Praise and joy about the new health minister Lauterbach

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The designated Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) in the Willy Brandt House in Berlin

Photo: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE / REUTERS

Karl Lauterbach (SPD) will replace Jens Spahn (CDU) as Federal Minister of Health in the middle of the high phase of the fourth corona wave.

Many wanted to see the Corona declarer and SPD health expert in office, but he was not considered set.

Now the designated Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Berlin: "It will be." (You can find an overview of all designated ministry posts here.)

The appointment earned a lot of praise and approval - but also criticism.

In one case, it also causes malice: Kevin Kühnert, nominated as the new SPD General Secretary, reacted on Twitter with amusement to a statement by CDU chairman Friedrich Merz.

He was outraged three days ago that Lauterbach would probably not get the health resort "just because his name is not Karoline".

The CDU politician was alluding to Scholz's promise that all cabinet posts would be filled equally with women and men.

Kühnert now simply acknowledged the statement with: "Düdüm."

In another tweet of his own, he commented on Lauterbach's election for Christmas: “Nicholas is when wishes are fulfilled.

You wanted him - you got him. "

Norbert Röttgen, who competes with Merz for the CDU chairmanship, wished good luck with his new task on Twitter.

Lauterbach has "developed an incredible trust in society from his personality, his intellect and commitment."

He is happy for Lauterbach, "that it will be rewarded."

The still executive Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) has also congratulated his designated successor.

"Dear Karl Lauterbach, congratulations on this important and difficult, but also very beautiful task," wrote Spahn on Twitter.

»I wish you every success and the best of luck.

Because it's about our country.

Dealing with this pandemic remains a joint task. "

FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki, originally an avid critic of Lauterbach, has already congratulated him according to his own statements.

He told the “Bild” newspaper: “The German talk show scene will now have to do without him more often.

So everything has its good side. "

The SPD politician Christopher Lauer warned that Lauterbach would not do everything perfectly either.

You should therefore not compare him to your own expectations - but rather to your predecessor.

What Lauer means is shown above all in the many happy memes on the new personality.

The philosopher Jan Skudlarek shared a picture of how Lauterbach will now make vaccine opponents boil over:

Others rejoice that Lauterbach can now single-handedly sweep aside the new, worrying corona mutant Omikron:

There is also criticism.

The AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel commented on Twitter that the SPD had originally given Lauterbach "no competence" in health issues, now that he is receiving a ministry.

"It couldn't have been worse for Germany."

Lauterbach himself was confident that the corona pandemic should be pushed back.

It will take longer than many thought.

“But we can do it.

Vaccination will play the central role, but not only, «Lauterbach said in Berlin.

"We will win the fight against the pandemic, and we will be better equipped for further pandemics."

With a view to Christmas, he announced that the immediate goal would be to bring the number of corona cases down so much that travel could soon be recommended to people again.

With a view to his future office, the member of the Bundestag thanked his party for the confidence he had shown and for the "many words of approval" he had received from the population.

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