Already weakened by blunders, the German Defense Minister, Christine Lambrecht, was again criticized on Monday after the broadcast of her wishes, parasitized by fireworks and remarks deemed inappropriate on the war in Ukraine.
The video lasts only about a minute but was deemed so unsuccessful that the Social Democratic minister is again targeted by calls for the resignation of the conservative opposition and German media. The minister appears there in the center of Berlin, disheveled by gusts of wind, evoking the war in Ukraine between two explosions of firecrackers and fireworks, particularly popular with the Germans to celebrate the new year. “A war is raging in the middle of Europe. I was able to draw many special impressions from it.“, also slips the minister about the Russian invasion, evoking “many, many encounters with interesting and great people“. “For that, I say a big thank you“.
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Serial blunders
“LDoubts about his suitability for this position have been around for a long time. It is now time for the Chancellor to draw the consequences“, criticizes the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel on Monday. “The New Year’s speech recorded by mobile phone and barely comprehensible due to the firework flares and the absence of a microphone on a Berlin sidewalk would have already been embarrassing for a volunteer village mayor – for a Minister of Defense of a member of NATO, it is simply shameful“, is offended Bild, the most widely read daily in the country.
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The minister has accumulated disappointments in 2022, regularly attracting ridicule and criticism, such as when she announced the sending of thousands of helmets to Ukrainians who instead expect Germany to deliver heavy weapons. Christine Lambrecht has also embodied, in the eyes of the Ukrainian regime but also of the Germans, the shortcomings of an army whose equipment is outdated. In mid-December, Berlin thus had to suspend new orders for Puma armored vehicles after a series of breakdowns affecting armored vehicles already in use by the army.
The minister’s wishes with New Year’s Eve firecrackers in the background only “top off his streak of embarrassment“, denounces Serap Güler, in charge of defense issues within the CDU. By keeping his minister, Chancellor Olaf Scholz “does he really care about Germany’s impact in Europe and the world?“Adds Armin Laschet, unsuccessful candidate in 2021 to succeed Angela Merkel.
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