CDU calls for expulsion: Lambrecht speaks of war in the midst of firecrackers

CDU demands expulsion
Amid firecrackers, Lambrecht speaks of the war

A month ago, the Union called for the resignation of Defense Minister Lambrecht. A New Year’s speech reignites the debate about the SPD politician. Even experts are appalled.

Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht had to take massive criticism and malice for a New Year’s speech. The CDU defense politician Serap Güler wrote on TwitterLambrecht’s speech about the war with New Year’s Eve firecrackers in the background only crowned her “series of embarrassments”.

Güler indirectly called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to dismiss the SPD politician: “Every additional minute that the @Chancellor still holds on to this minister and thus further damages the reputation of our country goes to his account.”

Lambrecht had her almost one-minute New Year’s speech on her private Instagram account posted. The year 2022 “presented us with incredible challenges,” she says. Because of the New Year’s rockets, it is sometimes difficult to understand. “A war is raging in the middle of Europe.” Lambrecht continues: “For me, there were a lot of special impressions that I was able to gain. Many, many encounters with interesting, great people. I would like to say a heartfelt thank you for that.”

She will now “celebrate the turn of the year with family and friends,” said Lambrecht. “And I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to all those who cannot do this because they are on duty for us, as soldiers or police officers, in the hospital or in other areas.”

“Have they lost their minds in Berlin?”

“It’s so unbearably insensitive,” criticized security expert Ulrike Franke from the Berlin think tank European Council on Foreign Relations on Twitter. There is war in Europe and Lambrecht says that she has met great people. “Have they lost their minds in Berlin?” Ex-CDU leader Armin Laschet concurred with the verdict: “Does the Federal Chancellor really care nothing about Germany’s impact in Europe and the world?”

CSU boss Markus Söder had already called for Lambrecht’s resignation a month ago. “It would simply be better for Ms. Lambrecht if she would stop voluntarily,” he told the “Bild” newspaper. “Anyone who can’t even order ammunition and has trouble buying some American fighter jets is simply not up to the job.” CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja said on ntv in mid-December that Lambrecht was “not the right person for this office, especially in these difficult times”. The reason for this was the problems with the “Puma” infantry fighting vehicle.

The historian and Eastern Europe expert Jan Behrends tweeted with a view to Lambrecht’s New Year’s Eve appearance, in the current situation “we can’t afford this lady in the Ministry of Defence”. The Chancellor must “act in the interests of the country and the alliance”. The political scientist Constanze Stelzenmüller from the Brookings Institution in Washington wrote just: “Perplexed. Simply perplexed.”

The former CDU foreign politician Ruprecht Polenz commented, the “splashing of Scharping with Countess Pilati is nothing compared to it”. SPD Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping had himself photographed in 2001 by the magazine “Bunte” with his then partner Kristina Pilati-Borggreve in a swimming pool on Mallorca.

Also the satirist Jan Böhmermann expressed himself: “Tomorrow Christine Lambrecht will take office as Minister of Self-Defence.”

Her appointment came as a surprise

Lambrecht was Minister of Justice until 2021, and she did not stand in the last federal election. Scholz surprisingly made her Minister of Defense after the election. After the Russian attack on Ukraine, her department was responsible for implementing the turning point announced by Scholz – an additional burden in an office that is already considered a difficult ministry.

Lambrecht is reportedly flirting with the post of interior minister, which would become vacant if current incumbent Nancy Faeser were elected prime minister of Hesse in the fall. So far, however, this wish has not been confirmed, and Faeser has not been elected SPD top candidate in Hesse.


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