Ricarda Lang in “Early Start”
“The Spiegel successor will be clarified by Easter”
04/12/2022, 08:58 am
After the resignation of Minister for Family Affairs Spiegel, the successor for the Greens is open. Party leader Lang announces that the question will be clarified quickly. What is certain is that it will be a woman.
The federal chairwoman of the Greens, Ricarda Lang, has announced a decision on the successor to the resigned family minister Anne Spiegel this week. The party will take the necessary time. “Nevertheless, there is now a need to clarify this question quickly,” said Lang in “Frühstart” on ntv. “That means I don’t think we’ll be dealing with this question beyond Easter.” One is now in talks within the party, “and that’s the status quo”.
Lang indicated that a woman would again take over the post in the Ministry of Family Affairs. “At the time we said we would fill our ministerial posts equally. Of course we will stick to this principle.” The first requirement, however, is that the person takes responsibility for families, children and the open society. “Above all, the person must have one quality: that is to be suitable for this office.” He is currently playing a special role, especially under the impression of many women and children who have fled the Ukraine.
On the question of whether the former parliamentary group leader Anton Hofreiter would go away empty-handed again because of the parity, Lang said that the post would be filled from the office. “And I hope you understand that I’m not going to start negotiating names on TV.” When asked about younger candidates like the incumbent parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge, Lang replied that experience is not a question of age. The Greens have many women politicians of all ages who bring experience and expertise with them. “They will look at us now. And then we will make a joint proposal as the federal executive board.” The resigned Minister Spiegel belonged to the left wing of the party, because of the wing arithmetic that should also apply to her successor. Hofreiter and Dröge are also on the left wing.
“It was an incredibly tough day for us”
Lang disagreed with the accusation that the Green Party pressured Spiegel to resign. You had been in conversation with her all day long. “In the end, she made the decision to step down and protect this position.” Long regretted the resignation. “Yesterday was an incredibly hard day for us as a party, for us personally, above all, of course, for Anne Spiegel and, to be honest, also for our family policy.” The previous minister was a passionate voice for children’s rights and families and initiated basic child security and the abolition of paragraph 219a on the advertising ban for abortions.
The Greens chairwoman countered the impression that a minister could not carry out her duties if she had four small children. “It has to be possible in our society if we want people with different perspectives to assume government responsibility.” She is convinced that government action is doing better. The Anne Spiegel case, however, shows “in all its harshness” that there is still a lot to be done in society when it comes to the compatibility of family and work. “I would like us to take this as an opportunity for a debate about how we actually deal with the hardships of this political establishment.”
Lang expressed concern about the possible use of chemical weapons by the Russian army in Ukraine. “That would be a historic break since the First World War here in Europe,” said Lang. “Chemical weapons are inhumane, bestial, evil in its purest form.” They are now waiting to see whether the suspicion of an operation in the city of Mariupol is confirmed. In this case, she called for further, tougher sanctions. “Then there will be a reaction to it that corresponds to that.”