Enlarge image
Designated Defense Minister: Boris Pistorius
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
Lower Saxony's Minister of the Interior, Boris Pistorius, takes over the defense portfolio following the resignation of Christine Lambrecht.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz will appoint the 62-year-old as the new Minister of Defense in the Federal Cabinet.
The change in personnel was received with mixed feelings in politics: while politicians at the traffic light congratulated Pistorius, the opposition was critical.
The election of the SPD politician, on the other hand, is well received by the troops.
Lambrecht had announced in a written statement on Monday morning that she was stepping down from the post of defense minister.
Pistorius is scheduled to be sworn in on Thursday.
The President of the Association of Reservists in the German Armed Forces,
Patrick Sensburg
, praised Pistorius as an experienced Minister of the Interior with "leadership".
"He is assertive and has already dealt intensively with our country's security issues," Sensburg told the Düsseldorf "Rheinische Post".
“I'm sure he'll quickly familiarize himself with the details of defense policy.
The reservists' association is pleased that there is now a reservist at the head of the ministry who has had good and intensive contacts with the reserves in Lower Saxony for a long time," says Sensburg.
Finance Minister and FDP leader
Christian Lindner
congratulated via Twitter.
"We have a major task ahead of us, especially with the implementation of the special fund - I look forward to the good cooperation," he wrote to his future colleague in the cabinet.
The election was also well received by the Social Democrats.
Ralf Stegner
, a member of the SPD in the Bundestag, tweeted that Pistorius, as a long-time Minister of the Interior, has shown what he can do
.
»From many years of working together, I know: With him, safety is in the very best hands!«
Katarina Barley
, Vice President of the European Parliament and former SPD Justice Minister, described Pistorius on Twitter as "one of our best".
The Bundeswehr deserves that "and our country needs it in these difficult times".
Green MP
Konstantin von Notz
, chairman of the parliamentary control body for the intelligence services, also sent congratulations via Twitter.
A "challenging, exciting and extremely important position in turbulent times" is now waiting for him.
Group colleague
Filiz Polat
described the election as very good, "human and professional".
"With his many years of experience as Interior Minister of Lower Saxony, he will bring the Ministry of Defense back into calm waters," Polat wrote on Twitter.
Criticism of the decision came from the Union.
"The Chancellor shows that he does not take his own turning point seriously," said the deputy chairman of the Union faction,
Johann Wadephul
of the dpa news agency.
"Again, expertise and experience with the Bundeswehr play no role," criticized Wadephul.
The personnel is a "cast from the B team".
According to the CDU politician, moving the Bundeswehr forward requires not only money, but also expertise.
"Given the situation, Boris Pistorius will not be able to have 100 days of training," emphasized Wadephul.
Wadephul announced that the CDU/CSU parliamentary group was offering to work with the new minister, but would follow his work critically.
dispute over parity
Criticism is also sparked by Pistorius' family: Scholz said at the beginning of his term in office that men and women each made up half in society - and therefore women should also have half the power.
In the traffic light coalition, even before the new appointment was announced, voices in the SPD had been raised that parity must continue to be maintained.
The Berlin Green
Silke Gebel
complained that Scholz was breaking a campaign promise by appointing a man.
“Everyone should remember that
Parity is important to remember,« she tweeted: »An SPD chancellor has no place at his cabinet table for strong women.« The Hamburg CDU leader
Christoph Ploß
, on the other hand, welcomed the departure from parity: »When filling the highest state offices, it shouldn’t be Gender, origin or skin color matter, but only on competence!«
If Scholz wants to maintain parity, another cabinet reshuffle would now be necessary.
Or the creation of a new ministry to which a woman could be appointed.
mrc/dpa
