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An Instagram photo of Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) with party colleagues from Schleswig-Holstein causes trouble in her house and among the opposition.
On the one hand she uses a false name for the Navy, on the other hand there is a violation of a service regulation in her house.
“Contrary to good morals, Minister Lambrecht is abusing the Bundeswehr for the election campaign in Schleswig-Holstein,” criticized the Union’s defense policy spokesman, Florian Hahn.
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Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) is once again upsetting her own house. The occasion this time: photos of her on her Instagram-Account.
The experienced politician presented herself on May 1st in a photo with Thomas Losse-Müller, the SPD’s top candidate for next Sunday’s state elections in Schleswig-Holstein, and Sönke Rix, member of the Bundestag. Lambrecht wrote on the account: “Today – May 1st – I met members of the German Navy in Eckernförde. The SPD top candidate @Thomas_Losse_Mueller and the local member of the Bundestag @rixsoenke were there. The servicewomen and men and civilian employees have told us directly and first-hand what moves them and where the shoe pinches.”
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What is commendable in principle is now causing a shake of the head in the specific case of the Ministry of Defence. On the one hand, since reunification in 1990, the German naval forces have no longer been called the “Bundesmarine” but “Deutsche Marine”. Bundesmarine has only been the designation for the West German naval forces since 1956.
On the other hand, the trained lawyer Lambrecht appears to have disregarded the regulations in force in her own house regarding the separation of office and party. Since February 2021, for example, a service instruction on visits by politicians (Az: 01-13-07) has stipulated that six weeks before an election, members of the state parliament and federal parliament, even with representatives of the Ministry of Defense, are generally not allowed to visit the Bundeswehr. But that seems to have been the case here. The justification for this is stated in the regulation: “In the case of visits immediately before elections, there is an increased risk of party-political disputes.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense disagrees and claims: “The event you mentioned, to which the Instagram post on Ms. Lambrecht’s private account refers, was explicitly not a visit to the troops. The event took place outside of a military property and was neither organized nor carried out by the Federal Ministry of Defense or the Bundeswehr. Soldiers were invited here, as is the case at many other events where MPs are interested in the perspectives of soldiers. In this respect, all events attended by the Minister of Defense took place in accordance with the applicable regulations. This will continue to be the case.”
So no official visit to the troops in the barracks, but an SPD event to which a few soldiers and civilian employees happened to be invited according to criteria that were not mentioned? And the minister’s account – just private? The fact is: Following a request from Business Insider, the ministry has now hastily changed the imprint of Lambrecht’s account. Instead of “BMVg.de” it is now called “Private Account”.
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