Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister Boris Pistorius succeeds Christine Lambrecht as Federal Defense Minister, according to information from government circles. This throws the parity between men and women in the cabinet out of balance.
After the resignation of Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (both SPD) will succeed her. Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised the 62-year-old as “our country’s outstanding politician”. “Pistorius is an extremely experienced politician who has experience in administration, has been dealing with security policy for years and, with his competence, his assertiveness and his big heart, is exactly the right person to lead the Bundeswehr through this turning point,” said the Chancellor on Tuesday in Berlin.
With a man succeeding Lambrecht, the parity in the federal cabinet that Scholz was actually aiming for is thrown off balance. So far, eight men and eight women have held ministerial posts; now, without further changes, the ratio would shift to nine men and seven women. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit explained that after Lambrecht’s resignation, Scholz consulted closely with the SPD party and parliamentary group leadership about the successor and decided on Pistorius as the new defense minister.
Boris Pistorius is considered an experienced political manager
Lambrecht resigned on Monday after just 13 months as defense minister in the face of persistent criticism. Like Lambrecht, Pistorius is a lawyer. The 62-year-old is considered an experienced political manager. In the past few years, he has gained a reputation as a knowledgeable specialist politician among the interior ministers of the federal and state governments. Even though he always stayed in Lower Saxony, he was also involved in the internal political positioning of the federal SPD in election campaigns and in coalition negotiations.
At the conferences of interior ministers, Pistorius, who is considered to be pragmatic, always visibly enjoyed arguing with conservatives like former interior minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) on the open stage, quick-witted, with pointed remarks, but never disrespectful. Perhaps Pistorius’ age also makes him the ideal candidate for the post of defense minister. At the age of 62, a politician can finally move into the executive office in the Bendlerblock, which is generally regarded as an ejection seat and therefore also as a potential career killer.
Resignation of Christine Lambrecht
The Department of Defense has often been the ejection seat in the cabinet
Pistorius was repeatedly said to have ambitions for a political office at the federal level. For example, there were rumors that he could become federal interior minister if Nancy Faeser ran as the top candidate for the SPD in the state elections in Hesse.
Pistorius is a trained wholesale and foreign trade merchant. From 1980 to 1981 he completed his military service, after which he studied law in Osnabrück and Münster. The SPD politician has been Minister of the Interior in Lower Saxony since 2013, and his third term began a few months ago. Before that he was mayor of Osnabrück from 2006 to 2013. Pistorius is widowed and has two daughters.
Source: Stern
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