The leaders of the largest opposition bloc of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) Friedrich Merz and Markus Soeder demanded the resignation of the head of the German Ministry of Defense Christine Lambrecht. This was reported on Wednesday, January 4, by the German edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Politicians believe that the removal of Lambrecht from her post is
“How long does Chancellor [Olaf Scholz of Germany] want to watch this? Every hour that Mrs. Lambrecht is in office weakens the chancellor’s authority <…> since this New Year’s video, all of Germany has been shaking its head, not only our soldiers, defense experts around the world are speechless at how clumsy and incompetent a minister can look in our country,” Mertz said.
Lambrecht clings to his post more than climate glue on the street, Zeder added.
“The minister must finally resign — or be fired. The chancellor appointed Lambrecht, now he must also solve this personnel problem <…> Our soldiers did not deserve such a minister, ”said the head of the CSU.
On January 2, Die Welt reported that Lambrecht had drawn criticism for her controversial New Year’s video message. In social networks, she published a video with congratulations on the New Year, but its quality and content caused bewilderment among netizens. Lambrecht’s speech was drowned out by firecrackers thundering in the background. She did not put on a microphone, which made some words impossible to hear. In addition, speaking about the conflict in Ukraine, she shared her personal impressions.
During her video message, Lambrecht emphasized that “fighting is raging in the center of Europe. There were many special experiences that I was able to get from it. Many, many meetings with interesting, wonderful people.
On December 8, the Politico newspaper reported that Germany was considering Lambrecht’s resignation. The reason for dissatisfaction with the work of the minister was problems with stocks of shells in the army, unfulfilled promises on defense spending and a delayed deal to purchase F-35 fighter jets from the United States.