CDU leader Friedrich Merz has asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz to make a quick decision on the successor to Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht. “This waving harms the Bundeswehr,” said Merz on Saturday in Weimar. Lambrecht apparently wants to announce her resignation on Monday. She was overwhelmed with the task from the start, said Merz.
Former Defense Minister Volker Rühe (CDU) appealed to the SPD and the Union to work together better on defense issues. A new minister should “immediately seek contact with the CDU and CSU,” he told the Tagesspiegel. In times of war and crisis, it is “important that both people’s parties strengthen the Bundeswehr together”.
The question of whether woman or man should not play a role.
Volker Rühe, CDU Defense Minister from 1992 to 1998
Regarding the requirements of the office, the ex-minister said: “It has to be a political heavyweight, a fighter with courage and assertiveness.” Since a parliamentary state secretary does not meet the criterion of political heavyweight, “not many would remain”. Rühe reminded the SPD that in the past they had sent politicians to this office in the form of Georg Leber, Helmut Schmidt, Hans Apel, Rudolf Scharping and Peter Struck who met this criterion.
“The question of whether it’s a woman or a man shouldn’t play a role,” said the ex-defense minister. It was Scholz’s responsibility that with Lambrecht he brought a politician into this office who did not have the necessary prerequisites. “Scholz must not make allegiance to him a prerequisite for a nomination,” added Rühe. The new minister must also be able to assert himself against the chancellor.
FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki called for the parity criterion to be abandoned in the cabinet. “The Federal Chancellor should not fill the Ministry of Defence, which is important for Germany’s security, from an equal point of view according to gender, but only according to competence,” he told the “Bild am Sonntag”. After four weak ministers, the Bundeswehr “finally deserves someone who understands something.”
According to information from the SPD, Lambrecht had already made the decision last year to resign in the first half of 2023. She had the impression that her messages were no longer getting through. She did not want to be a burden, the minister made clear in talks with the Chancellor and the SPD leadership, among others. Scholz wanted to keep her on board in several discussions. The politician wanted to make a self-determined decision.
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