Merz and Söder demand Lambrecht's expulsion: "Embarrassing" and "completely overwhelmed"
Created: 01/03/2023, 16:35
By: Christian Deutschländer
CDU chairman Friedrich Merz (l) and CSU chairman Markus Söder at the CSU party conference in Augsburg (archive picture).
© Frank Hoermann/imago-images
The Union leadership is calling for the firing of Defense Minister Lambrecht in very sharp terms.
The SPD politician is "embarrassing," they say.
The Chancellor must act.
Munich – CDU leader Friedrich Merz demands a quick resignation or expulsion from Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD).
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) should not look at it much longer.
"Every hour that Ms. Lambrecht remains in office weakens the authority of the Federal Chancellor," Merz told the
Munich newspaper Merkur
.
In the meantime, "the whole of Germany is just shaking its head, not just our soldiers, the defense experts worldwide are speechless at how embarrassing and lacking in expertise a minister in our country can appear in public".
At least since the war in Ukraine "we had a Federal Minister of Defense who was completely overwhelmed with the new task".
Union leadership calls for Lambrecht to be expelled: "Our soldiers didn't deserve this minister"
The CSU chairman Markus Söder also demanded a quick change.
"Ms. Lambrecht sticks more firmly to her office than some climate glue on the street," Söder told
Merkur
.
“The minister must finally resign – or be fired.
The Federal Chancellor has appointed Ms. Lambrecht, he must now also solve this personnel problem.
Our soldiers did not deserve this minister.”
Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht at a session of the German Bundestag.
© Bernd Elmenthaler/imago-images
Defense Minister Lambrecht under fire - excitement follows excitement
Lambrecht has been criticized for months for what she perceives to be her unfortunate conduct of office - starting with her first suggestion that the attacked Ukraine should be supplied with "helmets" for self-defense.
Later there was trouble because her son was flying in Bundeswehr planes.
Most recently, the 57-year-old SPD politician made headlines across Europe with a New Year's video that she recorded amidst New Year's Eve firecrackers and fireworks, and which is not considered appropriate or differentiated enough for the topic of the Ukraine war.
Lambrecht quote from her Instagram video: “A war is raging in the middle of Europe.
And that was linked to a lot of special impressions that I was able to gain - many, many encounters with interesting and great people." Recently, several Union defense politicians had described Lambrecht's appearances as "disturbing" and inappropriate.
Hardly any flaming defense speeches for the stricken minister can be heard from the SPD.
Merz and Söder are demanding Lambrecht's expulsion - is there a big exchange in the cabinet?
In Berlin, it is now considered possible or probable that Lambrecht will not survive the next few weeks in office.
Internally, a larger exchange in the cabinet is apparently being considered, should Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (have to) leave her post.
She will probably stand for the SPD in Hesse in the state elections in October as the top candidate.
However, the successor to the two politicians would not be easy to regulate.
In addition to questions of origin, the proportion of women in the composition of the cabinet plays a prominent role for the SPD.
In mid-December, Chancellor Scholz called Lambrecht a "first-class defense minister" and said: "I can only be surprised at some of the criticism."
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Merz, on the other hand, accuses Scholz of originally wanting to further weaken the squad with Lambrecht.
"Ms. Lambrecht was supposed to continue the course of the SPD in defense policy with the unloved child Bundeswehr: inconspicuous, unambitious and with an ever-decreasing budget.
That's what the then Federal Minister of Finance, Olaf Scholz, intended for in the financial planning for the Bundeswehr."
(cd)
