Germany: New resignation demands against family minister because of vacation after the flood

In view of the behavior of Federal Family Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens) during the flood disaster last year, the Union is calling on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to act.

Berlin - "I can't imagine that Olaf Scholz finds such an understanding of office good," said parliamentary secretary Thorsten Frei (CDU) to the Rheinische Post (Monday edition). Germany needs members of the government "who serve the country and don't just think about their public image". Frei sharply criticized the behavior of Spiegel, who was Rhineland-Palatinate's environment minister during the flood.

Spiegel is said to have traveled on a four-week vacation just ten days after the devastating flood on the Ahr. On March 8, SMS messages and chat histories between the Greens politician and employees of her press office were made public. On July 15, when the extent of the catastrophe became known, Spiegel wrote: "The blame game (looking for the guilty) could start immediately, we need wording that we warned in good time, we have always made all data transparent, I warned in the cabinet what would have gotten even worse without our preventive measures and precautionary measures.

An employee of your press office is said to have described the seriousness of the situation and then pushed for media-effective on-site visits. "Anne during repair work, in flood protection projects, where new dangers threaten, visiting with journalists at flood reporting centers." Spiegel needs a "credible role".

However, Spiegel was not the only one to show misconduct. The now ex-Environment Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU) initially interrupted her vacation in Mallorca for a short trip to her state in view of the disaster that caused the death of 243 people in the region, 196 of them in Germany. After this flying visit, we went back to the Mediterranean island to enjoy the sun for another nine days; while thousands of citizens in the disaster area stood in the field of rubble and there alone 49 people died.

However, the Christian Democrat enjoyed her time together with her party friends, NRW Building Minister Ina Scharrenbach, Europe Minister Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner and the then State Secretary for Integration Serap Güler, she celebrated her husband's birthday on Mallorca. When this became known, one might have thought that Heinen-Esser should humbly resign with a little decency.

Not even close! On Thursday she faced the press and announced that she wanted to remain in office. You have to have that much audacity first. But a few hours later there was a shift in the shaft.

"When it comes to responsibility, she can't be reached or is away," but when it comes to media-effective photo appointments,"she settles down from the sunny vacation in France to the disaster area, where people have lost relatives and their existence is facing the ruins".

Source: Der Newsticker / Junge Freiheit / The Limited Times