician has long been criticized.
There has been speculation about her resignation for days. Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has now asked Chancellor Scholz to release her.
In her statement she justifies her decision as follows:
Today I asked the Federal Chancellor to be dismissed from the office of Federal Minister of Defence. The media focus on my person for months hardly allows factual reporting and discussion about the soldiers, the Bundeswehr and security policy decisions in the interests of the citizens of Germany. The valuable work of the soldiers and the many motivated people in the business area must be in the foreground. I have therefore decided to make my position available. I would like to thank everyone who is committed to our safety every day and I wish them all the best for the future from the bottom of my heart.”
Controversial for a long time
The SPD politician had been in office for a good 13 months, but had been controversial for a long time. Critics accused her of slow procurement for the Bundeswehr and a lack of expertise, but her public appearance was repeatedly criticized.
A photo of her son traveling in a Bundeswehr helicopter made negative headlines. Lambrecht recently caused irritation with a New Year’s message spread on Instagram, in which she spoke about the Ukraine war accompanied by New Year’s Eve fireworks.
Especially from the opposition, but also from the ranks of the traffic light coalition, there were recently calls for the personnel to be clarified quickly.
Christoph Mestmacher, ARD Berlin, on the resignation of Defense Minister Lambrecht
tagesschau24 11:00 a.m., 16.1.2023
successor still unclear
It is still unclear who will succeed Lambrecht in office. The head of the defense department is in the traffic light coalition of the SPD. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, Labor Minister Hubertus Heil, Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt and the military commissioner Eva Högl are traded as candidates.
The AFP news agency reports, citing government circles, that there will be no decision on the successor on Monday.
Defense ministers meeting on Friday
On Friday, the western allies will meet in the so-called Ramstein format to discuss further arms deliveries to Ukraine. The possible delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine will also be discussed. Green party leader Omid Nouripour therefore insisted on a quick decision and also called for parity between women and men to be maintained in the federal cabinet.
After Federal Family Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens), Lambrecht is the second member of the cabinet to resign in the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
With her departure in April, Spiegel had drawn the consequences of a controversial vacation in France during the air disaster in 2021 when she was state environment minister in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Christine Lambrecht has announced her resignation as Federal Defense Minister
Philipp Eckstein, ARD Berlin, 16.1.2023 10:30 a.m