Berlin It sounded like a really big number. Shortly before the meeting of EU defense ministers on Monday, Christine Lambrecht (SPD) announced that Germany would provide 5,000 soldiers for the EU’s new rapid reaction force. Only: Nobody in the Bundeswehr knew anything about the announcement to send 5,000 soldiers.
It wasn’t the first time that the secretary of defense didn’t cut a happy figure. And Lambrecht is not the only SPD minister struggling with problems.
At the time of the grand coalition, the SPD was proud that the top performers in the federal cabinet came from within its ranks. The weak ministers were those of the Union, such as Andreas Scheuer (transport), Peter Altmaier (economy) or Anja Karliczek (research and education).
In the first 100 days or so, the SPD-led traffic light government seems to have reversed roles. While the Green Ministers Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck shine and FDP leader Christian Lindner is also certified as doing a decent job, it is now the SPD ministerial team that is falling sharply in terms of performance.
The only positive example: Minister of Labor Heil
Defense Minister Lambrecht is particularly noticeable with unfortunate statements about helmets and soldiers. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser reacted too late to the refugee movement from Ukraine. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) gives the chief warning in the corona crisis, but gets nothing enforced in everyday government life.
Development Aid Minister Svenja Schulze and Building Minister Klara Geywitz are hardly noticeable. The only positive exception is Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil, who has already presented a draft law for the minimum wage and a concept for a mobility bonus.
Heil was the only SPD minister allowed to remain in office after the election. All other SPD cabinet members, like Lambrecht or Schulze, have changed departments or, like Faeser and Geywitz, have no ministerial experience whatsoever. You need time to settle in. Time that you hardly have in times of great crises.
Faeser was visibly surprised by the Ukraine war. The interior minister originally wanted to focus her work on the fight against right-wing extremism. But while she was still dealing with the topic, the next refugee crisis was piling up.
As recently as March 9, Faeser said that she did not yet think that targeted distribution in the country of refugees was necessary. Almost a week ago there was a long report on the ARD focal point about what was going wrong.
Volunteers from Hamburg, Munich and Cologne grumbled about the “lack of coordination”. Hamburg’s Interior Senator Andy Grote, like Faeser a social democrat, complained about the “bottleneck” in the registration process, and the federal government should finally do it.
Defense Minister Lambrecht makes a particularly large number of faux pas
“A lot of resentment, a lot of chaos,” summarized the moderator and then welcomed Faeser to the interview with the question: “Where have you and your ministry been in the past few weeks?” Faeser’s subsequent explanations that there was no chaos at all reinforced the impression that the minister does not have the situation under control.
Defense Minister Lambrecht has also been in the spotlight since the outbreak of war, but not to her advantage. Lambrecht made a whole series of faux pas. The delivery of 5,000 helmets to the Ukraine before the start of the war also became an embarrassment because Lambrecht jazzed up the campaign as a great solidarity campaign. When arms were then delivered to Ukraine, it turned out that only a fraction of the promised anti-aircraft missiles arrived.
The labor minister was convincing in the past electoral term and retained his seat on the government bench.
(Photo: IMAGO/Political Moments)
Lambrecht also caused trouble behind the scenes. In the budget negotiations, the defense minister suddenly demanded an additional 100 billion euros for defense over the election period in addition to the special fund of 100 billion euros – and was harshly rebuffed. “I can’t think of much that could be said positively about Lambrecht so far,” says a comrade.
In addition to Lambrecht, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is the largest failure in the SPD ministerial team. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the 59-year-old has acted as a reminder, using detailed study knowledge to promote stricter measures and thus gained sympathy from large parts of the population. In office, however, the minister is finding it increasingly difficult to assert his expertise – especially against the coalition partner FDP.
>> Read here: Germany and France – Friendship ends with armaments
The fact that many measures are falling, although the number of infections is rushing from record to record, not only horrifies Lauterbach fans. Most of the experts and prime ministers who vented their anger last week in an unprecedented federal-state exchange are also stunned.
“I don’t think that’s justifiable,” participants quoted Lower Saxony’s state chief Stephan Weil (SPD). The Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer (SPD), said: “I can understand the frustration of my colleagues.” As with Faeser and Lambrecht, there is also criticism of Lauterbach from within its own ranks.
Obligation to vaccinate will tip the scales
A further mortgage for the minister’s health policy record would be if the general vaccination requirement were to fail due to this resistance in the traffic light government. Lauterbach is vehemently demanding the project, but there is no sign of a majority.
Another construction site is the dramatic financial situation of statutory health insurance. The coffers are heading for a financial deficit of 17 billion euros in the coming year. If nothing happens, the contributions of the insured must rise sharply historically. Here, too, one should assume that Lauterbach, with a doctorate in health economics, is the right man for the problem.
However, the ministry had to distance itself from a draft law that was made public last week. Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) had previously let it be known that the draft had not been agreed with him.
Development Aid Minister Schulze has not yet made any major mistakes, but she is leaving a lot of potential untapped. The war in Ukraine threatens to herald a famine in Africa. The topic of humanitarian aid as a means of preventing further aggression by Russia in Eastern Europe also offers a field of activity for a minister who is otherwise less in the limelight due to her position. So far, however, Schulze has not been able to score points.
The construction minister and the development minister have so far remained inconspicuous. Especially Geywitz is hardly present.
(Photo: imago images/Jens Schicke)
This also applies to Minister of Construction Geywitz. It is still credited with having to stomp a completely new ministry out of the ground. Nevertheless, some in the SPD fear that Geywitz could remain as pale as a minister as she was as SPD deputy leader.
It is always difficult for the other ministers to shine under a chancellor from their own ranks. That was already the case under Angela Merkel. Also, not all ministers from the other parties shine. Family Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens) is also struggling with problems, Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) has not yet attracted particular attention.
But the SPD always claims to do the substantive hard work of the government. So far, the SPD ministers have not lived up to this claim.
>> Read here: Chancellor impulses are missing in the traffic light government
When Chancellor Scholz presented the SPD ministerial team at the beginning of December, some comrades wondered about his personnel decisions and wondered whether the posts were filled so ideally.
Lauterbach’s appointment as Minister of Health was considered a surprise coup, but even then it was a risk. For many, however, the other appointments were more surprising: the mixture of newcomers and comrades, who had previously been in the second row, but who were suddenly to lead key departments.
Even then, some people said the chancellor would not tolerate strong SPD ministers next to him. If that was his calculation, then it has worked so far.
More: Amount, goals and implementation: Lambrecht wants to increase defense spending – and causes a traffic light dispute