75,000 euros "transitional money" for mirrors?

Predecessor defends regulation - "It needs some time"

Created: 04/13/2022, 04:49 am

By: Florian Naumann

The pressure on Family Minister Spiegel because of how to deal with the flood disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate grew - now the Greens are taking consequences.

Update from April 12, 2:30 p.m .:

The Greens are still looking for a successor to the resigned Minister for Family Affairs Anne Spiegel.

Party leader Ricarda Lang did not announce an agreement on Tuesday afternoon.

The only thing that is clear is that it will be "a woman," said Lang after a meeting with the Greens board in Husum.

There is speculation about five specific names from the ranks of the Greens *, including a Bavarian politician.

Meanwhile, Spiegel's predecessor, former family minister Kristina Schröder (CDU), has rejected criticism of the "transitional allowance" (see previous update).

“She gets her full salary for three months and half her salary for three months.

It's really not oversized," Schröder wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

“You need some time to look for a new job.

And the family of six has to live on something," she added.

Traffic light minister Spiegel resigns: Criticism of transitional allowance - "totally oversized"

Update from April 12, 5:37 a.m

.: Anne Spiegel receives a transitional allowance after resigning as Federal Minister for Family Affairs.

The deputy chairman of the taxpayers' association, Michael Jäger, told the

(Tuesday edition): "Anyone who leaves the cabinet will receive a transitional allowance of 75,600 euros after one day in office as a minister.

This supply is totally oversized.”

The amount of the transitional allowance results from paragraph 14 of the Federal Ministers Act.

According to

, Spiegel receives 4.5 monthly salaries, having headed the family ministry since the beginning of December.

She announced her resignation on Monday "due to political pressure" (see previous update).

The 41-year-old thus drew the consequences after her controversial vacation in France, which she took as Minister of the Environment for Rhineland-Palatinate in the summer of 2021 shortly after the flood disaster on the Ahr.

Family Minister Anne Spiegel resigned on Monday.

© Annette Riedl / dpa

Update from April 11, 6:10 p.m .:

Foreign Minister and Annalena Baerbock has rated the events surrounding the resignation of Anne Spiegel as a “reminder” – the Greens could face a new ministerial problem*.

Spiegel resigns – Scholz expresses “great respect” and wishes “all the best”

Update from April 11, 3:57 p.m .:

After the resignation of his family minister, Anne Spiegel (Greens)*, Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his “great respect”.

Deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said on Monday that the chancellor had worked closely and trustingly with Spiegel in the cabinet.

"He wishes her all the best for the future after this difficult time."

Traffic light minister Anne Spiegel resigns – Green bosses react

Update from April 11, 2:42 p.m .:

Spicy internals about Anne Spiegel’s vacation in the flood disaster summer also reached the public on Monday *.

Now the Federal Family Minister has apparently drawn consequences: Spiegel announced her resignation, as reported by the AFP news agency.

She had "decided due to political pressure to make the office of Federal Family Minister available," said Spiegel on Monday in Berlin.

She is doing this “to avert damage from the office, which is facing major political challenges”.

At the time of the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley, Spiegel was Minister of the Environment in Rhineland-Palatinate.

"We have the greatest respect for their courage, for their clarity," said Greens leader Ricarda Lang a few minutes after the announcement.

Her co-chairman Omid Nouripour spoke of a right step - he also praised the fact that Spiegel had admitted mistakes with a transparency that "did not exist in political life".

"We will be making a successor proposal very soon, promptly."

On Sunday evening, the Green politician explained her absence with her husband's illness - but did not speak of withdrawal (

).

Minister for Family Affairs Anne Spiegel: The top of the Greens apparently suggested her resignation

Update from April 11, 6:08 a.m

.: Spiegel did not comment on the opposition’s demands for resignation at the press conference on Sunday.

She declined to answer questions.

Her party, the Greens, initially gave no comment on Sunday evening when asked.

On Monday, the federal executive committee of the party will meet in Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, for a closed conference.

reported that there was a crisis meeting with the Green Ministers Robert Habeck, Annalena Baerbock, and the party and parliamentary group leaders on Sunday.

Spiegel was suggested to resign, but she asked to be given another chance, reported Blatt.

The Greens did not initially comment on the report.

41-year-old Spiegel and Baerbock, who is the same age, are the youngest members of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's (SPD) cabinet, which was sworn in just four months ago.

At the weekend, a report by “Bild am Sonntag” revealed that the then Environment Minister in Rhineland-Palatinate had left for a four-week family vacation in France ten days after the flood disaster and had only interrupted it once for a visit to the Ahr Valley.

On vacation for weeks after the flood disaster: Emotional family minister gives private details for classification

Update from April 10, 9:08 p.m

.: Family Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens) appeared in front of the press “on the occasion of reporting”

.

She wanted to "give some private details" to classify the situation surrounding her vacation after the flood disaster last summer.

In 2019 her husband suffered a stroke.

Since then he has had to avoid stress.

The corona pandemic was an “insane challenge” for her family and children.

Looking back, Spiegel admitted mistakes: for example, that in Rhineland-Palatinate she not only headed the Ministry for Family Affairs and became a top candidate, but also took over the management of the Ministry of the Environment.

"That brought us over the borders as a family." Her husband was very heavily burdened.

That's why her family needed a vacation.

However, this was a difficult consideration, “which I did not take lightly either”.

She felt responsibility as a minister and as a mother with four small children, said Spiegel in a very emotional statement.

“So we decided as a family to go on holiday on Sunday 25th July.

10 days after the flood disaster.”

"It was a mistake that we went on vacation for so long and that we went on vacation." With a trembling voice, Spiegel added: "And I apologize for this mistake." But she also emphasized while to have always been available during the holiday: "I made phone calls and I always kept myself informed."

If there had been any reason to come back, she would have done so, said the Federal Minister today.

However, she admitted that she did not take part in cabinet meetings while on vacation, as stated in a first statement.

But it is true that they interrupted their vacation for a day in the Ahr Valley.

"I would like to expressly apologize for the mistakes," Spiegel finished her statement.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in conversation with his family minister Anne Spiegel (Greens) (archive image) © Michael Kappeler/AFP

"Scholz has to fire her": Minister for Family Affairs went on vacation for weeks shortly after the flood disaster

First report from April 10, 2022:

Berlin – Federal Family Minister Anne Spiegel* (Greens) is under pressure: In the summer of 2021, when she was still Minister of the Environment for Rhineland-Palatinate, she left for a four-week family vacation in France around ten days after the flood disaster on the Ahr.

The deputy government spokesman, Sebastian Kusche, confirmed a corresponding report by

on Sunday (April 10) of the German Press Agency in Mainz.

Green * Minister Spiegel was always available and also took part in cabinet meetings via video.

He does not see any parallels to the case of the resigned NRW Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU).

She had recently resigned from her post after it became known that she had celebrated a birthday with other members of the government in Mallorca a few days after the flood disaster.

Anne Spiegel under pressure: "When it comes to responsibility, she is unavailable or travels"

CSU * Secretary General Stephan Mayer told the

"

Spiegel should take Heinen-Esser as an example and make your office available."

goes, she cannot be reached or is away.” He cannot imagine that Chancellor Olaf Scholz* (SPD) “finds such an understanding of office good”.

The Rhineland-Palatinate opposition, CDU, Free Voters and AfD, also called for Spiegel's resignation again.

The CDU* boss also joined in: “It proves again: For Ms. Spiegel, vacation and her own image were more important than the fate of the people on the Ahr.

The Chancellor must dismiss her," Friedrich Merz told the

on Sunday .

CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja called Spiegel's behavior

"unworthy" according to the

“Ms. Spiegel is proving to be the wrong choice for the department that was entrusted to her.

It doesn't seem to matter if she's on vacation or not.

She never becomes active.”

Because of vacation after the flood disaster: Anne Spiegel faced with demands for resignation

More than 180 people died in the flood disaster in mid-July 2021 in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia*, including 134 in the Ahr Valley.

Around 750 people were injured and large parts of the infrastructure and thousands of houses were destroyed.

Many people still live in emergency or alternative quarters.

Deputy government spokesman Kusche reported that Spiegel once interrupted her vacation to get an idea of ​​the situation on site.

She was also always available and was present at the cabinet meetings via video.

The 41-year-old, who is dependent on the summer holidays because of her four children, only drove after a crisis team had been set up in the Ministry for drinking water and sewage supply and waste disposal.

Anne Spiegel has been criticized for a long time: too worried about the political image?

Spiegel had already come under criticism because she had worried about her political image in a short message exchange with her employees immediately after the night of the flood.

The Greens politician had said in the investigative committee of the state parliament in Mainz that the help for those affected in the Ahr Valley was of the utmost importance to her.

"It is absolutely wrong and I firmly reject the fact that at some point I had a different priority." In the multi-hour interrogation on March 11, unlike Heinen-Esser in the committee in North Rhine-Westphalia, Spiegel "fully answered every question," said Kusche .

Spiegel had taken over the management of the environment ministry in Rhineland-Palatinate in January 2021 after the resignation of her party friend Ulrike Höfken in addition to the family, integration and consumer protection ministries.

After winning the state elections in March, the top candidate of the Greens took over the newly tailored climate protection ministry in Mainz - around two months before the flood disaster.

Before she moved to Berlin, the 41-year-old was also Deputy Prime Minister in Malu Dreyer's (SPD) second traffic light government.