Now it's up to Boris Pistorius to judge. The previous interior minister of Lower Saxony is to succeed his SPD comrade Christine Lambrecht as federal defense minister. After months of criticism of her administration and public image, Lambrecht announced her resignation on Monday. Difficult tasks are now waiting for Pistorius: the Bundeswehr must be modernized, and at the same time the new owner of command and command over the armed forces cannot expect a grace period. In times of war in Europe, the post is one of the most important of the federal government.
And what's next for Christine Lambrecht? As soon as she has received her certificate of dismissal from Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, she will be free from state offices. She did not stand for the federal election in 2021, so she has been rid of her mandate since then. About a year before the election, she told the "Spiegel" that she could well imagine "working again in my dream job". She is a "lawyer out of conviction". It is therefore conceivable that she will return completely to her old job. The appointment to Defense Minister in the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz was therefore a surprise at the time.
But even if the 57-year-old takes some time off after leaving office, she doesn't need to worry about a regular income for the time being. According to the Federal Ministers' Act, as a federal minister out of service, she is initially entitled to full remuneration for three months, which corresponds to a total of a good 50,000 euros with a monthly salary of 16,815 euros. However, should Lambrecht earn additional income from the second month, for example income from her legal work, this will be offset against the transitional allowance. However, if she does not start a new job straight away, she would still be entitled to half her official salary for 21 Mondays – a total of around another 176,000 euros.
From the age of retirement, there is also the so-called pension as a former Federal Minister (2019 to 2023) and Parliamentary State Secretary (2018 to 2019) as well as her MP pension for her time in the Bundestag (1998 to 2021).
Regardless of what Christine Lambrecht plans for the future, she is entitled to one more honor from the troops: the Great Tattoo, the highest military ceremony in the Bundeswehr. Only the Federal President, the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Minister of Defense as well as high-ranking members of the armed forces such as generals or admirals have the right to do so when they bid them farewell. Most recently, the farewell to Chancellor Angela Merkel with the Great Tattoo drew public attention.
Nothing has yet been heard from the offices of the Ministry of Defense in Berlin's Bendlerblock and Bonn's Hardthöhe as to when and where the guard battalion will sing the farewell to Christine Lambrecht. Even the SPD politician herself has not yet said whether she will make use of this form of farewell; let alone what three pieces of music she wants for the serenade. A spokesman for the ministry only said on Monday that it was to be assumed that the outgoing minister would be dismissed with a big tattoo.
Sources: "Spiegel" (paid content), Bundestag on Christine Lambrecht, Federal Ministers Act, Federal Ministry of Defence, DPA and AFP news agencies
