Union demands resignation
Spiegel vacationed in France after the flood
04/10/2022, 09:20 am
While her federal state is struggling with the consequences of the flood disaster, the then Rhineland-Palatinate Minister Spiegel will travel to France in the summer of 2021. The Green only interrupts her vacation for two on-site visits. The Union is convinced that the Federal Minister for Family Affairs cannot remain in office.
After the resignation of the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of the Environment Ursula Heinen-Esser because of a holiday in Mallorca during the flood disaster, the pressure on the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Anne Spiegel, is now increasing. Only ten days after the devastating floods on the Ahr, the then Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of the Environment traveled to France with her family for a four-week vacation, as the “Bild am Sonntag” learned from the Ministry of the Environment in Mainz. Demands for his resignation come from the opposition.
Spiegel therefore only interrupted her vacation for two on-site appointments on August 10th. She found out about the repairs to the sewage treatment plant in Dümpelfeld, and in the Ahr Valley she looked at how far the helpers had gotten with the clean-up work. Then it was back to the holiday home in France – for the second half of the holiday.
“Mirror is unwearable”
According to the ministry, the vacation ended on August 23. In defense of the long-term vacation, the Ministry of the Environment emphasized that Spiegel could be reached “round the clock” by telephone and e-mail.
The union called for the minister’s resignation. “Spiegel is unbearable,” said the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU state chief Christian Baldauf the newspaper. The minister “should take Heinen-Esser as an example and make her office available,” said CSU General Secretary Stephan Mayer.
Spiegel had already come under criticism because she was worried about her reputation immediately after the night of the flood. On July 15, her spokesman wrote to the minister and other staff: “Anne needs a credible role.” He suggested media-effective dates: “Anne during repair work, in flood protection projects, where new dangers threaten.” However, the performances “should not look like political instrumentalization”. The minister replied to her spokesman: “That coincides with my thoughts.”