The Federal Minister for Family Affairs resigns. She is thus drawing the consequences of her mismanagement during the flood of the century. The case shows that when proportional representation counts more than competence, everyone involved loses.
Overwhelmed: Germany’s Green Family Minister Anne Spiegel.
Alexander Kissler, editor in the Berlin office of the NZZ
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It was a lesson of a bitter and particularly revealing kind: the German Minister for Family Affairs, Anne Spiegel, presented the drama of her being overwhelmed to an astonished audience in real time. Anyone who followed her bizarre media appearance late on Sunday evening was not surprised that the Greens politician announced her resignation this Monday. Beyond the case, however, there are three lessons that the entire political establishment should bear in mind: PR is not everything, competence is more important than authenticity and professionalism more important than proportional representation.
Anne Spiegel stumbled over her misconduct during the flood of the century in July 2021. When the levels on the Ahr were already rising, the then Rhineland-Palatinate Environment Minister met a party friend for dinner before retiring to her apartment in Mainz. There she surfed the Internet, telephoned her husband and perhaps also her state secretary. Your ministry, which is responsible for water protection and water levels, incorrectly predicted “no extreme flooding”.
Olaf Scholz was wrong
The next morning more than 130 people had drowned in the masses of water, and houses, streets and villages were buried in the mud. According to the findings of the parliamentary committee of inquiry, Spiegel is now worried about her image in the media. And ten days later she said goodbye to France for four weeks on vacation.
Such concentrated mismanagement cannot be sugarcoated with the best crisis communication. The PR strategy that Spiegel chose turned into a disaster. She wanted to counter the impression that she had been disinterested in essential information on the flood night with a “credible role” and clever “wording” the day after. That was the wording in internal short messages.
The image of the hands-on minister in the mud should not allow the image of the impassive observer to emerge in the first place. And so there were photos of Spiegel in a raincoat inspecting the banks of the Ahr with a determined expression on her face. Everything was designed to be effective. And that is precisely why the desired effect did not appear. The Spiegel case is a reminder to her many professional colleagues, who also think they can hide gaps in content with sleek packaging.
The bizarre appearance on Sunday evening was not, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz acknowledged on Monday, “very impressive in human terms”. The chancellor, allegedly “personally moved and affected”, lost his political judgment with this statement. He, too, was not convincing when dealing with the overwhelmed minister. In order to avoid questions about her competence, Spiegel wanted to appear authentic. She told the press about her husband’s stroke, the challenges the pandemic is posing to their four children, and the need for rest vacations.
Competence is not secondary
The effort for authenticity was exposed as a ploy at the moment when Spiegel loudly declared that she wanted to “somehow finish her monologue”. Did she forget that her statement was broadcast live? That was by no means the language of authenticity, these were scene directions from a script. Such staging evasive maneuvers result from the false belief that the question of competence is of secondary importance when assessing political performance.
How did Ms. Spiegel get into this unfortunate position for everyone involved? The Greens were looking for a left-wing woman from the West to fill their cabinet posts. Despite her below-average performance in Mainz, Spiegel, who in retrospect proved to be overwhelmed by the leadership of the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of the Environment, made it to the Berlin cabinet table. Proportionality, not competence and not professionalism, was the decisive criterion for promotion.
Although proportional representation and parity is nowhere pushed to such absurd heights as in Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, the personnel tableau in all German parties is an expression of internal claims to power. Professionalism, however, changes from being a basic requirement to a decorative accessory when it is no longer rewarded for performance, but for origins and identities. And Spiegel acted terribly unprofessionally throughout the crisis, right up to their Sunday “appearance”: Anyone who doesn’t know what they intend to say and how should remain silent.
The leadership of the Greens has recognized that Spiegel’s unreasonable behavior thwarts the party’s claims to professionalization. Wringing her hands, she was advised to resign. Very late, Anne Spiegel now pulled the ripcord. For all ministries, however, the following applies: If you are only concerned with yourself, you harm everyone.