Defense Minister and CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has voiced rumors about her alleged tense relationship with the Federal Chancellor. "For everyone to record: There is no rift between Angela Merkel and me," said Kramp-Karrenbauer of "Bild am Sonntag". She felt the debate over the separate trips of the two women politicians "absolutely strange."
Merkel and Kramp-Karrenbauer traveled to the United States last Sunday for appointments. Actually, the defense minister wanted to fly with the delegation in the plane of the Chancellor. But the idea failed at the Chancellery. A few days before departure, the Chancellor's Office informed the Wehrressort that it was not possible to travel with the small delegation. The reason given was a lack of space in the chancellor's jet. So Kramp-Karrenbauer had to dodge an A310 of the Air Force. The Chancellery justified the measure with reference to "certain practices" for the Chancellor's travels. For them, the matter is settled, said Kramp-Karrenbauer the "Picture on Sunday" now. She was not offended by the ejection.
The double US flight of CDU women had made headlines and sharp criticism. "The handling in the Federal Government with the machines of the flight readiness has the level of small children who argue about sand molds," said the defense policy spokesman of the Greens, Tobias Lindner, the SPIEGEL.
In some media reports, the relationship between Merkel and Kramp-Karrenbauer had been speculated as the reason for the defense secretary's outrage. A report of the "world" fueled this speculation on Saturday. According to Kramp-Karrenbauer invited the CDU leadership on Sunday to a meeting - but not the Chancellor. The CDU chairwoman wants to prepare with her four substitutes Thomas Strobl, Julia Klöckner, Armin Laschet and Volker Bouffier and the Secretary General Paul Ziemiak "important course setting the CDU".