Status: 04/10/2022 10:37 p.m
It was a remarkable performance: Minister for Family Affairs Spiegel apologized for her vacation after the flood disaster in Ahrweiler. She explained her decision with personal reasons and high stress.
Federal Family Minister Anne Spiegel has apologized for her behavior after the flood disaster in Ahrweiler. “It was a mistake that we went on vacation for so long,” she said in a short-term press conference. “I apologize for this mistake.”
In the summer of 2021, Spiegel, as Rhineland-Palatinate Environment Minister, left for a four-week family vacation in France around ten days after the flood disaster and had recently been massively criticized for it.
Anne Spiegel, Minister for Family Affairs: “I would like to expressly apologize for the mistakes”
tagesschau24 9:00 p.m., April 10, 2022
“It was too much”
The minister justified her decision with the high burden of being the top candidate for the state elections and the simultaneous work as state minister for family affairs. In addition to her department in 2021, Spiegel had taken on the role of Minister of the Environment. “In retrospect, that was a mistake. It was too much,” said Spiegel, who looked visibly battered. During the statement, her voice faltered several times. “It got us across the border as a family,” she said.
The mother of four also cited her husband’s illness, who suffered a stroke in 2019. “My husband was under a lot of stress,” she said. “It was at a point where we needed a vacation.”
Spiegel admitted another mistake: Contrary to what was initially stated, she did not take part in the Rhineland-Palatinate cabinet meetings from France via video. This has now been shown in a renewed check. However, it is true that she was available the whole time and spoke to the Prime Minister and her state secretaries on the phone.
She also interrupted her vacation for a day in the Ahr Valley. On the morning after the terrible night of flooding, she also immediately convened a crisis team, among other things to rebuild the drinking water supply and to remove garbage and rubble.
Merz demands dismissal
Politicians from the CDU and CSU had previously called for Spiegel’s resignation. CDU leader Friedrich Merz appealed in the Report from Berlin to Chancellor Olaf Scholz to dismiss the minister. Scholz could not leave Spiegel in his cabinet “if the standards in politics are still applied equally”.
“Fleeing Responsibility”
CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja had previously described Spiegel’s behavior as “unworthy”. “Mrs. Spiegel is increasingly proving to be the wrong choice for the department that was entrusted to her. It seems irrelevant whether she is on vacation or not. She never becomes active.” The Secretary General of the CSU, Stephan Mayer, also called for Spiegel’s resignation: “You should take Heinen-Esser as an example and make your office available.”
The Rhineland-Palatinate opposition parties had also called for the resignation of the Greens politician. As a minister, she was intolerable, said CDU state chairman Christian Baldauf.
Spiegel already under pressure for SMS
In March, Spiegel had to testify to the investigative committee of the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament about the flood disaster. Because of an SMS exchange with employees, she was also accused of having been primarily concerned with her political image on the flood night in July 2021. She rejected this: the help for those affected was of the utmost importance to her. The public prosecutor’s office had been investigating for around seven months, but ultimately saw no criminal omissions by the state government.