“See no reason now”: the federal government does not want to comment on the Lambrecht video

“Now see no reason”
The federal government does not want to comment on the Lambrecht video

Defense Minister Lambrecht looks back on 2022 with a New Year’s speech. The response to her Instagram video is sobering, the opposition is vehemently demanding her resignation. The federal government is cautious in a statement.

The federal government does not want to comment on the annual balance sheet taken by Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht in the midst of the Berlin New Year’s Eve fireworks. “I don’t see any reason to evaluate this now,” said deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann in Berlin after the video with statements about the Ukraine war had been publicly criticized as embarrassing and inappropriate.

A Defense Department spokesman said the video was privately recorded and did not use Department resources. When asked whether the filming was an appropriate way to welcome the new year given the war in Ukraine, he said: “The words of the minister in the video stand for themselves. It is not for me to comment.”

In the video distributed via Instagram, Lambrecht takes stock of the year 2022, but her words are repeatedly lost in the whistling of rockets and exploding firecrackers. The year presented us all with incredible challenges, said Lambrecht. And: “A war is raging in the middle of Europe. And that meant a lot of special impressions for me that I was able to gain. Many, many encounters with interesting, great people.”

The chairwoman of the defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), was distant: “The New Year’s video in question is a matter for the minister and her communications staff. I myself find the setting a bit unfortunate. I don’t want to say more about it.”

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