Interior expert with military training

The chancellor Olaf Schölz has already decided who will replace Christine Lambrecht at the head of the Ministry of Defence: it will be Boris Pistorius, 62 years oldwho since 2013 was Minister of the Interior of the state of Lower Saxony and that he is considered one of the greatest German experts on national security.

The appointment comes after first thing Monday morning Lambrecht tendered his resignation. The previous Minister of Defense had been on the tightrope for months and the imminent decision on intensify arms shipments to Ukrainewith tanks Leopard 2 included, had been decisive in his resignation.

Pistorious has become this decade as Minister of the Interior of Lower Saxony in one of the most popular politicians in the region. Known for having a direct speech and without half measureshis formation combined the military service carried out at the beginning of the 80s in the Steuben barracks of Achim with the experience in the Osnabrück City Hall before coming to the ministry of Lower Saxony.

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His work as Interior Minister of the SPD has been important thanks to his good relations with the security authorities and his influential role in refugee policy.

Pistorious’s strong personality has led him to have run-ins with some fellow party members. However, she has never refused to intervene in the most controversial debates of the moment, an important characteristic in view of the criticism that her predecessor received in the position that she is going to occupy, with the scenario of the War in Ukraine at the center of the pressures.

Some of his most famous controversies at this time were linked to his fight against hooligans, deportations or the issue of Islamic threats.

great ambitions

Pistorious’s political ambitions have long been known to the SPD. In fact, already in 2019 she led a candidacy for the federal presidency of the SPD with the Saxon minister Petra Köpping, precisely competing against the current chancellor Olaf Scholz.

had also been right-hand man of chancellor candidate Martin Schulz in 2017, when he was responsible for internal security in his cabinet.

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This appointment means breaking the parity rule that Scholz had imposed for his team. In fact, the German media had speculated that former Bundestag Defense Commissioner Eva Högl would be Lambrecht’s replacement. But, with this twist in the parity policy, there will now be more men than women in the cabinet.

The news has been welcomed by SPD politicians and disliked by the opposition. The Army has also been concerned with giving a warm welcome to Pistoriousas Patrick Sensburg, president of the Armed Forces Reserves Association, praised his ability to “manage people.”

“He is assertive and has already dealt intensely with the security of our country. The Association of Reservists is pleased that the Ministry is now headed by a reservist who has had good and intensive contacts with the Lower Saxony reserve for a long time”, Sensburg told the Rheinische Post.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner has used Twitter to congratulate Boris Pistorious for joining the federal cabinet and said he was looking forward to working with the Defense Ministry, thus anticipating the government’s official announcement.

The SPD deputy Ralph Stegner He also wanted to use the blue bird’s social network to convey his public congratulations to Pistorious: “For the many years that we have been working together, I know that with him security is in the best hands“.

Katarina BarleyVice President of the European Parliament and former SPD Justice Minister, described Pistorious on Twitter as “one of the best. Our country needs him in these difficult times.”

war in ukraine

German Finance Minister Robert Habeck has announced that the first item on Pistorious’s agenda as Defense Minister will be “if whether or not to deliver main battle tanks to Ukraine“, as he declared to the Deutschlandfunk radio station from the World Economic Forum in Davos.

pistorious he will be sworn in on Thursdaybut already this week will be crucial in his mandate because the Western plans regarding the shipment of heavy tanks to kyiv should be fixed.

On Monday, following Lambrecht’s resignation, Britain urged Germany to allow the supply of Leopard tanks to Ukraine, stressing that could unlock support from other nations and that Berlin would not be acting alone if it supplied its own tanks, Reuters reports.

“It has been reported that, obviously, Poland is very interested in donating some Leopardjust like Finland,” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Parliament.

“All this currently depends on the decisions of the German government -not just whether the Germans will supply their own Leopards, but whether or not they will give permission to others. I urge my German colleagues to do so.”