The only option for the Lambrecht successor?
She's the Department of Defense favorite
Created: 01/16/2023 13:06
By: Andreas Schmid
Defense Commissioner Eva Högl (right, here with Christine Lambrecht) is considered the top favorite for the post of Defense Minister.
© IMAGO/Christian Spicker
Christine Lambrecht steps down as Secretary of Defense.
According to a Scholz rule, only an SPD woman can be the successor.
Does Eva Högl do it?
Berlin - That's it.
Christine Lambrecht is no longer Secretary of Defense.
On Monday morning (January 16) she officially submitted her resignation to Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
After several mishaps, there had previously been plenty of criticism of the SPD politician.
The SPD politician Eva Högl
could become Lambrecht's successor
.
She seems to be the only candidate who would keep Scholz's promise of equality.
Who is the possible new Secretary of Defense?
Lambrecht successor: Defense Commissioner Högl as top candidate
Högl was the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces to the end.
As such, it is the direct link between politics and the Bundeswehr.
It assumes parliamentary control of the armed forces and oversees the protection of soldiers' fundamental rights.
Some also described the tasks as "advocate for the soldiers".
The office of the Commissioner for the Armed Forces is regulated in the Basic Law.
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
Like Scholz, Högl was born in Osnabrück.
From now on, three natives of Lower Saxony (Baerbock, Heil) would sit in the cabinet.
The strongest federal state is still North Rhine-Westphalia (Lindner, Buschmann, Lauterbach, Schulze, Paus).
There is still no federal minister from Bavaria.
Defense Commissioner Högl worked with Scholz 15 years ago
Högl is a trained lawyer and has a doctorate in European and social law.
At the end of the 1980s, she joined the SPD and was deputy head of the SPD youth organization for a number of years.
Her political career began in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
From 2006 to 2009, Högl was the Ministry's European Commissioner and head of the "European Employment and Social Policy" department.
By the way, the Federal Minister of Labor at the time was: Olaf Scholz.
In 2020, she finally heaved SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich into the office of military commissioner, although the incumbent SPD man Hans-Peter Bartels would have liked to continue.
Högl sat in the German Bundestag from 2009 to 2020.
From 2013 she was - at times together with Lambrecht - one of the SPD parliamentary group deputies.
In the Bundestag, she made a name for herself primarily as a domestic politician.
Högl was SPD chairwoman in the investigative committee on the right-wing extremist NSU, and as a member of the parliamentary control committee she also monitored the secret services.
Initially, defense policy was not one of her political hobbies.
When Eva Hög took over the office of Commissioner for the Armed Forces, she left the Bundestag.
The Commissioner for the Armed Forces may neither have a mandate nor be a civil servant.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
Eva Högl: Yes to tank deliveries and criticism of the end of conscription
During her term of office to date, Högl has repeatedly made clear statements on German defense policy.
Several times she took a stronger side than Lambrecht.
It was only at the weekend 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
.
She also brought up a significant increase in the Bundeswehr special fund from 100 to 300 billion euros.
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At the beginning of her tenure, she also called for the reintroduction of conscription.
Their suspension was a "huge mistake".
In addition, right-wing extremist incidents in the Bundeswehr can be prevented with conscription.
Criticism then rained down, both from his own party and from the then CDU-led Ministry of Defence.
CSU boss Markus Söder was also stranger to the advance at the time.
The defense ministers of the last 25 years
2021 to 2023 | Christine Lambrecht (SPD) |
2019 to 2021 | Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) |
2013 to 2019 | Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) |
2011 to 2013 | Thomas de Maiziere (CDU) |
2009 to 2011 | Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) |
2005 to 2009 | Franz Josef Jung (CDU) |
2002 to 2005 | Peter Struck (SPD) |
1998 to 2002 | Rudolf Scharping (SPD) |
Parity in the traffic light: does Högl benefit from Scholz's promises?
Greens want a woman as defense minister
Högl's advantage: She knows the structures of the Bundeswehr and knows how to deal with the ruined military savings.
Another argument in favor of Högl as Lambrecht's successor is that she is said to be popular with the soldiers.
It can also be heard that she quickly got used to the job.
She is familiar with Bundeswehr apparatus.
But: So far, the 54-year-old has not held any major federal departments.
Is it up to the (even in peacetime) difficult to manage Department of Defense?
Other, more experienced names are also circulating around the Lambrecht successor.
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, Labor Minister Hubertus Heil and Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt are named.
The trio's problem is simply their gender: After taking office, Olaf Scholz promised parity in the cabinet, i.e. equality between male and female ministerial posts.
Parity is particularly important to the Greens.
The proportion of men in the FDP (3 out of 4) is compensated only because the eco-party exceeds the proportion of women.
Green leader Omid-Nouripour underpinned his position on Monday: "There is an overall promise of parity in the cabinet," said Nouripour on the
RTL
and
ntv
program "Frühstart" .
An indirect pronunciation per Högl.
The pressure of time also speaks in Högl's favour: the Ukraine war requires a rapid follow-up solution, and the Ukraine contact group will meet at the Ramstein airbase on Friday (November 20) to discuss further arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Should a man become Lambrecht's successor, the SPD might have to fill another department with women.
As long as Scholz is serious about his promise of equality.
The chancellor's own rules stand in the way of a calm search for a successor.
(as)
