Christine Lambrecht: Why she has to go – and who might follow her Iran executes British-Iranian ex-politicians

No one would argue that the report, which was distributed on Friday evening by the online editions of various German media, politically shook Berlin: Christine Lambrecht, the German Defense Minister, whose imminent resignation was reported by the portals, has long been counted. Next week, the Social Democrat is reportedly resigning from her position. A confirmation by Lambrecht or her ministry is still awaited.

None of the ministers in the current German government has behaved more unhappily than the 57-year-old. Lambrecht’s tenure was ominous from the start: the rapporteurs announced after the last federal elections in the fall of 2021 that she absolutely wanted to remain minister and had to deal with matters that were completely foreign to her.

She got more attention than was good for her

Some of Lambrecht’s predecessors, such as Ursula von der Leyen, now president of the European Commission, were also strangers in the difficult and unpopular department. But in Lambrecht’s case, the world races made the misfortune complete: After Russia invaded Ukraine last February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hastily announced a “turning point”.

Since then, the Bundeswehr, which has been neglected for decades, has to be brought into shape with 100 billion euros. Lambrecht suddenly had a very big task – and more public attention than her reputation served.

The problems soon piled up: Lambrecht, in particular, could not get the Bundeswehr’s inefficient procurement system under control. Recently, the German military made headlines for its expensive but unsuitable Puma infantry fighting vehicle. In addition, Lambrecht communicated extremely unluckily: at the turn of the year, she attracted attention with an Instagram video in which she rant to the sound of New Year’s rockets that the war in Ukraine had given her “many, many meetings with interesting, wonderful people”. “. .

Chancellor Scholz, who is considered stubborn and has relatively little attention for public opinion for a top politician, nevertheless held on to his fellow party member. The imminent resignation should also take place at Lambrecht’s initiative and not because the minister was urged to do so.

Eva Högl as successor? Or Lars Klingbeil?

Lambrecht’s party, the SPD, must now nominate a successor. To take gender equality into account, the ministry should be headed by a woman for the fourth time in a row. This could speak for Eva Högl. As parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, she is a kind of representative of the interests of the military in the German parliament – and she is not afraid to clearly state grievances.

However, it also seems possible that Scholz and his party could put the gender issue aside given the major challenges facing the new head of department. A possible successor, named by the German media, could be SPD leader Lars Klingbeil.

Klingbeil has served as little as the last three ministers, but as the son of a professional soldier it cannot be denied that he has some connection to the military. In addition, he is considered a conservative within his party and would therefore be in a traditional row of social-democratic defense ministers such as Helmut Schmidt, Georg Leber and Peter Struck. (aargauerzeitung.ch)