Berlin Federal Family Minister Anne Spiegel resigned from her position on Monday after days of discussions about her role during the flood disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2021. This was announced by Spiegel in the afternoon. So she wanted to avert “damage from the office”.
The former State Minister for the Environment has been criticized for weeks for crisis management. It was then announced over the weekend that she had gone on vacation with her family for a month ten days after the devastating flood.
Before she moved to Berlin, Spiegel was not only environment minister but also deputy prime minister in Malu Dreyer’s (SPD) traffic light government.
On Sunday, Spiegel admitted that – contrary to what she had previously stated – she did not join the cabinet meetings during her vacation and immediately after the Ahr disaster. “I didn’t take part in a cabinet meeting while on vacation,” said the Green politician. But she interrupted her vacation for a day to go to the Ahr Valley and then flew back to her family.
Spiegel seemed emotional throughout the entire performance, repeatedly faltered during her statement and finally sought help from one of her employees in the background.
Spiegel interrupted her vacation for a day to go to the Ahr Valley and then flew back to her family.
(Photo: dpa)
However, Spiegel has not yet announced a resignation – although apparently even their party leadership unanimously urged this after a crisis meeting on Sunday, as reported by “Bild”. The Greens did not initially comment on the report.
With a view to the upcoming state elections in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia in May, the party said in the morning: “It won’t help us if this remains a permanent issue.”
Others had supported Spiegel: “A family minister who knows how hard it is for families in Corona, and who is therefore fighting politically to ensure that they are not forgotten again in the next crisis, is a win for the entire federal government and the Families in this country,” wrote the budget spokesman for the Greens parliamentary group, Sven-Christian Kindler, on Twitter.
The Parliamentary State Secretary in the Family Ministry, Sven Lehmann (Greens), also defended Spiegel. “The example of Anne Spiegel is also used to negotiate how humane politics can be,” he tweeted.
“Politicians are people. People can make mistakes or, in hard deliberations, make decisions that they later regret. If you don’t want machines in politics, you get people.”
Federal Minister of Economics and ex-party leader Robert Habeck said in Berlin in the early afternoon that Spiegel’s press conference on Sunday evening got “under your skin”.
For the party, the personnel is extremely unfortunate, especially since the Greens are currently having to bend the content anyway. Even during the election campaign, the party opposed arms deliveries and the rearmament of the Bundeswehr. However, due to the Ukraine war and the turning point in foreign, security and defense policy, top personnel can no longer stick to these slogans.
Already at the weekend there had been demands for Spiegel’s resignation. CDU leader Friedrich Merz, for example, asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to dismiss Spiegel – even before the statement on Sunday. Several other Union politicians also demanded Spiegel’s resignation – and spoke of double standards.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the local CDU politician and Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser resigned on Thursday after it became known that she had met other members of the government after the flood disaster in Mallorca to celebrate her husband’s birthday.
Olaf Scholz is sticking with Spiegel despite the crisis surrounding the flood disaster
Chancellor Olaf Scholz had said in the morning: “He works closely and trustingly with her,” said deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann on Monday in Berlin. Scholz saw the statement by the Green politician on Sunday evening.
The performance moved and affected him. He was personally very impressed by the performance. “In terms of cooperation, the Chancellor appreciates your work,” added Hoffmann. But the minister could no longer keep up.
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