by Paolo Valentino
The SPD exponent was accused of inadequacy, he only took office a year ago. Scholz tried to defend it to the last. Now he has to look for a successor
FROM OUR BERLIN CORRESPONDENT – German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht will most likely resign on Monday. For months in the crosshairs of internal and external criticism of the government because of its obvious inadequacy, lack of credibility, especially among the generals and the ranks of the Bundeswehr, the Bundeswehr, the social democratic exponent is leaving office just a year after taking office. Her resignation is a thorn in the side of Chancellor Scholz, who also tried to defend her up to the last minute and now has to find a successor (possibly another woman) quickly in the delicate and dramatic situation of the Ukraine war.
Lambrecht, 57, a former justice chief in Angela Merkel’s grand coalition, never really stepped into the role and gave the impression that he had come to the defense by accident. And yet Lambrecht had an unexpected opportunity compared to his many predecessors, who had to be content with ever-shrinking military budgets: the turning point, the epochal turning point announced by Scholz after the beginning of the Russian aggression with the provision of 100 billion euros The rearmament of Germany . It could have been his chance to initiate the modernization of the Bundeswehr. And indeed it has made some steps forward, for example with the decision to buy 35 F-35 fighters and 60 CH-47F Chinook transport helicopters.
But a year later, the German Bundeswehr, at least as far as material and ammunition are concerned, seems to be in a worse condition than when the fighting in Ukraine began. Germany delivered armored vehicles, missiles, anti-aircraft systems to Kyiv, but could not replace them by replenishing stores. N appears to be able to do so shortly due to the lack of a defined and structured plan, which Lambrecht has not yet presented.
In reality, the outgoing minister, more as an efficient defense manager, made headlines primarily with a series of gaffes and mini-scandals. Starting with when, a few days after the start of the war in Ukraine, you announced the delivery of 5,000 helmets to the armed forces of Kyiv as a grand gesture. Then the use of the service helicopter to take his son on vacation to Sylt, the island of the rich Germans. Finally, on New Year’s Eve, Lambrecht had posted a strange amateur video on social media, recorded alone amid fireworks, in which she was talking about herself and saying nothing about the war. In his defence, it must also be said that his reputation has also been tarnished by the continuous leaking of news from the ministry, where the military would never have appreciated all too many key external appointments decided by Lambrecht.
For Olaf Scholz, the resignation is also a personal defeat. In fact, a year ago it was he who insisted on the appointment of Lambrecht, who had already announced his retirement from politics. In an interview at the end of December, he described her as a first-class defense minister. And in the end it was not he who asked her to resign, but Lambrecht, who took note of the unsustainability of her situation, which ended up harming the chancellor himself and the government.
Now Scholz has to make a quick decision. Defense ministers from 50 countries of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group led by the United States will meet at the Ramstein base in Germany next Friday to discuss and coordinate the new military aid to Kyiv. The main item on the agenda is the delivery of German-made Leopard 2 heavy tanks. Poland has already made its supplies available, but needs a permit from Berlin for the delivery. And Ramstein needs a German defense minister who can provide the answer.
But the Leopards’ dilemma in Ukraine is also posed directly in Berlin, which has the largest stock of Leopard 2s and has so far walled in the argument that it does not want to sell them until the Americans do the same with their Abrahams.
January 14, 2023 (change January 14, 2023 | 10:20 am)
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