Ministry of Defense: Lambrecht dismissed, Pistorius appointed – Politics
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has the SPD politician Boris Pistorius appointed as the new Federal Minister of Defence. The former Minister of the Interior of Lower Saxony received his certificate in Bellevue Palace in Berlin. After the ceremony, the 62-year-old is going to the Bundestag, where he will be sworn in shortly.
Shortly before his appointment received Pistorius’ predecessor Christina Lambrecht their letter of dismissal from the Federal President. She announced her resignation on Monday after just over a year and a month in office. Steinmeier thanked her for her “willingness to take responsibility in the most difficult of times” and for her many years of political commitment. Lambrecht had been in the Bundestag for the SPD since 1998, until she no longer stood in the 2021 election.
Lambrecht leaves Pistorius with a whole series of work sites – while Russia is still at war with Ukraine. This is how the modernization of the armed forces Among other things, with the help of the 100 billion euro special fund, it is still at the beginning. Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the rearmament after the Russian invasion in February last year.
Steinmeier called this an “epoch break” and called for the Bundeswehr to be upgraded, for better procurement and for more personnel. It is now crucial to make the Bundeswehr able to defend itself, said the Federal President. At the same time he said: “Germany is not at war.”
He wished Pistorius “perseverance, good luck and a happy hand”. The new minister needs a “cool head, good nerves, strong leadership, clear language and political experience”. He has shown that Pistorius has all of this in other demanding political offices.
The most urgent question is how to proceed with arms deliveries to Ukraine. After the decision to supply armored personnel carriers of the type marten it’s about one possible support with leopard-Battle tanks. the federal government is apparently now ready to do so, if the USA also relinquishes battle tanks – of the type abrams.
Eventful hours and days lie ahead for Pistorius: After the swearing-in, he will be sworn in in the Bundestag. Then the Inspector General of the German Armed Forces, General Eberhard Zorn, received the new Minister of Defense with military honors in the Bendler Block. An important visitor arrives a little later: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin comes to Berlin.
At around 11 a.m. he and Pistorius want to appear before the press. On Friday, Ukraine’s western allies are meeting at the US Ramstein Air Force Base in Rhineland-Palatinate to discuss further arms and tank supplies.
