Berlin – Germany’s defense minister Chris Rein Lambrecht has officially announced his resignation in the wake of the allegations.
The move comes after German media reported on Friday that the defense chief plans to step down after the uproar over his New Year’s message posted on social media. Lambrecht, 57, is a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). But after the controversy, Scholz said he still had faith in Lambrecht.
Lambrecht referred to the war in Ukraine in the context of their fireworks message. German Defense Minister Christain Lambrecht announced her resignation on Monday after raising doubts about her ability to lead the country in revitalizing its long-neglected armed forces amid the war in Ukraine.
Lambrecht blames the media for the allegations against him. Christine Lambrecht has recently become Germany’s most unpopular leading politician.
His resignation can be expected any day. Meanwhile on Sunday, the Berlin fire brigade also had to arrive at their home. Witnesses reported “smoke billowing from the fire” from the minister’s apartment in Berlin’s Friedrichshain. Lambrecht was able to stop the fire before firefighters arrived. Firefighters opened hallway windows to clear the smoke. No one was injured.
Lambrecht wanted to keep his plans to resign secret for the time being. Chancellor Sholes had to quickly find a successor. Current Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (50), Wolfgang Schmidt (52) and Defense Commissioner Eva Högl (54) from LASPD are preferred.
A written statement from Lambrecht said: “Media attention on my person does not allow factual reporting and discussion of military, Bundesweh and security policy decisions in the interests of the citizens of Germany.
This means that Minister Lambrecht blames the media for his misfortune. It is not her mistakes and omissions that are responsible for the resignation, but the “media attention” to her person. And they describe it.
With Lambrecht’s resignation, a series of unprecedented failures ends. An embarrassing New Year’s speech, malfunctions of the “Puma” infantry fighting vehicle, a leaked secret plan to deliver “Patriot” anti-aircraft systems to Poland ~ the defense minister repeatedly allowed himself to make mistakes.
In her first interview after taking over as head of the Bundeswehr (December 2021), she stated that she did not know the ranks of the Bundeswehr. Five months later, they admitted, they still didn’t know the ranks.
In January 2022, when some 2,00,000 Russian troops marched in front of Ukraine’s border, Lambrecht proudly announced the delivery of 5,000 helmets to Ukraine. As an insult.
In the middle of the war, the defense minister preferred to invest in self-defense against a critical press. For months she didn’t want to admit that she herself had taken the photo of her son in the Bundeswehr helicopter ~ until the court forced it. A “media pioneer” recently announced that Lambrecht had banned critical journalists from traveling with him.
English Summary : German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht resigns amid Ukraine war backlash