Lambrecht’s New Year’s Video: Unfit for Office

Defense Minister Lambrecht has been criticized several times – but her New Year’s video is simply outrageous. The minister must apologize – or resign.

Berlin on New Year’s Eve, the first fireworks go off. A woman in a sky-blue blazer is standing at a crossroads, in the background you can see the ostentatious GDR buildings around the Frankfurter Tor. A popular motif – for tourists in the capital and fashion photographers.

Now the owner of the command and command of the Bundeswehr has discovered the place: as a backdrop for a New Year’s video that Christine Lambrecht posted on the Internet at the weekend. The defense minister apparently thought it was a good idea to get her New Year’s wishes out to the people in this way. But the style and content of the video are disturbing. So disturbing that at the latest now the question arises as to whether Lambrecht is up to the task.

Loud firecrackers and disheveled hair

Even at first glance, the form that the SPD politician has chosen is irritating. In places it’s hard to understand because the New Year’s firecrackers are so loud. Apparently nobody told her that a clip-on microphone is advisable in such situations. Then there is the wind, which ruffles the minister’s hair. And the picture sways back and forth. Whoever shot the video didn’t have a steady hand.

A thoroughly unprofessional appearance that shouldn’t happen to a minister. But worse than the form is what Lambrecht says in the video. In it she addresses the war in Ukraine. And then immediately mentions – quote – “many special impressions that I was able to gain”. Not to forget the “many[n] Encounters with interesting, great people”. You hear that and think: It’s about a war, not a networking meeting. But she really says it like that.

lack of empathy

Not a word about the victims of this war, nothing about the refugees. Many of them are also spending this New Year’s Eve in Berlin. They too hear the explosive noise caused by the firecrackers. But that should remind people from Ukraine of something other than special impressions and great encounters.

With this video, the minister reveals a lack of empathy that leaves you stunned. Therefore, this misstep outweighs other actual or perceived mishaps. Be it the photo of her son on board a Bundeswehr helicopter, be it the expected difficulties in trying to modernize the broken Bundeswehr from now on: all of this fades in the face of this gaffe at the beginning of the year. Lambrecht must apologize for this – or leave her important office to others.