Crisis in Bellevue Palace: Frank-Walter Steinmeier thinks he has something to say. But hardly anyone is interested in it. The first man in the state is under pressure.
In order to gain respect again, the Federal President must now be courageous. The first fully electric suction excavator from RSP in Saalfeld is ready. The cameras too. It’s one of those moments when politicians can embarrass themselves terribly. But Frank-Walter Steinmeier doesn’t hesitate.
The Federal President reaches for the remote control and pulls a joystick. A huge hose like an elephant’s trunk starts moving and sucks the earth around a tree root. Steinmeier drives the device up and down, back and forth. At the end, the employees of the world market leader in suction excavators applaud the head of state in sincere recognition.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the kebab skewer
He can use the encouragement. Steinmeier has had unpleasant weeks ahead of him. He published a book that means a lot to him – but which was unanimously panned by critics. After his difficult journey to Turkey, the Germans remembered most of all the images of a thick kebab skewer – as well as the debates about it. Steinmeier had to cancel a discussion in Bellevue Palace about the Middle East because the presidential office could not get a group together that was capable of discussion. And a few days ago there was new anger when, in response to a question about German aid to Ukraine, he mocked “caliber experts” who discussed German weapons systems “with exuberance and growing ambition.”
It does not work. There are phases like this in politics. But the criticism weighs particularly heavily on Steinmeier because his presidency already lacks clear contours. Wars depress the mood, the country is stuck in crises, the government is constantly arguing. And Steinmeier? Yes, it’s still there, now in its eighth year. He wanted a second term. Why exactly?