Although Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had publicly expressed his confidence in his party friend several times recently, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) has now decided to resign. This was reported by several media on Friday evening.
The Tagesspiegel confirmed the plans from those around the ministry. The exact time for the resignation was still unclear late Friday evening; but the minister, who has recently been heavily criticized, could give up her position as early as next week.
Initially, neither the Chancellery nor the SPD nor the Ministry of Defense wanted to comment officially on this. That afternoon, after a meeting with the armaments industry, Lambrecht announced that the troops wanted to stick with the Puma infantry fighting vehicle despite a series of breakdowns. A ministry official from the Ministry of Defense reported to the Tagesspiegel that she seemed “dissolved”.
The planning for Lambrecht’s appearance at the so-called Ramstein meeting for further Ukraine military aid in the coming week continued, her staff were completely surprised by the breaking news in the evening: “We are just as floored.”
The day before, during a visit to a Panzergrenadier battalion in Marienberg, Saxony, Lambrecht had left unanswered a question about the rating of her New Year’s Eve video and announced that she would continue to coordinate decisions to support Kiev with her international partners in the future.
Scholz and Lambrecht spoke several times about their future
In the Chancellery only last week there was talk of a “good working relationship” between Scholz and Lambrecht. In a recent interview with the “taz”, the Chancellor assured that he would stand by his minister.
Nevertheless, there are said to have been several talks between the two in the past week, in which Lambrecht’s political future was at stake. After the bizarre New Year’s greeting, in which she spoke of many “meetings with many great people” in connection with the Ukraine war, a clear majority of Germans supported her resignation in representative surveys.
Within the Bundeswehr, there was no publicly articulated criticism of their conduct of office. Internally, however, there was talk that “particularly in such dramatic times, ministerial posts should not be filled solely on the basis of the party book”. Lambrecht is also “resistant to advice”.
The defense minister had come to the conclusion that a fresh start was needed in her ministry, it said on Friday. The successor is already being discussed in government and SPD circles. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Eva Högl (SPD), would be given good chances as a future minister.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz may also have to prepare for a major cabinet reshuffle if Interior Minister Nancy Faeser decides in favor of the SPD’s top candidate in Hesse. Most of the traffic light coalition expects her to run there. However, it can be heard that she could initially keep her position as minister until the elections in Hesse in the fall.
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