Lambrecht successor: Scholz in a dilemma as a rule – does he only have one option?
Created: 01/16/2023 15:34
By: Andreas Schmid
After the resignation of Christine Lambrecht, Chancellor Scholz has to arrange the successor and faces a difficult task.
(Archive image) © Bernd Von Jutrczenka/dpa
Christine Lambrecht is no longer Secretary of Defense.
When looking for a successor, Scholz' own rules limit the search enormously.
Berlin - Now it's official!
Christine Lambrecht asked Olaf Scholz for her release.
According to a written statement by Lambrecht on Monday, "the months of media focus" on her person "hardly allow for factual reporting and discussion" on issues relating to the Bundeswehr and security policy decisions.
"I have therefore decided to make my office available."
So far nothing is known about a successor.
Now it's Chancellor Scholz's turn.
However, the search for a successor is proving to be rather difficult for Scholz, mainly due to the proportional and parity rules imposed by the federal government itself.
Some qualifying candidates are either male or in the wrong party.
Klingbeil and Strack-Zimmermann as Lambrecht successors: Scholz rules prevent nomination
As the strongest party in the Bundestag elections, the SPD has the most ministerial posts, and this will remain the case even after Lambrecht's resignation.
Therefore, the Ministry of Defense should remain in the hands of the SPD.
At the same time, Chancellor Scholz has committed himself to parity, i.e. an equal ratio of male and female ministerial posts.
That is why there should also be a female defense minister in Germany in the future.
This restriction has already disqualified some candidates.
The parliamentary state secretary in the Ministry of Defense
Thomas Hitschler
is of the wrong gender, as is the former spokesman for defense policy,
Fritz Felsentreu
, and SPD leader
Lars Klingbeil
.
His father was a soldier, and Klingbeil himself first made a name for himself in the Bundestag's Defense Committee.
After the federal elections, he was considered a promising candidate for the defense department.
Because Norbert Walter-Borjans resigned as party leader, Klingbeil gave up.
Since then he has been co-party leader with Saskia Esken.
Minister of Labor
Hubertus Heil is also mentioned
, who has been running his department quietly for years and has been praised for it across party lines.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann
is considered at least as suitable
.
The defense experts of the FDP distinguished themselves in the Ukraine war and is chairwoman of the defense committee of the German Bundestag.
She was also considered a promising candidate in 2021, but the FDP secured the finance, transport, education and justice departments.
Should Strack-Zimmermann become defense minister, the Free Democrats would have to give up a ministry – and offer it to the SPD in exchange.
An unrealistic scenario.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann is chair of the Defense Committee – and actually also a potential candidate for the ministry.
© Michael Kappeler/picture alliance
Possible Lambrecht resignation: Eva Högl is the top candidate for the successor
Eva Högl
seems most realistic
for the Lambrecht successor.
The Federal Government Commissioner for the Armed Forces has recently been mentioned more frequently as a possible Defense Minister.
Högl sat in the Bundestag for the SPD from 2009 to 2020 and was at times the vice president of the parliamentary group.
The office of the Commissioner for the Armed Forces is enshrined in the Basic Law.
The military commissioner is regarded as the “soldiers’ advocate”.
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A Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces is appointed to protect fundamental rights and to assist the Bundestag in exercising parliamentary control.
Article 45b of the Basic Law
Högl's advantage: She knows the structures of the Bundeswehr and knows how to deal with the ruined military savings.
The SPD politician repeatedly commented on German defense policy during the Ukraine war, usually more clearly than Lambrecht.
It was only on Friday that she pushed ahead in the debate about tank deliveries to Ukraine.
She is convinced that Leopard tanks could "decisively help" Ukraine.
When it comes to supporting Kiev, it is right "to bring in everything we can," Högl told the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper
.
Military Commissioner Eva Högl (right, here with Christine Lambrecht) is considered a confidant of the Bundeswehr apparatus.
© IMAGO/Christian Spicker
The parliamentary state secretary in the defense department,
Siemtje Möller
, also has outsider chances to succeed Lambrecht .
She knows the department and previously gained experience on the defense committee.
The two members of the defense committee,
Rebecca Schamber
and
Marja-Liisa Völlers
, who is also deputy spokeswoman on defense policy for the SPD, only have theoretical chances.
Regardless of who succeeds Lambrecht: a mammoth task is to be expected, since the department is by no means a rewarding job, even in times of peace.
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