German Defense Minister, Christine Lambrecht announced on Monday that she has submitted her resignation. To federal chancellor Olaf Scholz, after several days of speculation in the German media about the possibility of leaving the government.
“Today I asked the Federal Chancellor to step down from the post of Federal Minister of Defense. The media focus on me makes it difficult to provide professional information and to discuss issues of soldiers, the Federal Army and security policy,” the minister said in a statement. . The 57-year-old minister, who, like Scholz, is a member of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), has been the target of arrests for months. Criticism from his own party and others and in the media, especially with regard to relevant decisions war in ukraine.
Lambrecht had recently caused anger over video message It was recorded amid the deafening noise of fireworks and firecrackers on a street in Berlin on New Year’s Eve, where he took an inventory of 2022, referring to the war in Ukraine.
The statement he made after the invasion of Ukraine was also the subject of controversy. request to send helmet to this country as a measure of support in its defense against Russian aggression, which is ridiculed when compared to other countries’ commitments to the shipment of military supplies. The minister recently starred in an episode of the series. public debate on sending tanks He went to Ukraine, as Kiev strongly demanded, and last week noted that Germany’s supply of Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine is not currently discussed, but generally speaking the correct approach is to “not exclude anything”.
when it comes possible successor The German media covered, among others, the German press, which included Eva Högl, who is responsible for questions regarding the federal Army in Parliament, Prime Minister Hubertus Heil, SPD co-chair Lars Klingbeil and State Minister for Defense Siemtje. Moller.