person of the week
Ms. Lambrecht, do the Scharping!
By Wolfram Weimer
01/03/2023 10:11 am
Confused administration and grotesque appearances by the Federal Minister of Defense are not just embarrassing. In times of war, of all things, she damaged the Bundeswehr and Germany’s reputation. Lambrecht should resign like Rudolf Scharping after his Mallorca pool photos.
Christine Lambrecht produced the most embarrassing video of the past year. The Minister of Defense stands in Berlin’s New Year’s Eve firecrackers to announce to the world that in the middle of the war she “was able to gain a lot of special impressions” and had “many, many encounters with interesting and great people”. Not a word about the suffering in Ukraine, not a syllable about Putin’s war of aggression, instead embarrassing sentences in front of cracking New Year’s rockets – a painful association in view of the war in Ukraine. The whole thing is as embarrassingly unprofessional and tasteless as the resignation of Federal Family Minister Anne Spiegel a few months ago. The video unmasks a politician in her vanity and incompetence in such a grotesque way that not only the political and media class in Berlin is stunned.
The New Year’s Eve video is just the latest embarrassment in a long line of Minister Lambrecht’s shortcomings.
(Photo: dpa)
A veritable storm of horror breaks out over Lambrecht. Even loyal comrades find the performance embarrassing and undignified. At the same time, the repeated misstep is growing into a highly political issue. Many members of the Bundestag and the troops find it unreasonable that Germany is represented in the middle of a European war by a serially embarrassing, incompetent defense minister. Demands for his resignation are hailing from the Union.
Even level-headed minds like defense politician Serap Güler are bursting at the seams. “The speech about the war with New Year’s firecrackers in the background only adds to their series of embarrassments. Every additional minute in which the Federal Chancellor still holds on to this minister and thus further damages the reputation of our country goes to his account.” And even Armin Laschet, who is now hovering over the political lowlands, writes in horror: “Does the Chancellor actually care nothing about Germany’s impact in Europe and the world?”
External embarrassment like Scharping’s splashing around in the pool
Lambrecht’s appearance not only comes across as a grotesque pastiche of an enraptured politician. Worse still is the effect of this real satire on the Bundeswehr, on its soldiers and on the world public. The video’s instinctive naivety and complacency threatens to be viewed in Ukraine and by its allies as a documentation of Berlin’s similar defense policy. In any case, Germany is criticized by our partners for its hesitancy in supporting Ukraine, for its seemingly fragile loyalty to the alliance, for its miserable military capabilities and for refusing to make armament commitments. The combination of lofty moral complacency and realpolitik incompetence is shaping the image of Germany in an increasingly dangerous way. This video therefore underscores the worst prejudices about Germany’s decline.
The scandal is reminiscent of Rudolf Scharping’s Mallorca pool photos. Exactly 20 years ago, the defense minister at the time resorted to a similarly oblique self-portrayal in times of war. The “Great People” war video in front of cracking firecrackers is just as embarrassing as the splashing cuddles with Countess Pilati when the Balkan War broke out. Scharping then had to resign – Christine Lambrecht now urgently needs to take this step.
Because Lambrecht’s official failure only culminates in this video. For a year she has been reeling from one disgrace to the next. From the scandal surrounding the helicopter flight with her son to Sylt, to her 5,000 helmet campaign, to her high-heeled appearance with the troops in Mali. From their erratic Ukraine policy to the failure to procure ammunition and weapons. Lambrecht is hard to bear in her own ministry because of her technical incompetence, and even despised because of her rough treatment of employees. From simple soldiers to generals, there is widespread disrespect for a minister who doesn’t even know what a tank is in the Bundestag, but calls for more female generals and believes that right-wing extremist activities are everywhere in the troops.
Lambrecht’s fall in the public eye has been measurable in the political popularity rankings for months. But popularity is only one aspect. In her case, it’s about war and peace, about Germany’s ability to defend itself and its reputation. Despite all appropriate criticism of the Union, it is true that the former government also retained incompetent ministers like the CSU politician Andreas Scheuer, whose failed toll contracts could subsequently cost taxpayers more than half a billion euros.
Özdemir handed the bonus miles affair to resign
If the chancellor does not persuade Lambrecht to resign, the shadow of indignity and incompetence will fall on his entire government. The integrity of the traffic light policy is also at stake. Because resignations always reflect the ethical quality of a government, the status of the political culture in the country. “The SPD will damage informal democracy if the principle of responsibility no longer applies,” says the FDP.
In the past, politicians have resigned for minor offenses. The Green Cem Özdemir once resigned from his position as domestic spokesman for his parliamentary group because of the private use of official bonus miles – a trifle compared to Lambrecht’s antics. There were also resignations because politicians honorably took responsibility for mistakes that were not made personally, such as the Federal Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters or the Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung – both from the CDU – after mistakes in security operations. And the liberal Federal Minister of Justice, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, decided to take this step in 1995 because she rejected the large-scale eavesdropping.
“I made mistakes, but they really wouldn’t have been enough to result in my resignation. Nevertheless, I decided to take this step because it’s part of my political self-image that you take political responsibility for your own mistakes.” Green politician Andrea Fischer demonstrated this high ethos of responsibility in 2001 when she made the post of federal health minister available after her mismanagement of the BSE crisis was accused.
What about the responsibility and dignity of the office today? The Lambrecht case becomes the character test of the traffic light, which likes to write high values on the flags.