Holidays as a political issue: Between helicopter flights and trips to Mallorca

The start of a vacation can mean the end of a great political career. Some people prefer to keep a low profile for good reasons: Vacation destination? “Heading south”the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development once murmured. The Minister for Family Affairs suggested that she was going to “European countries”the Minister of Education, however, prefers “Mountains”. Kilimanjaro or the Alps? Nobody knows. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel, on the other hand, favored South Tyrol, Armin Laschet Lake Constance. Hannelore Kraft was drawn to the Sauerland, and Labor Minister Hubertus Heil to the garden.

Nancy Faeser, Volker Wissing and Boris Pistorius seemed to agree on the subject of Voyage, Voyage: France. Of course, top politicians are also allowed to go on holiday. However, it should be noted that a political office is not a conventional employment relationship. Leading politicians have a responsibility to be present. When they are asked to be. And their tanned fingers will be watched even more closely. A leaf through the holiday album of our top politicians:

Holiday in Mallorca after a flood disaster in the Ahr Valley?

How much does a helicopter flight cost? – is one of the most frequently asked questions when you google Christine Lambrecht (10,500 euros). Because hardly any vacation trip is as well known as the former defense minister’s helicopter flight to Sylt in 2022. Lambrecht was certainly ready for a vacation: The Bundeswehr had to be reformed – and then her son posted a photo. Mother and son in the helicopter after a visit to the troops in Schleswig-Holstein on the way to Sylt for a short vacation. She then had to resign a few months later after a more than unsuccessful New Year’s Eve speech.

Of course, it is also worth taking a quick look at the Germans’ favourite island: in 2015, the then Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière recovered there, while Germany “in the midst of refugee chaos” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser’s holiday in Mallorca with her son also proved fatal: “Germany is going down the drain, Faeser is going down the drain”wrote the “Picture”-Zeitung. Also on Mallorca, former Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping splashed around in a swimming pool with his new girlfriend in 2001. At the same time, Bundeswehr soldiers were banned from taking vacation: his men and women were waiting for orders to deploy in Macedonia. The beginning of the end of his career as a minister.

“Scampi and white wine under the sun while tens of thousands of people in the country sit in the dirt”

Just a few days after the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley in 2021, the NRW Environment Minister celebrated her husband’s 76th birthday in Mallorca. Also present: three other members of the state government. CDU politician Ursula Heinen-Esser had to leave. She had initially admitted to an investigative committee that she was responsible for the flood after the flood. “four days” flew back to her family in Mallorca. After further investigations by the committee into her precise flight details (including involvement of the Federal Criminal Police Office), she had to correct herself: she had stayed on the island for nine days.

“Scampi and white wine under the sun while tens of thousands of people in the country are sitting in the dirt – that is a shambles”put it the SPD politician Stefan Kämmerling, whose constituency was in the flood areas east of Aachen. The flood also proved to be the downfall of former Family Minister Anne Spiegel: In her office as Environment Minister in Rhineland-Palatinate, she had decided to take a four-week vacation – ten days after the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley. Her absence cost her career. The illness of her husband, who suffered a stroke in 2019, and the strain of the corona pandemic on her children were the reasons for the rest, she later said. At first she stated that she had joined the cabinet meetings from vacation, but a review of the cabinet minutes revealed that she had not attended.

Former Health Minister Ulla Schmidt came under fire in 2009 after her official car was stolen: the Mercedes S-Class was stolen while Schmidt was on holiday near the Spanish city of Alicante. The question remained as to why the official car was even on holiday with her. “We demand clarification as to why her official car has to be transported almost 5,000 kilometers across Europe. Tax money should not be wasted on the comfort of a minister’s car”the Taxpayers’ Association was outraged.

Another former health minister, Karl Lauterbach, caused a stir while on holiday in Italy: He tweeted that the heat wave there “spectacular” And: “If things continue like this, these holiday destinations will have no long-term future.” Italy was angry: Lauterbach’s thesis was “difficult to prove objectively”.

Habeck had to return to Hallig Hooge

Sometimes it’s not just leaving that can be a problem, but also coming home: this year, Economics Minister Habeck was prevented from leaving his ferry in Schlüttsiel, Schleswig-Holstein, by hundreds of farmers. The farmers did not accept an offer that three protesters could come onto the blocked ferry to talk to him. Habeck had to return to his holiday island of Hallig Hooge.