Defense Minister Lambrecht opposes calls for his resignation

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"I accepted the challenge": Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD)

Photo: OMER MESSINGER / EPA

The affair about a private flight in a government helicopter, criticism of her expertise and conduct of office: Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has been criticized for a while.

Now she has dismissed speculation about a move to another cabinet post during this term.

“I've taken on the job of Secretary of Defense.

And anyone who knows me knows that I also fulfill the tasks I have taken on," said the SPD politician to the news portal "t-online" when asked whether she ruled out such a change.

Referring to a statement by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), she emphasized: "My goal at the end of the election period is that, looking back, you can say: You finally made sure that the Bundeswehr is properly equipped."

Lambrecht has long been criticized.

Union faction leader Friedrich Merz called on Scholz in the Bundestag on Thursday to dismiss Lambrecht.

"I accepted the challenge"

In the interview, she was asked about speculation that Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser could stand as the SPD's top candidate in the state elections in Hesse next year - and that Lambrecht could move to her cabinet post.

"I'm counting on Nancy Faeser not only becoming a top candidate, but also the first female Prime Minister in Hesse," said the Defense Minister.

But she explained to herself: »I accepted the challenge of finally equipping the Bundeswehr properly.

(...) I will also fulfill this task.«

Lambrecht took her 21-year-old son with him in a government helicopter to a military visit in northern Germany in mid-April, without him taking part in the military visit himself.

The next day and after an overnight stay in a hotel, the car and bodyguards drove to the nearby island of Sylt.

In the interview, she again expressed understanding for criticism of it.

»I will handle this differently in the future and organize my appointments differently.

But it remains important to me that everything was legally correct and that all rules were observed.«

On the other hand, she gave a positive assessment of her first few months as Minister of Defense: she had “achieved a great deal in a very short time”.

Lambrecht referred, among other things, to the decision to arm Bundeswehr drones and to the fact that in future 20 percent of all orders from the Bundeswehr would no longer go through a bureaucratic procurement process.

mrc/dpa