After yesterday’s abrupt and humiliating departure of Germany’s defence minister, Christine Lambrecht, beleaguered chancellor Olaf Scholz has today appointed her replacement. If you were expecting a stellar appointment, prepare to be disappointed. If, however, you have followed Scholz’s pilgrim’s progress on the war in Ukraine closely, then you can enjoy the sensation of your low expectations being met.
The new hire in question is Boris Pistorius, a stalwart of Scholz’s Social Democratic party (SPD). He has never held military rank. He has never held national office. He is a former mayor of Osnabrück, and was, until his elevation to the federal cabinet, the minister of the interior and sport for the state of Lower Saxony.
It’s hard not to laugh at the idea of a regional minister of the interior confronting the greatest European foreign policy challenge since 1945
It’s hard not to laugh at the idea of a regional minister of the interior confronting the greatest European foreign policy challenge since 1945. In
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